Egyptian Monuments and Conservation Policy in Saqqara Inspectorate

Saqqara is one of the richest archaeological sites in Egypt. Its monuments were constructed over a span of more than three thousand years. The earliest were the mastabas of the first dynasty kings, and the latest structures date to Greco-roman times and even to Christian times. The name of Saqqara came from Sokar, one of the gods of the dead, which gave its name to the necropolis. There are three types of tombs on the plateau. In the recent situation of excavation, there are programs of excavation in the whole area from Abu Sir to Dahshur. A lot of missions are working there: Japan, France, England, Germany, USA, Poland, Holland, Scotland, Italy and the mission of Cairo University. The SCA issued a mandatory uniformed "Security Form" which all missions that wish to work in Egypt must fill and comply with it, whether it is an excavation or restoration mission. This form includes the structure of the mission, personnel, work location and budget etc. Due to many reasons, the current policy of the SCA, nowadays, is focused on the restoration and maintenance activities of already excavated location and not new excavations. All missions working have the same framework. Some problems occur during missions' working. Here, I will be talking about the three most common issues that face archaeologists and missions working in Saqqara: (1) Weather, (2) lack of professional labor force, and (3) adaptation to regular local working hours. While information to the discovery is done through the SCA, working missions retain the full rights for publishing both academic and scientific.