The Egyptian government maintains an agreement with foreign powers that all archaeological material found in Egyptian soil shall be divided equally between Egypt and the finder. Equal division in quantity is relatively simple, but equal division in quality offers great problems. In 1912 German Archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt quietly extracted from Tel-el-Amarna, and removed to Berlin, a gracile bust of Queen Nefertiti which was more precious to Egyptians than tons of jeweled bric-a-brac. First, it was supposed to possess magical properties. Second, it was pronounced by worldwide experts to be among the...
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