Man held over 'Pharaoh's hair'
2006-11-29 14:29
Grenoble - A man who tried to sell a lock of hair he said was taken from the mummy of Egypt's most famous pharaoh, Ramses II, has been arrested in France, officers said on Wednesday.
The man, who was not identified, had posted an ad on an internet website (www.vivastreet.fr) offering the snip of hair, samples of the mummy's embalming resin and bits of the bandages for more than $2 000.
He said he would also supply photos and certificates proving the authenticity of the lot, which he claimed came into his possession from his father who was part of a team of French scientists tasked with analysing the royal mummy about 30 years ago.
Police arrested the man at his home in Saint Egreve, a village in the French Alps, and were detaining him for questioning on suspicion of trying to sell Egyptian property without authorisation.
Egyptian heritage
The internet ad - which was still online on Wednesday - has created a storm among Egyptian officials and researchers who consider the lock of hair, if proven authentic, to be part of Egypt's rich heritage.
The head of Egypt's supreme council of antiquities, Zahi Hawass, told AFP in Cairo that "if these elements are authentic, it would be a scandal that would risk harming relations between France and Egypt".
He said he had alerted French authorities to the internet ad and was requesting "full transparency" from the French investigation.
If the arrested man is found to be selling Ramses II hair and artefacts, "I will be demanding the immediate return of all these objects," Hawass said.
Sent to Paris for tests
Ramses II's mummy, which is currently housed in Cairo's Egyptian Museum, was sent to Paris on September 12 1976 for an examination of the cause of its deteriorating condition.
The deceased pharaoh - who reigned from 1279 to 1213 BC - was issued an Egyptian passport and was received at Paris's Le Bourget airport with a ceremony, literally, fit for a king.
Experts in Paris diagnosed the mummy with a fungal infection and began to treat the body with electromagnetic radiation.
Tests showed that Ramses II was approximately 80 years old at the time of his death, was 1.72m tall, pale-skinned and had badly damaged teeth.
Redhead
Paris's Musee de L'Homme entrusted analysis of the mummy's hair to the laboratories of cosmetics giants L'Oreal, who had concluded that Ramses II was a redhead - either naturally or had used henna hair dye.
Once the treatment was successfully completed, Ramses II's body was sent back to Egypt.
It was the first and last time that a mummy of similar importance had ventured beyond Egyptian soil.