Zahi Hawass Biography, Wife, Net Worth, Books, Age, Tour, Hat

Zahi Hawass Biography

Zahi Hawass was born on May 28, 1947. He is an Egyptian archaeologist, an Egyptologist, and former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs. He has also worked at archaeological sites in the Nile Delta, the Western Desert, and the Upper Nile Valley. Hawass was born in a small village near Damietta, Egypt. Although he originally dreamed of becoming an attorney, he obtained a bachelor of arts degree in Greek and Roman Archaeology from Alexandria University in Alexandria, Egypt in 1967.   In 1979, Hawass earned a diploma in Egyptology from Cairo University.

Hawass then worked at the Great Pyramids as an inspector—a combination of administrator and archaeologist. When he was 33 years old, Hawass was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to attend the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia to study Egyptology, earning a master of arts degree in Egyptology and Syro-Palestinian Archaeology in 1983, and his Ph.D. in Egyptology in 1987 from the Graduate Group in the Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World (AAMW), concentrating on “The Funerary Establishments of Khufu, Khafra and Menkaura During the Old Kingdom.”

Zahi Hawass Wife

Zahi Hawass is married to Fekhira.

Zahi Hawass Net Worth

Zahi Hawass net worth is $1.9 Million.

Zahi Hawass Age

Zahi was born on May 28, 1947, in Damietta, the Kingdom of Egypt, he is 72 years as of 2019.

Zahi Hawass Career

Early career
After 1988, Hawass taught Egyptian archaeology, history and culture at the American University in Cairo, and the University of California, Los Angeles. Hawass has described his efforts as trying to help institute a systematic program for the preservation and restoration of historical monuments while training Egyptians to improve their expertise on methods of excavation, retrieval and preservation.

Chief Inspector at Giza
Hawass was appointed to the position of Chief Inspector of the Giza Pyramid Plateau, but left the position in 1993—according to Hawass, a resignation. Hawass was reinstated as Chief Inspector in early 1994. In 1998, Hawass was appointed as director of the Giza Plateau, and in 2002 as Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Claimed discoveries
As his biography at the National Geographic Explorers webpage notes, he claims to be responsible for many recent discoveries, including the tombs of the pyramid builders at Giza and the Valley of the Golden Mummies at Bahariya. At Giza, he also uncovered the satellite pyramid of Khufu.

In 2005, as part of the National Geographic Society-sponsored Egyptian Mummy Project to learn more about patterns of disease, health, and mortality in ancient Egypt, he led a team that CT scanned the mummy of King Tutankhamun. His team is continuing to CT scan mummies, both royal and private, and hopes to solve some of the mysteries surrounding the lives and deaths of such important figures as Hatshepsut and Nefertiti.

Obama visit

When U.S. President Barack Obama was in Cairo in June 2009, Hawass gave him personal tours of the sites of ancient Egypt. At the end of 2009, he was promoted by President Hosni Mubarak to the post of Vice Minister of Culture.

2011 protest vandalism
On January 29, 2011, in the midst of the Egyptian protests of that year, Hawass arrived at the Egyptian Museum to find that a number of cases had been broken into and a number of antiquities damaged, so police were brought in to secure the museum. According to Andrew Lawler, reporting for Science, Hawass “faxed a colleague in Italy that 13 cases were destroyed. ‘My heart is broken and my blood is boiling,’ the… archaeologist lamented.”

Hawass later told The New York Times that thieves looking for gold broke 70 objects, including two sculptures of Tutankhamen, and took two skulls from a research lab, before being stopped as they left the museum.

Minister of Antiquities
He was appointed Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, a newly created cabinet post, by Mubarak on January 31, 2011 as part of a cabinet shake-up during the 2011 Egyptian protests. A press release including a statement from Hawass stated that he “will continue excavating, writing books, and representing his country,” ensuring that archaeological sites in Egypt were being safeguarded and looted objects returned. Regarding the Egyptian Museum looting, he said that “The museum was dark and the nine robbers did not recognise the value of what was in the vitrines.

They opened thirteen cases, threw the seventy objects on the ground and broke them, including one Tutankhamun case, from which they broke the statue of the king on a panther. However, the broken objects can all be restored, and we will begin the restoration process this week.” Hawass rejected comparisons with the looting of antiquities in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On February 13, Mahmoud Kassem of Bloomberg reported Hawass as saying that “18 artifacts, including statues of King Tutankhamun,” were stolen from the Egyptian Museum in January; Kassem, paraphrasing Hawass, continues, “The missing objects include 11 wooden shabti statuettes from Yuya, a gilded wooden statue of Tutankhamun carried by a goddess and a statue of Nefertiti making offerings.”

Egyptian state television reported that Hawass called upon Egyptians not to believe the “lies and fabrications” of the Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya satellite television channels. Hawass later said “They should give us the opportunity to change things, and if nothing happens they can march again. But you can’t bring in a new president now, in this time. We need Mubarak to stay and make the transition.” On March 3, 2011 he resigned after a list was posted on his personal website of dozens of sites across Egypt that were looted during the 2011 protests.

Hawass was reappointed Minister of Antiquities by then-Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, On March 30, 2011 a tweet was posted stating “I am very happy to be the Minister of Antiquities once again!” but resigned on July 17, 2011, after Sharaf informed him he would not be continuing in the position. According to opinion report from an Egyptian commentator in The Guardian, Hawass was “sacked”.

Post-ministerial positions

Hawass has since begun working as a lecturer in Egypt and around the world, and promoting Egypt’s tourism globally in cooperation with the country’s Ministry of Tourism. He also writes weekly articles in various newspapers and magazines and continues working as an archaeologist and consultant.

Zahi Hawass Books

This is a self-published list, dated to 2008, of all books and other works where Egyptologist Zahi Hawass has appeared as author or editor. Zahi Hawass usually does not write his own books; this fact is commonly known in the Egyptology community. The list is in chronological order.

1980’s

1990’s

2000 to present

Egyptologist Zahi Hawass

Zahi Hawass, who heads the ScanPyramids science committee, said, “The pyramid is full of voids and that does not mean there is a secret chamber or a new discovery.” An Egyptian archaeologist overseeing a project to scan a pyramid for voids on November 4 criticised the announcement of a discovery of a passenger plane-sized cavity in the Great Pyramid. Scientists with the ScanPyramids project revealed on November 2 that the void discovered with subatomic particle scans was the first major structure found inside the pyramid since the 19th century.

It is thought to be at least 30 metres long and located above the “Grand Gallery” — a sloped corridor almost 50 metres long and 9 metres high which links Khufu’s burial chamber at the pyramid’s center to a tunnel leading outside. The findings were published by the science journal Nature.

But Zahi Hawass, who heads the ScanPyramids science committee overseeing the project, said there was no new “discovery”. He said he had met other scientists from ScanPyramids who “showed us their conclusions, and we informed them this is not a discovery,” he told AFP. “The pyramid is full of voids and that does not mean there is a secret chamber or a new discovery,” he said. “The project has to proceed in a scientific way that follows the steps of scientific research and its discussion before publication,” he added.

The monument — 139 metres high today, and 230 metres wide — was erected as a tomb for Khufu, also known as Cheops. To this day, nobody knows quite how it was built. The void, said co-author Kunihiro Morishima from Nagoya University in Japan, “was not known by anyone until now, from when the pyramid was built 4,500 years ago”. “The big void is completely closed,” he added, which means anything inside it would not have been “touched by anyone after the pyramid (was) built”.

The pharaohs of ancient Egypt built these monumental tombs for themselves, complete with sarcophagus to hold their embalmed mummies, and stocked with everything they could require for the afterlife, including food, clothing, and jewelry.

Where Is Zahi Hawass Now

Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s former head of antiquities, speaks in front of the Great pyramid, built by Cheops, known locally as Khufu in Giza, Egypt, Thursday, June 2, 2016. A scientific team scanning the Great Pyramid aimed at discovering the famed pharaonic monument’s secrets including possible hidden burial chambers. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

What mysteries might still be hidden under Egypt’s pyramids? A team accompanied by Egypt’s former antiquities minister and famed archaeologist Zahi Hawass are testing a new scanner on the Great Pyramid of Giza on Thursday, hoping that modern technology could help unlock ancient secrets buried deep beneath the stone.
The scanner, which uses subatomic particles known as muons to examine the 4,500-year-old burial structure, was first set up at the site last year and will complete its data collection this month.

“It’s running right now, and if it manages to detect one of the three chambers we already know exist inside, then we will continue the scans,” Hawass said. He has been appointed by the Antiquities Ministry to head the team that will review the scan results.

Late last year, thermal scanning identified a major anomaly in the pyramid — three adjacent stones at its base which registered higher temperatures than others.

Hawass has in the past downplayed the usefulness of scans on ancient sites, saying that they have never found anything important. He has clashed publicly with British Egyptologist Nicolas Reeves, whose theory that secret burial chambers could be hidden behind the walls of King Tutankhamun’s tomb was both prompted and reinforced by scanning.

For more than a decade Hawass was a celebrity starring in TV documentaries, eventually ruling the Antiquities Ministry like a pharaoh. He was dismissed from the post after Egypt’s 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak and faced corruption charges, of which he was later cleared.

But back in the field following his new appointment, Hawass seemed more reluctant to criticize scanning technologies. He said they could be useful if directed by the right hands — such as his own.

“You need Egyptologists to oversee all this, otherwise mistakes can be made,” he said. “I hope these scans will help us obtain accurate information,” he said, adding that he believed another burial chamber remains undiscovered inside.

The debate over possible new discoveries in Egyptology echo far outside the country, most recently over a contested theory that King Tutankhamun’s tomb contains additional antechambers.

Last month, researchers led by Daniela Comelli of the Polytechnic University of Milan published a paper on a rare iron dagger found inside the boy king’s sarcophagus. Using a new form of portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, the team said that the dagger, dating to the Bronze Age, was most likely made using iron from a meteorite.

Zahi Hawass Photo

Zahi Hawass Death

Zahi Hawass is still alive.

Zahi Hawass Beyonce

‘Rude’ Beyoncé banned from Pyramids by ‘Egypt’s Indiana Jones’

No-one keeps Zahi Hawass, the controversial archaeologist described as Egypt’s Indiana Jones, waiting. Not even Beyoncé.

Dr Hawass, Egypt’s former head of antiquities and gatekeeper of the Pyramids, banished Beyoncé from the ancient site after he was sickened by what he described as the star’s rudeness.

“Most people I take on tours are very nice and we become friends. But this lady…,” begins Hawass, the former Minister of State for Antiquities, who lost his post during the 2011 protests and is at the centre of corruption allegations over his work for National Geographic.

“She said she would come at 3pm but she came late. I said ‘You have to say I’m sorry I’m late’. But she didn’t open her mouth,” continued Dr Hawass, credited with modernizing the management of Egypt’s ancient sites and who claims to have repatriated 6,000 artifacts “stolen” by Western powers.

“I brought a photographer and she also had a photographer and a guard. When my photographer started to shoot, he said ‘No, Stop! I am the one who says yes or no, not you.’ I said ‘In that case since you almost hit my photographer and you are not polite – out! I am not giving you the privilege of having you on my tour.’ I said Beyoncé was stupid and I left.”

Dr Hawass, 66, visiting London to present his latest DNA examination of the pharaohs in a book, Discovering Tutankhamun, admits he has made enemies. “People attack me because I am famous. When I took President Obama to Giza, the camel driver recognized me and he asked ‘But who is the friend of Hawass?’ When I gave a lecture at your Dome of the Millennium 1,700 came to hear me. Bill Clinton got 700.”

Protesters denounced Dr Hawass as “the Mubarak of Antiquities” and accused him of corruption. The US Justice Department reportedly launched an investigation into his $200,000 role as National Geographic’s Explorer-in-Residence, which helped secure the Washington-based organization favorable access to the pyramids and Tutankhamun treasures.

“There were 20 accusations made against me but they were all dropped,” the Egyptologist said. “They accused me of sleeping with prostitutes which I have never done. No-one can ever bribe me because I am a man of dignity and honor. Every contract was legal. National Geographic benefited more than me.”

Famed for his fedora and natty excavation wear, Dr Hawass did launch his own fashion range, offering rugged khakis and leather jackets. But the profits went to the Children’s Cancer Hospital in Cairo.

The on-going ferment which has seen the Muslim Brotherhood swept away to be replaced by a new military council has placed Egypt’s antiquities at risk. Vital tourism revenues have been lost. So Dr Hawass is poised to make a shock return. “Already 20,000 signatures have been collected for me to come back. Even those who were against me say they need me back,” he argued.

“For a period there was looting everywhere and illegal excavations. So from Sunday, I have agreed to travel all over the world on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism to tell people that the sites are now completely secured. Egypt is safe for everyone and we need tourists to come back.”

He continues to plead for the return of the Rosetta Stone, the linguistic key to deciphering hieroglyphics, from the display rooms of the British Museum, where it has been on the show since 1802. “It is an icon of Egyptian identity and one day it should go back. I proposed we should give the Museum something in return.”

There are still more treasures for Dr. Hawass to discover. “I still believe there is a secret burial chamber, containing treasure inside the Great Pyramid built by Pharoah Cheops. I hope to reveal the last great secret of the Pyramid with an English team.”

The authority on all Pharoah matters dismisses a recent television investigation which claimed that the boy king Tutankhamun died after being injured in a chariot race. “He was a disabled boy. He was sick, he could not drive a chariot. I examined the bones in the Mummy and there is no evidence for this.”

Dr Hawass predicts that Egyptian army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the July overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi, will stand for the Presidency and reinstate the “strong man” leadership Egypt enjoyed during the pyramid-building era 4,200 years ago. His own exile looks likely to end soon – but the feuds may not.

Dr Hawass remains unapologetic after “banning” Joann Fletcher, the York Egyptologist who presented a BBC series on life and death in the Valley of the Kings. “She came on an expedition and claimed to have found the mummy of Queen Nefertiti. But she broke the rules by making a Discovery Channel show instead of writing first to the Supreme Council of Antiquities. So she cannot work here. And this mummy was nothing to do with Nefertiti.”

Zahi Hawass Hat

According to Zahi’s Facebook, you can buy a replica of his hat and part of the proceeds will go to defeat cancer in collaboration with Shefa al Orman Hospital.

Zahi Hawass Facebook

Zahi Hawass Twitter

Tweets by ZahiHawass

Zahi Hawass Instagram

Dr Zahi Hawass Website

To get all his updates and information directly through his website click here

Zahi Hawass Tv Show

• Egypt Eternal: The Quest for Lost Tombs — 2002

Egypt’s Golden Empire (TV Show)                                                                                                                 2002

• The Warrior Pharaohs — 2002
• Pharaohs of the Sun — 2002
• The Last Great Pharaoh — 2002

Scientific American Frontiers (TV Show)                                                                                                      2001

• Dead Men’s Tales — 2001

Host (3 Credits)

Actor (1 Credit)

Reality Cast Member (1 Credit)

Cast member of reality-based show (1 Credit)

Chasing Mummies (TV Show)                                                                                                                          2010

• Buried — 2010
• Cursed — 2010
• Bats — 2010

Appearing (8 Credits)

• Ancient Egyptian Boats — 2008

The Lost Pyramid (TV Show)

Subject (person only) (5 Credits)

Guest (4 Credits)

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