Zahi Hawass is an Egyptian archaeologist and public official, whose magnetic personality and forceful advocacy helped raise awareness of the excavation and preservation efforts he oversaw as head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). Following a one-year postgraduate course in Egyptology at Cairo University, Hawass won a Fulbright fellowship and enrolled in a Ph.D. program in Egyptology at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1987. He then returned to Egypt, where he was named general director of antiquities for the Giza pyramids complex as well as for the historical sites at Ṣaqqārah and Al-Wāḥāt al-Baḥriyyah (Bahariya Oasis). At Giza in 1990, Hawass discovered a necropolis that housed the tombs of the pyramid builders, which proved, contrary to then-popular fringe theories, that the pyramids were indeed erected by Egyptians. By the time he was appointed secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) in 2002, Hawass was lauded for reclaiming Egyptology—for decades the province of Western scholars—for Egyptians. His zealous promotional efforts were seen to have engendered national pride and to have helped attract tourism. As head of the SCA, Hawass directed several other excavation projects that led to significant findings, including the discovery in 2008 of an Old Kingdom pyramid at Ṣaqqārah that was determined to belong to a queen of Teti. He also initiated the Egyptian Mummy Project, which used modern forensic techniques such as CAT scans to study both royal and nonroyal mummies. In 2009, facing mandatory retirement, Hawass was appointed Egypt’s Vice Minister of Culture, with responsibility for the SCA. Among his ongoing endeavours was the repatriation of several notable Egyptian artifacts from foreign museums, including the Rosetta Stone and the bust of Nefertiti. In July 2011 Hawass was one of more than a dozen government ministers removed from their posts in a cabinet reorganization meant to defuse widespread popular protests against the Egyptian interim government. In 2022, Hawass launched a renewed international campaign and online petition aimed at repatriating key ancient Egyptian artifacts from European museums. The campaign specifically focuses on three major items: the bust of Nefertiti, the Rosetta Stone, and the Dendera Zodiac.