In some ways, you have to understand the context of the times.
At the turn of the 20th century, there were no trained Egyptian archaeologists and no budget for Egyptian national archaeology. There were, however, entire communities of tomb robbers who at that late date would scour the hills and cliffs near Luxor, by the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings. Some of the small caves and tombs they found were as much as 300' down the cliff, and they would reach them by rappelling down by ropes. They would remove whatever was there, on public lands, and sell them on the black market.
During periods of heavy rain, they would watch to see water patterns down the cliffs over miles of landscape, looking for indications of caves and tombs.
The concession method, allowing private individuals to dig at their own cost and peril, was a means of beating the robbers. Many, if not most, concessionaires found nothing. Lord Carvarvon and Henry Carter were in their sixth season searching for Tutankhamon's tomb before they found it. The costs of the dig put George Herbert, Fifth Earl of Carnarvon, in serious financial peril.
IF something was found, Egypt paid nothing to find it. Egypt had the right to anything of historical or archaeological importance. What was left was divided.
There were so many papyri to go around that they had very little value. You could buy antiquities throughout Egypt. What most concessionaires found was of little value. Items were found in bulk - and had they been left in Egypt, we would have learned very little from them.
Had the Rosetta Stone remained in Egypt, archaeologists may still be trying to decipher hieroglyphics. The stone would probably be shelved somewhere in a museum basement, or would have been sold in a Cairo or Luxor market place and now used as a doorstop in a home.
Some things never change.
Had the Rosetta Stone remained in Egypt, archaeologists may still be trying to decipher hieroglyphics. The stone would probably be shelved somewhere in a museum basement, or would have been sold in a Cairo or Luxor market place and now used as a doorstop in a home.
Again, some things never change.