Tomb Hunters

I've been following Egyptology for more than 30 years. While I love most series I've come across in recent years, the new types that have been filmed over the past 5 years or so have been highlighting modern Egyptian Egyptologists' careers in the field. There has been a generational and demographic shift in the study of this ancient history.

Since the time of Napoleon, Egyptology has been conducted by Westerners, primarily of European decent. They've made some great advances in this field but I always found it a little cringy in their interactions with the workers, who were primarily native Egyptians digging their own ancestry from the earth for the Europeans who took credit for the find.

Ancient Egyptian history is so old that it feels like human history. It is, but it's also the history of these people living in the region now.

It's wonderful to see Egyptians taking a leading role in the discovery of their own history. Dr. Waziri currently holds the role of Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. His team is becoming my new Egyptology friends as they've been featured in a number of documentaries in recent years. They are a dedicated, hard working, and passionate bunch of experts that include everything from conservation specialists to excavation specialists who's attention to safety and the preservation of this dynamic culture will feed researchers for decades to come.

I must say, it's absolutely mind-blowing what they found in the shafts. Unbelievable wealth of artifacts and information it's hard to believe it escaped tomb raiders' notice for so long.

To counter the other oddly critical review, the many of the people featured in the Tomb Hunters do have their Ph. D.'s. I have been fascinated by this show as the work itself is fascinating but, as I understand this work, they were somewhat surprised at the numbers of sarcophaguses (sarcophagi?) they were finding. I think they suspected there would be a lot but not the numbers that they have found, so far. The Director fellow said a couple of times that he thought the plain of Saqqara held hundreds more tombs like those they have found so far. I wonder if he is now modifying that number upwards. The only real problem I had (have) with this show is that the Director is so wanting to get his face on the camera and his name in the news. The other guys working in the tombs were much more interesting.

I have watched 2 episodes of this series. I wish It had been produced using renowned Egyptologists, the western ones not this bunch of clowns messing around with precious artifacts. The digs should have been done by professional not some menial workers who were goofing around in front of the camera. I give it an 8 because of the artifacts they display to the viewers.