For the many centuries of researching about pyramids, there are still a number of concerns and issues archaeologists face in their excavation projects.
Although most people assume that excavation is always a priority choice by many archaeologists studying pyramids, it is not actually the case. Excavation is generally what they intend to do the least because of its very demanding requirements over newer technologies that tend to limit the need for actual excavations.
An excavation project requires long-term planning, extensive research, and big financial resources to equip archaeologists with necessary information, facilities, and equipment they would need.
Financial and Operational Requirements
The primary difficulty in implementing excavation projects is that they cost much money and resources. It is also typical to encounter a number of expected and unexpected operational expenses from the planning stage to the actual excavations. These concerns result to even more financial demands for such projects.
Imposed Regulations and Limited Excavation Times
Excavations require acquiring permits from specific local and/or national government bodies.
Penetrating into ancient layers is already a big physical challenge on its own. Apart from this major concern, archaeologists must also bear with imposed regulations, political issues, and limited times to do actual excavations. They may encounter certain environmental and cultural pressures along the way as well. There are possible detractors of an excavation project due to conservative insights, inconvenience and possible natural, health, and security risks to nearby towns, cultural conflicts, religious issues, among other social, moral, and environmental demands, protests, and concerns that may come along the way.
Risks of Destroying Antiquities and Evidences
Excavation projects can provide risks of destroying tracks, antiquities, fossils, and other crucial structures and evidences found inside and outside the pyramids. Humans produce much moisture with high saline content through breath and perspiration, which results to the accumulation of salt leeching into the limestone and plaster in pyramids. These gradually cause them to crumble into powder. Apart from such long-term effects, labor-intensive excavation works may cause unintentional destruction to crucial and valuable materials found around the pyramids.
Possible Security Risks
The risk of theft becomes a major security threat to archaeologists, especially if the funding for the project is relatively small. This kind of limitation mainly results to excavations that won’t be able to afford and/or sustain top security facilities and manpower throughout the duration of the project.
“Archaeology: Why Excavate at All?” New Archeology.
“Pyramids: Excavation and Preservation,” World Archaeology.
“Scanning for Clues-Recording the Mysteries of a 4600-year old Pyramid,” Topcon.
