CAIRO: Egypt said it will reopen historical sites to tourism on Sunday as it sought to revive a key industry shattered in the turmoil that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Archeologists were cheered by the recovery of the most important artifact stolen from Cairo's Egyptian Museum, a rare statue of King Tut's father. A 16-year-old anti-government protester found the statue of the Pharaoh Akhenaten next to a garbage can and his family returned it, the antiquities ministry said. But damage to Egypt's heritage may have been greater than previously thought, as officials reported new cases of break-ins at archeological sites. Zahi Hawass, head of the Ministry of State for Antiquities, had reported a total of 18 missing museum artifacts, three of which were found on the museum grounds, possibly abandoned by looters making their escape. The antiquities ministry cited Sabry Abdel-Aziz, head of its pharaonic sector, as saying the tomb of Hetep-Ka, in the ancient burial ground of Saqqara, was broken into and a false door was stolen along with objects stored in the tomb. Also, a portion of a false door was looted from the tomb of Re-Hotep in Abusir, the ministry said. The ministry also said the Egyptian military caught thieves attempting to loot the sites of Tell el-Basta, and a tomb in Lischt. The most important object that went missing from the Egyptian Museum in the upheaval was the limestone statue of the Akhenaten, father of the famed King Tutankhamen. It depicts the standing pharaoh with a blue crown, holding an offering table in his hands. The table was found separately inside the museum.
