ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the entwined politics of archaeology in Egypt, specifically around the village of Gurna, where the preservation of ancient monuments has taken precedence over the needs of the living. It discusses political developments over the past decade including government directives for the creation of an open-air archaeo-logical museum and the local community’s resistance to its forced relocation. The chapter examines a key episode in the ongoing violence surrounding Luxor, the massacre at the Temple of Hatshepsut in 1997. Since tourism and terrorism have come to be inextricably linked, the discussion foregrounds the tensions surrounding presentation of the pharaonic past at the expense of later periods in Egyptian history, specifically that of Islamic Egypt. Tensions between the archaeological community, the government, and locals about ethical issues of looting and preservation have been juxtaposed with the use of state-sanctioned violence toward the Gurnawis. The professional Egyptologists of Luxor have been instrumental in offering human-impact assessments at Gurna.
