The new Egyptian ruins
Thu Apr. 6, 2000 12:00 AM PDT
If tourism persists at the current rate in Egypt, the Sphinx may soon need more than just a nose job. NEW SCIENTIST reports that tourists are destroying prehistoric sites in Egypt's Western Desert with a recklessness never seen before. "Unless urgent measures are taken, Egypt will be left with not one prehistoric site intact," said Rudolph Kuper of the University of Cologne.
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Egypt has already lost all the known prehistoric sites along the Nile valley to land reclamation and building projects. Now, a crisis is building in the Wadi Sura, or "Valley of Pictures," where visitors are pouring water over paintings -- some of which are 7,000 years old -- to make them more easily visible. This draws salt to the surface and makes the paintings erode faster. Tour operators have been no help, either -- their off-road vehicles are scattering artifacts at thousands of unexcavated sites.
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