Egypt's 'Indiana Jones' - antiquities minister Zahi Hawass - sacked

EGYPT'S antiquities minister, whose Indiana Jones hat made him the world's best-known Egyptologist, has been fired.

Zahi Hawass

EGYPT'S antiquities minister, whose Indiana Jones hat made him the world's best-known Egyptologist, has been fired after months of pressure from critics who attacked his credibility and accused him of having been too close to the regime of ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

Zahi Hawass, long chided as publicity-loving and short on science, lost his job along with about a dozen other ministers in a cabinet reshuffle to appease protesters seeking to purge remnants of Mr Mubarak's regime.

"He was the Mubarak of antiquities," said Nora Shalaby, an activist and archeologist. "He acted as if he owned Egypt's antiquities, and not that they belonged to the people of Egypt."

Despite the criticism, he was credited with helping boost interest in archeology in Egypt and tourism, a pillar of the country's economy. But after Mr Mubarak's ouster on February 11 in a popular uprising, pressure began to build for him to step down.

Ms Shalaby said Dr Hawass did not tolerate criticism. She said most of his finds were about self-promotion, with many "rediscoveries" in search of the limelight.

Dr Hawass prided himself in being the "keeper and guardian" of Egypt's heritage. He told an Egyptian magazine, Enigma, in 2009 that George Lucas, the maker of the Indiana Jones films, had come to visit him in Egypt "to meet the real Indiana Jones".

Dr Hawass, 64, started as an inspector of antiquities in 1969. He became director of antiquities at the Giza Plateau in the late 1980s, before being named Egypt's top archeologist in 2002.

In one of Mr Mubarak's final official acts as president, Dr Hawass's position was elevated to that of a cabinet minister. After Mr Mubarak's ouster, Dr Hawass submitted his resignation but was reinstated before finally being removed on Sunday.

A staple on the Discovery Channel, his name has been associated with most new archeological digs in Egypt, with grand discoveries such as the excavation of the Valley of the Golden Mummies in Bahariya Oasis in 1999 and the discovery of the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut almost a decade later.

Dr Hawass had a fashion line, including his hat, for which he organised a photo shoot in the Egyptian Museum, something that drew the ire of many archeologists. "He was a personality created by the media," said Abdel-Halim Abdel-Nour, president of the Association of Egyptian Archeologists.

AP