Press Release- Alleged finds in Western Desert
I need to inform the public that recent reports published in newspapers, news agencies and TV news announcing that “twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni have unearthed remains of the Persian army of Cambyses,” are unfounded and misleading.
The brothers are not heading any archaeological mission in Berenike Panchrysos at the small Bahrin Oasis near Siwa Oasis. This site has been excavated since 2002 by an Italian mission led by Dr. Paulo Gallo of Turin University. The Castiglioni brothers have not been granted permission by the SCA to excavate in Egypt, so anything they claim to find is not to be believed.
The Supreme Council of Antiquities has already informed the proper legal and security authorities in Egypt and are taking the necessary procedures.
Andie Byrnes has a summary of the situation regarding this story on Egyptology News:
The route from Gilf Kebir to the Great Sand Sea is one that can be accomplished by tourists, with all the permissions for travel in place, so there’s no reason why the team should have been able to travel this route as tourists with a secondary agenda. This has been done many times before. The difficulty comes in when people start their own investigations and remove objects for analysis (for example the TL dating of ceramics). This oversteps the line. On having discovered the skeletons and artefacts the brothers appear to have provided information to the authorities but went ahead with a Discovery article anyway, presenting their investigations as a bona fide archaeological mission, which it clearly wasn’t.
In as far as this particular discovery is concerned the real regret is that because of the way in which the Castiglioni brothers made their announcement without waiting for official SCA recognition the discovery will probably be moth-balled, tied up in red tape and bureaucracy and not properly investigated in the near future. That’s a shame because whatever the finds represent the fact is that something was found and it would be good to initiate an official project and learn more about it.
- Expanding Reading Foudning Brothers
- Reading About the Founding Brothers
- An Organized Oasis Fit For Learning
