As the world looks on for signs of the outcome of Egypt's "unfinished revolution," much concern has been expressed over the fate of Egyptian antiquities. In a previous story, ARTINFO gathered reports from around the Web, which sometimes conflicted with the official version of events. Much of the information comes from Zahi Hawass, whose claim that minimal looting has occurred may not be completely trustworthy, as he was recently promoted to the newly-created post of Egyptian minister of antiquities and was seen defending Mubarak in an interview on the BBC. Now, the Met Museum, for one, has shown confidence in Egypt's ongoing ability to manage its treasures.

The Met will honor a pledge to return 19 small artifacts from King Tut's tomb to Egypt, despite the country's current political instability, the Observer reports. After being shown as part of the Tutankhamen exhibit in Times Square, the 19 objects are now on view at the Met for six months and will then return to Egypt. They are to be exhibited in a new museum at Giza that is slated to open in 2012. Hawass wrote of it on his blog, "I can already say that it will be the best museum in the world."

Meanwhile, Hawass also reports that images of heads seen in the media that were thought to come from beheaded mummies at Cairo's Egyptian Museum were actually unidentified Late Period skulls that were detached from their bodies long ago. He writes that the vandals found them in a storage room where they were waiting to be used to test the CT scanner and that they emerged unscathed from the museum invasion. Seventy objects from the museum's collection have sustained damage, and their restoration has already begun, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Hawass expressed confidence that the army is protecting all ancient sites and collections, adding that the director of the Egyptian Museum and his colleagues have been sleeping at the museum for the last two nights. He also praised the 47 storage warehouses that he previously had ordered built to store antiquities, saying that their secure and modern construction has deterred looters.

Contesting media reports of widespread looting, Hawass affirmed that the 70 items damaged at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo were the only examples of looters coming into contact with antiquities. He stated that a National Geographic journalist incorrectly attributed to him a statement that the open-air museum at Memphis had been robbed. While Hawass said that reports that Saqqara had been looted were inaccurate, a Dutch archeologist told Radio Netherlands that he has received unofficial reports from colleagues of extensive plundering at the site. Also, researchers requesting anonymity told French newspaper Libération that warehouses near the Pyramids had been looted by Egyptian police.

Waxing poetic, Hawass related that he went to look at the Sphinx, who "is keeping watch; he has witnessed the good days and the bad days of Egyptian history." The archeologist felt that "the Sphinx is sad because of what has happened." He added that he hoped the protesters will go home, "so that life in Egypt can go back to normal."