Farewell Pharaoh

49 Pages·2012·5.93 MB·English

maY/JuNe 2012 miNerVamagaziNe.com

The Midas Cycladic
touch odyssey
London
Cruising
goes for
through
gold
the Classics
The myths
of opera Still digging
How ancient 130 years of
history inspired the Egypt
composers past Exploration
and present Society

Farewell Pharaoh

Celebrating the last 1,000 years of ancient Egyptian art
Volume 23 Number 3
5 ISSN 0957-7718
Interview with Dr Bob Brier, the American 5.9 05
£
Egyptologist known as ‘Mr Mummy’
9 770957771056
fromtheeditor-in-chief
East meets
Editor-in-Chief
Dr Mark Merrony FSA
Editor
Lindsay Fulcher
Publisher
West
Myles Poulton
Edtorial Consultant
Murray Eiland
Art Director
Nick Riggall
Minerva covers every kind of ancient art and archaeology from
Designers
all over the world – and we are proud to do so Lyndon Williams
Andy Baker
In a recent letter from a reader aspects of Egyptology is the morbid process
Editorial Advisory Board
we were pleased to hear that he of embalming and mummification. For those
Peter Clayton, FSA,
regarded Minerva as ‘a high who share this passion, there is an interview
London
point of European culture’. But with the American Egyptologist Dr Bob Brier.
Prof Claudine Dauphin,
when we reflect on this while Popularly known as ‘Mr Mummy’, he was the Paris
relating it to the contents of this first person to mummify a body on television Massimiliano Tursi,
issue, we will find we offer using ancient Egyptian methods! London
much more. We pride ourselves on our wide- Moving forward again to the Roman period, Prof Howard Williams,
reaching, overarching coverage, which includes the brilliant experimental research conducted by Chester
Oriental civilisations as well. Just look at the Dr David Sim on Roman plumbatae – lead- Prof Roger Wilson,
Vancouver
feature on the wonderful jade artefacts from the weighted throwing darts – provides sobering
tombs of the Chinese Western Han Dynasty, on testimony not only to a great empire gained by
Correspondents
show in an exhibition that opens on 5 May at institutional violence, but to the fact that little
David Breslin, Dublin
the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. seems to have altered in the human propensity Dr RB Halbertsma, Leiden
Visiting exhibitions and travelling are cultural for warfare, not least that sanctioned by the Florian Fuhrman, Lisbon
highlights for many, a trend that has persisted state. This tendency remained undiminished Dalu Jones, Italy
since the Enlightenment and the Grand Tour. during the Renaissance. Although armour was Dr Lina Christopoulou, Athens
So it is fitting to feature other exciting new hardly used in warfare by then, it was in this Dr Filippo Salviati, Rome
exhibitions. First, we come to The Twilight of period that it reached its aesthetic pinnacle, as Rosalind Smith, Cairo
the Pharaohs, a stunning array of late Egyptian represented by the splendid examples shown in
Minerva was founded in 1990
art at the Jacquemart-André Museum in Paris. our article on the Wallace Collection in London.
by Dr Jerome M Eisenberg,
Then, there is the marvellous display of lustrous Some would say that the epitome of modern
Editor-in-Chief 1990-2009
gold through the ages at Goldsmiths’ Hall in culture is opera, so many of whose plots have
Published in England by
London, and, finally, beautiful examples of been inspired by Graeco-Roman history and Clear Media Ltd on behalf of the
Roman glass at Curia Julia in the Roman myth. Opera critic Clare Colvin traces the Mougins Museum of Classical Art
Forum of the Eternal City. In this issue the influence of the Classical tradition on the great
armchair traveller can also enjoy a cultural composers. This influence is also apparent in Clear Media is a
tour of the Cycladic Islands. the glorious interior decoration and design of Media Circus Group company
www.clear.cc
Returning to the primal phase of Western opera houses around the world that were built
www.mediacircusgroup.com
development, we celebrate the long, 130-year in the Neo-classical period.
20 Orange Street,
history of the Egypt Exploration Society, In an era that has witnessed the wholesale
London WC2H 7EF
from the pioneering archaeology of the great technological shift to digital information, we
Tel: [phone];
Flinders Petrie to its most recent excavations in will strive to uphold this precious tradition, Fax: [phone]
Memphis, Thebes, Quesna and elsewhere in for we are proud of the cultural role that Email:
Egypt. For many, one of the most fascinating Minerva fulfils. [email protected]
ContribUtorS
Clare Colvin Dr Alice Stevenson Dr James Lin Dr Helen Clifford
is opera critic for the is a researcher in World is the Senior Assistant runs Swaledale Museum
Sunday Express, a Archaeology at the Keeper of Applied in reeth, north Yorkshire.
short story writer and Pitt rivers Museum, Art at the Fitzwilliam She is a Freeman of the
a novelist. Her novels University of oxford, Museum, Cambridge, Goldsmiths’ Company
include Masque of the where she specialises with responsibility for the and a Fellow of the
Gonzagas, set in the in Predynastic and Asian art collection. He University of Warwick.
time of Monteverdi, Early Dynastic Egypt helped set up the Selwyn A freelance writer and
and The Mirror Makers, and nubia. She is also and Ellie Alleyne Gallery researcher, she specialises
which reflects life at a trustee of the Egypt of Chinese Jade at the in the study of precious
Louis XiV ‘s Versailles. Exploration Society. british Museum in 2002. metals, old and new.
2 Minerva May/June 2012
inthenews
recent stories from the world of ancient art and archaeology
London’s Mithraeum moves again
The story of how a temple to
Mithras, a Persian mystery
cult god, came to be built
in the heart of London is a
fascinating enough story, even
if it had stopped there. Having
lain dormant for almost 1,700
years, the Temple of Mithras
was discovered in 1954, during
some preliminary digging to
make way for the Bucklersbury
House development. The
temple was moved, piece by
piece, to Temple Court, EC4
and reconstructed – with a
questionable degree of success.
Now, for the second time in a
century, it is on the move again.
n
o
The cult of the god Mithras d
is undoubtedly one of the most Tsuhrev Meyiethdr aperiuomr tios of Lon
mysterious and intriguing be being moved. uM
religions to have found its way Below: marble head of use
intMo itthher aRso wmaasn d eemrivpeirde .f rom Mcuirtihoruass Pwheryagriinagn hciasp . ures: M
an Indo-Iranian god of war Pict
who appealed particularly to archaeological dig prior to was conducive to the Mysteries. many, including WF Grimes,
soldiers, so the cult found its construction. It was Legal & Followers of Mithras entered who commented bitterly: ‘My
way from the East and quickly General who funded the work into darkness past fire. It also suggestions were completely
spread throughout the Roman by WF Grimes, the director represented the cave into which ignored… The result is virtually
empire from the 1st to the 4th of the London Museum. So Mithras had carried and killed meaningless as a reconstruction
centuries AD. great was the excitement that a bull. So the reconstruction of a Mithraeum’.
With its secretive rites, for the excavation was open to of this temple, open to the Now there is the chance to
initiates only, and gory bull the public for two hours each elements and on top of a do justice both to the work
sacrifices, Mithraism has evening, with crowd control car-park, was lamented by of Grimes and to the temple
captured the imagination of provided by the police. itself. With the demolition
many over the past 2,000 years, Eight years after its discovery, of Bucklersbury House,
from Thomas More, who, in the temple site was fully Bloomberg LP, the developers,
his novel Utopia, published in restored on Queen Victoria have funded the reinstatement
1516, called his deity Mithras, Street, only 90 metres from of the temple, on its original
through to post-war Londoners where it had been. It was hailed site near where the ancient
whose imaginations were fired by some as a triumph, while River Walbrook ran.
by the extraordinary find in others remained sceptical. Over winter the temple was
September 1954. Most of the intricate carvings painstakingly deconstructed,
The uncovering of the from its interior had been taken with far more diligence than
temple, aided by the find of to museums, many of the when it had been erected,
a very photogenic sculpted construction stones had been every piece cleaned, stored
head of Mithras, led to quite disposed of in graveyards and, and numbered. The next step
a commotion in Churchill’s most disappointing of all, it will be the movement and
capital, which even saw the had been reconstructed on only reconstruction of this material.
Prime Minister dispatching Sir one level. One of the most This should allow some of the
David Eccles, the Minister for distinctive features of this mystery, spirit and authenticity
Works, to the dig site. religion is the Mithraeum itself, of the site to be recaptured, so
The whole incident led to which is always below ground that it will fire the imagination
the now-commonplace policy and windowless. It is thought of visitors when it reopens.
of the developer funding an that this or underworld context Geoff Lowsley
Minerva May/June 2012 3
inthenews
Mayan smoking pot discovered
It is well documented that smoking featured speculation that the substance smoked may the molecular weight, elemental composition
strongly in the culture of the Maya. There have had hallucinogenic properties; while this and structural characteristics of the debris
are a multitude of extant pots, dishes and may have been the case in some instances, it within the vessel.
bowls that depict men, women, gods and can now be safely said that at least some of What was found was nicotine remains,
even monkeys with a variety of cigar and the time the Maya smoked plain tobacco. but without the by-products produced by
cigarette-type devices between pursed lips, In a joint effort between scientist Dmitri burning tobacco; it was concluded that,
frequently with distinctive curls of smoke Zagorevski, Director of the Proteomics Core at the time the pot was deposited in the
emanating in a quintessential Mayan style. at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and archaeological record, the contents must
The Sanctuary of the Temple Cross at Jennifer Loughmiller-Newman, a doctoral have been unsmoked tobacco leaves. Adding
Palenque (in modern Mexico) is host candidate in the anthropology department an extra dimension to the study, the pot is
to the a stone door panel aptly named at the University of Albany, New York, decorated with hieroglyphics which it had
‘El Fumador’, which shows an tobacco remains have been been supposed indicated that it was used to
elderly deity smoking a large identified and analysed in a store tobacco.
cigar. This cigar resembles the pot dating to circa AD 700. This is the first time a substantial link
kind still used by South While the pot itself is similar has been made between pot decoration and
American tribes in religious to many others that contents, which has exciting implications for
ceremonies, leading some have been found, other vessels decorated in this way. It will be
to conclude that they it has not been interesting to see if these techniques can be
were used for similar subject to the applied to other pot contents in the future,
purposes by the Maya. natural corrosion, as Loughmiller-Newman and Zagorevski
ress It had, however, never water damage and have stated they would like it to be.
ng been firmly established bacteria that usually There may even be scope to prove (or
o
of c what exactly the Maya clean out remnants disprove) the theory of the Maya as smokers
y smoked. The theory that from such vessels. of hallucinogenic material, which would put
r
a
br smoking played a role in This has allowed a series a new slant on the phrase ‘pot smoker’!
us Li religious practices has led to of complex tests to ascertain Geoff Lowsley
Giant Juno arrives in Boston
The goddess Juno has arrived at the of Juno provides a unique opportunity devoted to the gods, goddesses and
Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, her for everyone in the Museum family to heroes of ancient Greece and Rome.
final stop after a more than century-long be involved in the conservation of the ‘You would have to travel to
journey from Rome. Measuring 13 feet largest Roman statue in the United States. Rome to see such a monumental
and weighing 13,000 pounds, this colossal Visitors will be able to observe the and impressive marble
work is the largest Classical statue in the detailed process needed to return sculpture,’ said Christine
United States. her to her former glory and can Kondoleon, the MFA’s
Dated to the Imperial Period, Juno also support the effort through George D and Margo
probably graced a civic building or temple the MFA’s public appeal,’ Behrakis Senior Curator of
in Rome. The goddess is identified by announced Malcolm Rogers, Greek and Roman Art.
her crescent crown, drapery, and facial Ann and Graham Gund ‘MFA visitors will be
features. Revered by the Romans as Director of the MFA. awestruck by the physical
guardian of marriage and childbirth, Juno’s journey to the MFA presence of the gods and
Juno was also protector and special was organised using state-of-the-art the power of the empire.
counsellor of the state. The daughter of conservation methods and modes We are delighted to
Saturn, sister and wife of Jupiter, and of transport. To ensure her safe welcome Juno to the
mother of Mars and Vulcan, she was arrival, she was encased in a MFA, where she will be an
worshipped as part of the Capitoline specially built protective cradle. outstanding addition to the
triad (Jupiter, Juno and Minerva), the Because of her size, the statue and Museum’s Greek and Roman
three most important gods of the Roman her cradle had to be lifted by collection, among the finest
state religion. Her Greek counterpart was crane, then lowered through a holdings in the world.’
Hera, wife of Zeus. skylight into the museum. Lindsay Fulcher
Juno is now on show in the MFA’s Visitors can now observe
George D and Margo Behrakis Wing for conservators working on the You can follow Juno’s progress
Art of the Ancient World. sculpture in situ as part of the on the MFA’s website at:
n
thiIsn eoxrtdraero rtdoi nsuapryp ostrat ttuhee, cao pnusebrlvica taipopne oafl MproFgAr’sa mComnes.e Ervvaetniotuna ilnly ,A Jcutnioon w ill wcownwse.rmvafati.oonrg/c/coonlcleocntsioernvsa/tion bosto
a,
for funding was launched. ‘Our acquisition be the focal point of a gallery conservationinaction_juno Mf
4 Minerva May/June 2012
Small Bronze Age hoard in Wales
In June 2011 Kevin Sawyer was treasure by the HM Coroner
sweeping a small field with his for Carmarthenshire. While
metal detector when he found a ‘treasure’ is usually thought of
hoard of 13 bronze items. This in relation to precious metals,
was reported to Amgueddfa the Treasure Act of 1996
Cymru, the National Museum (revised 2002) also states that
Wales, then passed on to if two or more pieces of base
archaeologists working for metal, of prehistoric date,
the Portable Antiquities are found buried in direct
Scheme in Wales. Sawyer led association, then this also
the archaeologists back to the constitutes treasure.
find area so that they could The hoard is currently
contextualise the artefacts and undergoing an independent
make a full survey. valuation process which, it is
What he had found included hoped, will also help relate the
fragments of a bronze bracelet, find to others from the Late
spearhead and socketed axe, value. While the bracelet and the Bronze Age Collections at Bronze Age in West Wales.
among other small pieces. the spearhead both contribute Amgueddfa Cymru, commented: Carmarthenshire County
As the items were buried valuable information to ‘The raw materials and casting Museum has already expressed
together in a small pit, they typologies of Bronze Age style by-products also within the interest in acquiring the hoard
were considered to be a hoard, and help further reconstruct hoard add to our wider picture following valuation and hopes
and the fact that they are all a picture of the material of bronze casting towards the that it will remain in the area
made of the same material but possessions of this period, the end of the Bronze Age.’ Dated so that the local community
are fragments suggests that they ‘scrap’ items are also valuable. to around 800-1000 BC, the will have access to it.
were kept for their intrinsic Adam Gwilt, Curator of hoard has been declared to be Geoff Lowsley
Bank sponsors conservation grants
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has always repairing cracks, finishing, stabilisation and
been committed to supporting the arts – first overall preservation.
in the United States, and more recently The Nimrud ivories at Baghdad’s Iraq
worldwide. The Bank of America Merrill Museum are carvings that illustrate the
Lynch Art Conservation project is a unique beliefs and myths of the ancient Assyrian
programme that provides grants to non- civilisation. They were probably brought to
profit museums throughout the world to Nimrud from Syria and Egypt between the
conserve historically or culturally significant 9th and the 7th century BC to decorate
works of art that are in danger of furniture in the Assyrian royal palace.
degeneration. These include works that have Unfortunately, many of these exquisite M
u
been designated national treasures. pieces have been badly damaged by decades use
M
The programme was initiated in 2010 in of poor storage and the looting of the as
H
Europe, the Middle East and Africa; it has museum in 2003. Treatment will take place n
a
been expanded to the Americas, Asia and at the Iraq Institute, in partnership with the rez
Australia, with conservation projects in 19 University of Delaware.
Urartian fibulae, 9th-7th century BC, also from
global markets. Among this year’s recipients Shanghai Museum has an impressive Rezan Has Museum.
are Istanbul’s Rezan Has Museum, Baghdad’s collection of ancient bronzes, including
Iraq Museum and Shanghai Museum. jians, which are water vessels used for elaborately decorated, inlaid with turquoise
The Rezan Has Museum’s extensive bathing and for storing water and ice and engraved with decorative patterns.
collection of Urartian jewellery is the most commonly used during the spring and One large bronze jian with a dragon
comprehensive of its kind in Turkey. It autumn period (770-476 BC). Some were pattern shattered when it was unearthed.
contains some 1,000 items, including Conservation will begin with piecing the
Urartian bangles, 9th-7th century BC, from the
hairpins, diadems, bracelets and fibulae. fragments together and patching the areas
Rezan Has Museum’s collection.
Many are decorated with religious or for which parts have been lost. Then the
magical motifs reflecting the mystical dragon pattern will be trimmed meticulously
thought, religious beliefs and traditions of to restore it to its original glory.
Urartian society. Other works of art benefiting from the
Urartu was the northern neighbour and programme are as varied as a 16th-century
rival of the Assyrian empire from the 9th to Japanese folding screen and mural sketches
the 7th century BC. Conservation of items by the Mexican artist Diego Rivera.
in this collection will include cleaning, Nicole Benazeth
Minerva May/June 2012 5
inthenews
Antiquities trial ends in acquittals
Following eight years of indictments and an Authority that the second part of the
extraordinarily lengthy trial, Oded Golan, inscription, concerning Jesus, was added
a prominent Israeli collector in Tel Aviv, in 2000, following its earlier acquisition
and Robert Deutsch, a distinguished dealer by Mr Golan. In addition the prosecution
and highly respected scholar in Jaffa, were also charged him with being the head of a
acquitted on 7 March by judge Aharon forgery ring for over 30 years.
Farkash of the District Court in Jerusalem The ‘Jehoash tablet’, a sandstone slab,
of charges of creating and forging biblical (H. 61cm, W. 30cm) has an incised Hebrew
antiquities, most prominently the ‘James text that confirms the repairs made to the
ossuary’ and the ‘Jehoash tablet’. Temple of King Solomon in Jerusalem
In 29 December 2004 the Israeli police during the reign of King Jehoash, ruler
had filed criminal charges against them and of Judea, as written in the Bible, Kings 2,
two other men who were later acquitted. Chapter 12, and is purported to be the first
The trial, which drew worldwide attention, 2002 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review extant royal Israelite inscription. It has
lasted some six years, with 116 hearings, (then, in Minerva January/February 2003). been dated both to the 9th century BC and
138 witnesses, including 52 scholars, It is a limestone casket (L. 56cm, W. 25cm, as a copy made in the 6th century BC.
experts, and 36 museum and auction H. 30.5cm) of the type commonly used to While both Mr Golan and Mr Deutsch
house employees, conservators, dealers and house human skeletal remains in Jerusalem were both acquitted on the charges of
w.
collectors. The scholars and experts were from the 1st century BC to the 2nd century forgery and fraud, Mr Golan was found vie
called mostly in defence of the authenticity AD. The incised inscription, ‘Yakov, son guilty of dealing in antiquities without a y re
g
of both of the principal pieces. The of Yosef, brother of Yeshua’, could be the permit and of a second minor offence of o
oL
transcripts totaled 12,000 pages and the earliest known reference to Jesus except for acquiring objects that were suspected of ae
H
judge’s ruling was 475 pages in length! the Bible. Yakov, or James, was the brother being stolen property. He will be sentenced rc
a
The ossuary (shown above right) was of Yeshua, or Jesus. next December. aL
c
first published in the November/December It was claimed by the Israel Antiquities Dr Jerome M Eisenberg bLi
bi
Early gold hoard is safe in Ireland
A hoard of Early Bronze Age within a few hours of this
goldwork discovered, not in a information being received,
field but in a safe stolen from a An Garda Síochána moved
pharmacy in Ireland in March quickly to secure the skip and
2009, is now on show at the arranged for the refuse to be
National Museum of Ireland, examined. The detectives who
Country Life, Turlough Park, undertook this very unappealing
Castlebar, Co. Mayo. task were amply rewarded by
The hoard consists of a gold the recovery of the gold items,
lunula, a crescent-shaped collar, complete and undamaged.
and two small gold discs dating Curators from the National
to the Early Bronze Age, circa Museum’s Irish Antiquities
2300-1800 BC. The three items Division traced the story back
had been placed in a safe in the and found that the hoard had
pharmacy owned by the Sheehan first been unearthed by a Mr
family in Strokestown, Co. Hubert Lannon, when cutting
Roscommon, in 1947. turf in his bog at Coggalbeg,
Because the objects are thin Co. Roscommon, in March
and flat and extremely light in 1945. They had been placed in
weight, about 2½ozs (78g), it the safe two years later and had
was thought that they might only been seen by members of
have been missed completely the Sheehan family on two
when the contents of the safe occasions since then.
were examined by the robbers. If it had not been for the
Luckily, this proved to be the case. robbery, they could still have
The investigating detectives been hidden away in the safe
established that all the papers today. In a further strange twist
from the safe had been dumped of fate, Mr Lannon died, aged
in a skip in Dublin. As the 93, 10 days before the robbery.
refuse was due to be collected Lindsay Fulcher
6 Minerva May/June 2012
1 2
Still digging ...
Dr Alice Stevenson traces the 130-year-old history of the Egypt Exploration Society
T
he year 1882 was a busy 1. Howard Carter and the Egypt Exploration Society (EES)
4
one for the novelist and a group of workmen remains the foremost UK organisa-
journalist Amelia Edwards. move material away tion responsible for archaeological
It opened with a flurry of from the temple site fieldwork and research in Egypt.
at Deir el-Bahri.
letter-writing, the responses to Soon after announcing the forma-
which did not disappoint her. tion of what was initially called the
2. The tramway
Heinrich Schliemann wrote from Egypt Exploration Fund (EEF), the
allowed the Egypt
Troy to say that he had read her let- Exploration Fund to committee began the search for
ter with ‘profound interest’. Sir clear great quantities someone to conduct their first exca-
Erasmus Wilson forwarded £100 of debris from the vations. Their plan was to concen-
for the cause. Robert Browning had ancient site. trate upon investigations in the
no objection. The Archbishop of Delta, for it was here that a long-
3. A young Flinders
Canterbury was happy to lend his lost period of Biblical history was
Petrie, in 1880, outside
name, as was the Chief Rabbi. Lord thought to lie. They had some initial
a rock tomb at Giza
Carnarvon also came on board, as difficulties, however, in finding a
in which he lived for
did the excavator of Nineveh, Sir two winters. suitable excavator.
Henry Layard, and ‘Darwin’s bull- The Head of Antiquities in Egypt,
dog’, Professor Thomas Huxley, 4. Portrait of Amelia Gaston Maspero, had rejected their
would also be a sponsor. With such Edwards, who founded suggestion that Schliemann direct
support Amelia submitted a notice the Egypt Exploration their first campaign. Instead it of the 1880s on the Giza plateau
Fund (now the Egypt
to The Times, published on 30 March would fall to the Swiss scholar making precise measurements of the
Exploration Society)
1882, announcing that ‘a Society Edouard Naville to take the helm, Great Pyramid and was keen to
in 1882.
has been formed for the purpose of and in January 1883 he set out for return. Petrie held a very different
excavating the ancient sites of the Cairo and then on towards Tell el- view of archaeology to Naville, one
Egyptian Delta’. Today, 130 years later, Maskhuta in the eastern Delta. It in which all types of materi3al
was here that Naville cleared sev- remains were considered valuable
3 eral brick chambers in the temple evidence of past society, not simply
area. He took no time in claiming the grand monuments or detailed
that these should be identified with inscriptions that Naville so impa-
the store-city of Pithom, one of the tiently sought. It was fortunate for
cities which according to Exodus the EEF, therefore, that when
was built for the Pharaoh with the Naville was unable to return to
labour of Hebrew exiles. Egypt in 1883, the indefatigable
Naville’s discoveries were widely Petrie was eager to take his place.
published, but they were not univer- Yet it would prove to be the begin-
sally applauded. One of his most ning of a tumultuous relationship,
vocal critics was the young Flinders and after only three years of work-
Petrie. He had spent the early part ing in the Delta, at sites such as the
Minerva May/June 2012
5
7
6
monarchs. From these remains
8
Petrie was able to piece together
their line of succession for the first
time and fill in more of those gaps
that a decade earlier had seemed so
difficult to account for in his History
of Egypt. It would need to be thor-
oughly rewritten.
Petrie’s association with the EEF
was again short-lived and, follow-
Greek city of Naukratis, Petrie ter- 5. Archaeologists ing further disputes with the com-
minated his association with the measure a millstone at mittee, he set up his own
Fund following disagreements over Kom el-Daba in 2011. independent enterprise – the British
management. It was not until 1897 School of Archaeology in Egypt.
6. Conducting a
that Petrie could be persuaded to The EEF’s connection with
high-tech geophysical
excavate under its aegis once again. Abydos, on the other hand, was
survey on the West
In the intervening period Naville much longer-lived, with work con-
Bank in Luxor in 2012.
had begun the enormous task of tinuing on and off at the site into
clearing away debris that had 7. Bernard Grenfell the 1930s. Notably, this included
engulfed the New Kingdom temple and Arthur Hunt epigraphic projects within the
of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el- outside their tent in Temple of Seti I, sponsored by
Bahri for centuries. The work of the the desert. JDRockerfeller. With this funding
EEF here revealed for the first time As the 19th century drew to a two artistically skilled ladies, Amice
8. Amice Calverley
the layout and decoration of this close, Petrie’s attentions turned to Calverley and Myrtle Broome, were
and Myrtle Broome
now famous site. Among Naville’s Egypt’s prehistory. He had written able to produce four sumptuous
recorded some of Seti
team was a young Englishman, only I’s exquisite temple the first edition of his History of volumes beautifully recording some
19 years old, who had been hired to reliefs. Egypt in 1894, but his chapter on of Seti I’s exquisite temple reliefs.
draw temple reliefs. His name was the time before the First Dynasty While Petrie’s work at Abydos for
Howard Carter. It was here on the 9. A watercolour of was brief and he could make no the Fund had revealed some of
EEF excavations at Deir el-Bahri Queen Ahmose made mention of specific sites or finds. All ancient Egypt’s earliest material, the
by Howard Carter,
that he gained his first valuable this changed with the recognition of Fund’s efforts in the Fayum and at
taken from a temple
experiences as an archaeologist. Predynastic Egyptian culture in the Oxyrhynchus illuminated the later
relief at Deir el-Bahri,
When Petrie returned to work for mid-to-late 1890s, and it was
when he was working
the Fund in 1897 he, too, oversaw for the EEF. Petrie’s 1898-99 EEF-sponsored 9
the training of a new generation of expedition to Diospolis Parva in
Egyptologists and archaeologists, Upper Egypt that provided the
such as John Garstang (first profes- opportunity to give shape to this
sor of archaeology at the University previously unknown period.
of Liverpool) and David Randall- The following year, Petrie was
MacIver (excavator of Great able to bring the same attention to
Zimbabwe), to name just two of the detail to the excavation of the tombs
many individuals whose careers of Egypt’s first rulers at Abydos, a
he helped launch. Petrie also now place that was for him ‘by far the
had at his side a loyal team of expe- finest site in Egypt’, set as it is
rienced and skilled local Egyptian against the arresting backdrop of
excavators, the Quftis, men origi- white limestone cliffs in the area
nally from the town of Quft in known today as the Umm el-Qa’ab.
Upper Egypt. These archaeological His team began to sift through the
foremen are still employed today by fragmentary remnants of the mas-
foreign archaeological missions sive funerals that had been assem-
working in Egypt. bled for these Early Dynastic
Minerva May/June 2012 9
11
his death in 1971. As he cleared as the building of the Aswan High
these immense structures he became Dam threatened to destroy whole
increasingly obsessed with finding swathes of ancient land and the
among them the tomb of Imhotep, modern communities that still
the man history claimed was the inhabited it. In response, UNESCO
architect of the first pyramid. When, mounted an international rescue
in 1956, Emery encountered hun- campaign and the Society contrib-
dreds of sherds from smashed ibis- uted by extending its documenta-
mummy jars, he thought he was on tion of Buhen, Semna and Kumma.
10 the right track, for these were asso- All are now lost beneath the waters
ciated with the god Thoth, who was of Lake Nasser. One fortress, how-
Greek and Roman periods. The 10. John Pendlebury, in turn associated with Imhotep. ever, survived – Qasr Ibrim, which
directors of these projects, Bernard wearing a pectoral, But instead what the Society was to had been inhabited continuously
strikes a Pharaonic
Grenfell and Arthur Hunt, retrieved document were the vestiges of Late from antiquity until the 19th cen-
pose at Amarna
thousands of fragments of ancient Period/Ptolemaic structures devoted tury and is now simply an island in
during the 1930s.
papyri between 1898 and 1907. to the cult of sacred animals. Here, the lake. The EES has been working
A century later, scholars are still 11. Two of the Egypt at Saqqara, the animal cemeteries here since the 1960s, revealing a
painstakingly working through this Exploration Society’s were extensive and elaborate, as wealth of well-preserved material.
material, each year publishing fur- archaeologists continuing publications of the EES Amid tombs, temples and tells,
ther texts for the EES and bit by bit excavating a burial campaigns demonstrate. the EES has for the last 130 years
revealing more of the rich tapestry in Quesna in 2011. Over the last century, exploration been busy documenting and dissem-
of Greek and Roman life in Egypt. by the Society has not been confined inating archaeological knowledge
12. Small (7cm high)
In the aftermath of the First to the Egyptian Nile Valley. To the of Egypt – and it has never been
ivory statue of King
World War the Society focused its south, between the First Cataract at busier. The year 2012, like 1882,
Khufu – the only
efforts on Middle and Upper Egypt. known image of the Aswan and the Sixth Cataract north began with a flurry of writing. Now,
This included ground-breaking builder of the great of Khartoum, lay numerous sites that the EES’s communications are
work at the iconic city of Tell el- Pyramid at Giza – piqued the interest of Egyptologists, increasingly shared through emails,
Amarna, built for the heretic king, found by Flinders for this was part of what the ancient electronic newsletters and social
Akhenaten, as a centre for his Petrie’s exacavation Egyptians called Nubia. networking sites rather than letters.
at Abydos in 1903.
monotheistic cult of the Aten sun- When the Suez Crisis forced a The Society continues to organise
disc. Initial excavations were con- restriction on archaeological investi- fieldwork and surveys in Egypt. It is
ducted by Leonard Woolley, who gations in Egypt in 1957, the EES also actively engaged in archival
would later find fame for his discov- took the opportunity to explore research at its London office, which
eries at the Sumerian city of Ur. Buhen, an imposing fortification built organises lectures and seminars
Subsequently, following brief stints in the second millennium BC on an across the country, as well as eve-
by Henri Frankfort and Francis ancient national frontier. In the ning classes and study days. It is still
Newton, it was the charismatic 1960s, this area faced its own crisis involved with training the next gen-
John Pendlebury who came to direct eration of Egyptologists, principally
the EES explorations in the city and 12 through field-schools in collabora-
the royal tombs in the 1930s. In the tion with our Egyptian colleagues.
1970s Barry Kemp renewed the Current research projects include
EES’s investigation of the site, the excavations at major Delta sites, sur-
results of which are still being pub- veys of the first Egyptian capital of
lished by the Society today. Memphis (around Cairo) and map-
Another of the sites that features ping of the changing river course at
prominently in the history of the Thebes (Luxor). All are providing
EES is that of Saqqara, just outside valuable insights into the constantly
modern Cairo. This area is domi- changing Egyptian landscape and its
nated by the first-known ancient complexities. It is with such cutting-
Egyptian pyramid, the step pyramid edge projects and an increasingly
of King Djoser, built around 2630- active education programme that the
2611 BC. Yet it is not Saqqara’s old- EES looks forward to another 130
est monument. Along the cliff-face, years of exploring Egypt and inspir-
the ancient Egyptians of the early ing its appreciation. n
third millennium BC erected enor-
mous mud-brick tombs. Many of For more on the Egypt Exploration
these were excavated for the Society Society visit www.ees.ac.uk
by Bryan Emery between 1952 and
10 Minerva May/June 2012
The last days of
the Pharoahs
Lindsay Fulcher reports on a stunning new exhibition in Paris showing artistic
masterpieces from the final thousand years of Ancient Egyptian civilisation
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