The French government said Thursday the judiciary was working to shed light on the attempted sale by a Frenchman of hair believed to belong to the mummy of Ramses II.

Asked whether France would apologise to Egypt if the hair turned out to be genuine — as demanded by Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass — the foreign ministry said it was "up to the judiciary to decide what action to take."

"Like the Egyptian authorities, we want full light to be shed on this case," spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei told reporters.

A 50-year-old Frenchman was questioned by police Wednesday over an Internet ad offering to sell snips of hair, embalming resin and bandages allegedly taken from the mummy of Ramses II.

He claimed the lot belonged to his father who was part of a team of scientists who analysed the royal mummy when it was sent to France in 1976 for electromagnetic treatment to stop it from deteriorating condition...

FRANCE SAYS 'PHARAOH'S HAIR' SCANDAL IN POLICE'S HANDS, The Tocqueville Connection, France, November 30, 2006.

The Walters Art Museum presents the exhibit Daily Magic in Ancient Egypt through November 18, 2007. Magic played an important role in religions of the ancient world. Amulets in particular were believed to possess great power to bring protection, health, luck, and even immortality through their images and symbols. This small exhibition will feature 46 amulets, scarabs, figurines, and ritual objects associated with this belief in the power of magic in ancient Egypt.

The art and history of the ancient world comes alive in one of the Walters Art Museum’s best-loved collections, which comprises amazing treasures from ancient Egypt, Nubia, Greece, Rome, Etruria, and the Near East. The Walters’ collection is one of the largest and finest assemblages of ancient art in the United States.

Statuary, reliefs, stelae, funerary objects, jewellery, and objects from daily life, dating from prehistoric to Roman Egypt (5th millennium BC – 4th century AD), can be found in the museum's collection of ancient Egyptian art. Among the most impressive pieces are two monumental 3,000-pound statues of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet, sarcophagi, an intact mummy still in its elaborate wrappings, as well as images of private individuals and kings and impressive jewellery...

Daily Magic in Ancient Egypt at The Walters Art Museum, Art Daily, Mexico, December 04, 2006.

A 50-year-old battle to evict squatters from one of Egypt’s most renowned archaeological sites, the West Bank of Luxor, was finally settled when authorities began demolitions.

The fate of Qurna’s 10,000 residents was sealed when authorities gave the demolition order for the mud-brick houses erected over ancient Egyptian tombs on the Theban Hills that had become a tourist attraction in their own right.

In just 15 minutes and under the deafening roar of bulldozer engines, three long-abandoned houses were the first to go.

The stage-managed affair included a fashion-show of children parading ancient Egyptian costumes to the beats of epic drums, and enthusiastic speeches by officials for the television cameras.

"Three-thousand five-hundred families will leave for a better life. It’s the most important resettlement operation since the rescue of Abu Simbel in Nubia some 40 years ago," Luxor’s governor Samir Farag said...

Squatters evicted from Egyptian tombs, AFP via The Herald, Zimbabwe, December 04, 2006.

cf. Tomb town evictions, 7 Days, United Arab Emirates, December 04, 2006.

Claims that Egypt's ancient pyramids are made of poured concrete have been slammed as an insult.

French magazine Science and Life said tests showed they were built from man-made blocks moulded from cement.

But yesterday Egypt's antiquities minister Zahi Hawass said the theory was "plain stupid".

He added: "Of course they're not. They're made from solid blocks of quarried limestone.

"To suggest otherwise is idiotic and insulting.

"I heard this from a Frenchman before, 20 years ago. It is as ridiculous now as it was then."

The magazine said: "Examination of the stone shows they could have been made from a kind of early concrete and poured into blocks."

But US expert said: "All studies of the stone have shown they are made mostly from limestone but also from basalt and granite mined in the region."

He added: "How did the French take samples for their tests without the Egyptians' permission?"

CONCRETE PYRAMID AN 'INSULT', The Daily Mirror, UK, December 04, 2006.

cf. Egypt dismisses theory concrete used in Pyramids, AFP via Middle East Times, Cyprus, December 04, 2006.