Concern is rising over the increasing scale of destruction of prehistoric sites in the Western Desert of Egypt, according to papers read at the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists in Cairo recently. It is claimed that, unless urgent measures are taken to remedy the trend, Egypt will soon have no intact prehistoric sites in the area.
Land reclamation and building projects have destroyed most of the known sites along the Nile valley. Tourists are now causing damage to ancient sites in the Western Desert at an increasing rate. There are now scant remains of the old settlements scattered over the savannah in the years between 10,000BC and 5,000BC.
In the south west region of the desert, two caves in the Wadi Sura which contained hundreds of paintings dating from 7,000BC to 5,000BC have suffered badly. There is a practice among tourists of pouring water over the figures to render them more visible and bring out their colours, and this has had the deleterious effect of bringing salts to the surface, with subsequent flaking of the stone. Around the cave of Djara, west of the Nile, stalactites are being broken away by tourists and loose artefacts are being removed.
Calls are being made to UNESCO and the European Commission for funds to try to call a halt to the threats posed to such sites. They represent unique and historically and culturally valuable inheritances, and at present enjoy little protection against the ravages of a booming tourist industry.