The Souvaltzi excavation at Siwa.

[Efstathios]

Was Mrs Souvaltzi just making up things, or did the excavation stop due to other unknown reasons?

Mrs Souvaltzi had the confidence that the tomb of Alexander was there. So she started an excavation, along with her husband and an epigraphologist. She claimed that she found 3 inscriptions, one of which was by Ptolemy and said that Alexander's body was brought there. The inscription also says that Alexander was poisoned. Another inscription was by Trayan, the Roman Emperor who paid his respects to Alexander's body. Furthermore, she found a building that has a Doric style, and the Vergina sun.

Some rumors were spread about destructions and thefts at the site at Siwa. With direct orders from the Greek Ministry of Culture the excavation stoppped. The General Secretary of the ministry himself came down along with other archaiologists to investigate the matter, and said that they saw nothing like a Doric style building, rather than a Roman one, and no inscriptions that said what Mrs Souvaltzi had announced. When they asked her to present evidence of what she had found, she refused.

The excavation stopped there. After that, in a confference held in Plaka in Athens, the subject was discussed. Nour El Din, the head of the Cairo University, and inspector for all foreign archaiological missions in Egypt was there, and was asked about why the excavatiion stopped. He said that he didnt know, and that Mrs Souvaltzi' team was working in the most scientific way, without breaking any laws. When he asked about it, he was told that Mrs Souvaltzi should also work along with 2 at least foreign archaiologists, but he didnt hink it was appropriate. Also, that he there are questions, such as who had spread these rumors about the thefts e.t.c., and why the Greek goverment doesnt give the permission for the excavation to continue when Souvaltzi repeatedly asks for that.

The matter is complicated. As soon as Souvaltzi makes the hypothetical discovery, someone spreads rumors that aim to harm the team's credibility. However Mr Nour El Din said that the Souvaltzi' excavation was totally "by the book". The excavations stop by order of the Ministry of Culture. Archaiologists go down to Siwa and say that the part of the building uncovered is not Macedonian, and do not see the inscriptions. Souvaltzi denies to present them. However, even if the builiding was not Macedonian, the excavations should have continued. Furthermore the archailogists that came said that there were just some hellenistic period evidence amongst the rumble.
Wasnt that a reason enough for the excavation to continue?

What happened? This all is suspicious. Souvaltzi's website is very lite. If she really made that discovery, and the was forced to stop, then her website would be her base of operations, full of details and information about the excavation e.t.c. Maybe it depends on how she was forced to stop, and by whom?

What happened to the excavation after it stopped? Where is the building that the Greek archaiologists identified as Roman and not Macedonian?

Did she really find something that some people dont want it to be uncovered?

[amyntoros]

My my, Efstathios, you do love a conspiracy theory, don't you?

What happened? This all is suspicious. Souvaltzi's website is very lite. If she really made that discovery, and the was forced to stop, then her website would be her base of operations, full of details and information about the excavation e.t.c. Maybe it depends on how she was forced to stop, and by whom?

It was the Egyptian government who stopped Souvaltzi working there - but, that does not mean that no further excavations took place. Only that Souvaltzi and her team were refused permission to dig again.

http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/surrealist/disp.html

St. Louis Dispatch © Feb. 6, 1997
CHECKING UP ON TEAMS DOING ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH DATELINE: CAIRO, EGYPT:
After the "discovery" of the long-sought tomb of Alexander the Great fizzled away to fiction, Egypt has tightened its scrutiny of whom it allows to dig in the rich sands of its archaeological heritage. The team that claimed to have found the conqueror's burial place in 1995 is among four groups suspended from further excavation work. In recent months, Egypt's Higher Council for Antiquities has cracked down on its enforcement of regulations that previously were not uniformly applied, council chairman Ali Hassan said.

The council has checked for irregularities among the 35 foreign teams and dozens of Egyptian groups licensed to excavate in Egypt, he said. "We have stopped only one foreign mission and three Egyptian missions," he said. "It is a sort of discipline, a sort of rearranging our house."

Egyptian newspapers first reported the tightened scrutiny last fall, but what was involved did not become clear until late last month when reporters questioned Hassan during a public meeting.

Review of the archaeological missions stems from Greek researcher Liana Souvaltzi's claim to have found the 2,300-year-old tomb of Alexander in Siwa Oasis, in Egypt's Western Desert.

The announcement attracted international attention. But Egypt was embarrassed when experts later said tablets found by Souvaltzi's team were from several centuries after Alexander's death.

Subsequently, five Greek-Roman specialists were asked to review Souvaltzi's work. "It was one of the worst reports I have ever seen," Hassan said. "They all said she has to be stopped. There can be no experiments in archaeology because you destroy."

Souvaltzi, who is in Greece, has referred to the Egyptian action as "a war against me." She reportedly is taking legal action to regain per mission to dig in Egypt. Hassan said three Egyptian teams also were suspended because their work showed no results. Zahi Hawas, the antiquities council chief for the Pyramids and Sphinx, said other foreign archaeologists also made gaffes but said Egypt was partly to blame for allowing inept teams to work in the country.

"Sometimes, in the past decade, some heads of the Antiquities Department overstepped the rules and allowed unqualified people access," he said He said the biggest problems were amateurs or researchers like Souvaltzi who are funded by private sources, not recognized institutions that require teams to keep meticulous records of their finds, publish reports and restore their digs.

"We have set rules, and we are applying the rules," Hassan said. "I am only asking them to use the methods practiced by archeologists." Egyptians are relative newcomers to the craft of studying their ancient civilization, which dates back about 5,000 years.

Until the country's 1952 revolution, Egyptology was run by the French and English. Now, Egyptians want to protect their own past but still need the expertise - and money - provided by overseas universities and institutions. "Foreigners who work in Egypt do not own Egypt, and they have to know they are guests of Egypt," Hawas said. "We are the guardians to these monuments, but Egypt by itself cannot preserve and restore them."

Best regards,

[Efstathios]

The announcement attracted international attention. But Egypt was embarrassed when experts later said tablets found by Souvaltzi's team were from several centuries after Alexander's death.

Subsequently, five Greek-Roman specialists were asked to review Souvaltzi's work. "It was one of the worst reports I have ever seen," Hassan said. "They all said she has to be stopped. There can be no experiments in archaeology because you destroy."

The experts that said that the tablets were from centuries later, were the Greek team from Ministry of Culture along with the general secretary mr Thomas who came to see what this story was about. I repeat that the excavation was initially stopped by the Greek Ministry of Culture. And then the Egyptian one. Although i am not perfectly certain about that, it was the Egyptian inspector of foreign archaiological teams and head of the Egyptian University, Nour El Din who said that he couldnt find anything suspicious at Souvaltzi's team, and that he wondered why the excavation stopped.

Furthermore, there are no official pictures of the excavation site to show what was this building, and actually no pictures at all. I doubt if any excavations took place there after that, and if this building now still exists, and wasnt re-buried. I will search and see if another team continued there. Because surely since something was found there, an excavation should continue.