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Zawi Hawass deserves a lot of criticism for being a fickle, controlling gatekeeper of archeological work in Egypt in his former role as Egyptian Minister of Antiquities. He often seems more interested in glorifying himself and promoting revenue than the scholarly exploration of the past.

That said, he no longer holds any official position with the government. The Ministry of Antiquities has continued some of his bad policy. He still probably has some influence. But the people in this thread seem more upset with his dismissal of crank theories that contradict the consensus chronology established through dendochronology, radiocarbon dating, and correlating written records. Hawass was not responsible for creating this chronology.




Surface luminescence studies have been conducted on remarkably few samples. A test on a facing block of Menkaure's pyramid indicated the block was last exposed 5000 +/- 500 years ago, just barely edging into the conventional age of 4500 years.

Given the technique's obvious utility, the lack of interest seen in applying it can reasonably be interpreted as unwillingness to have conventional interpretations tested.

"Crank" is a prejudicial term when applied to topics with only conventional consensus, without evidentiary backing.


The more boring explanation: Egypt wants to control the exploitation of Pharaonic material culture under their control, which they consider their cultural patrimony. If they can't do the tests and get the glory, they don't want others to do so instead. For an example of this, see Hawass' decision preventing foreigners from doing DNA testing of mummies in Egypt, dismissing it as useless, followed by him personally publishing such work a decade later.

In any case, there is plenty of Old Kingdom material in foreign museums that is available for testing.


Surface luminescence testing depends on the sample not having been exposed to light since it was placed, something hard to ascertain for items shipped to a museum.




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