Anyone walking through the villages on the west bank will be offered an array of artifacts by the locals. Most of these are obvious, and not particularly good, fakes but some of them do appear genuine. And as if the artifacts weren't enough there now appears to be a lot of plaster and relief fragments for sale. Again many of these are fake, but some of them are almost certainly genuine and with each fragment hacked out and sold another archaeological clue could be lost.

So what can be done ? The Egyptian government has been trying for years to move the villagers away to another area, but they have resisted due no doubt in part to the riches under their houses. I am sure that an area such as this, which is guaranteed as many visitors as it can handle could be run in such a way that enough money is raised to maintain the monuments and also keep the place clean. At the moment there doesn't appear to be much evidence of what the money raised through entrance fees is used for.

At the moment the entrance fee for many of the sites seems very low. Three tombs in the Valley of the Kings costs LE20 (about £4 or $6). Admission to the mortuary temples is similarly very cheap. I'm sure that the majority of the visitors to the area would gladly pay a little more if they could see it was being used to benefit the area and it's inhabitants.