How a Self-Taught Digger Became the Father of Egyptology: Ancient Labyrinths, Temples, and Mummies Discovered by Flinders Petrie

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In the history of Egyptology, the name of William Flinders Petrie is inscribed in gold letters - because he prevented the barbaric destruction of antiquities and developed the scientific methods of archaeological work, because he made hundreds and thousands of valuable finds and discoveries, because, in the end, he discovered the first mention of Israel on an ancient Egyptian stele. But the name of his wife Hilda got a much more modest role, like the names of other women who stood behind these discoveries, and this requires rethinking.

Calling from childhood

Formally, he did not receive an archaeological education, but this was not something out of the ordinary: not so few scientists of the second half of the 19th century were self-taught, especially since home education in the Petrie family was maintained at a high level. William Flinders Petrie was born in Charlton, Kent in 1853. He was, by the way, the grandson of the famous captain Matthew Flinders, the traveler and explorer of Australia, who gave the mainland this name. As a child, Petrie was distinguished by poor health, but a strong passion for learning, especially for the history of the ancient world.

He himself believed that he had been an archaeologist since childhood. The incident that spurred Petrie's interest in studying the material evidence of past civilizations was the discussion by the guests of the family about the excavation of an ancient Roman villa. As a child, Petrie was shocked at how carelessly and rudely priceless historical artifacts were removed from the ground. In his youth, he had the opportunity to delve into the past more than once: there were not so few Roman ruins in Britain. And at nineteen, Petrie took part in the study of Stonehenge with his father, an engineer.

Not without the influence and help of his father, Petrie's first expedition to Egypt took place, where he analyzed the architecture of the pyramids of Giza. This was the first of many years of travel - it took place in 1880. Since then, the young archaeologist has visited Egypt regularly, conducting excavations, looking for mummies and pyramids, tombs and religious objects, carefully documenting and describing what was discovered and developing research methods that will become generally recognized - careful and thorough sifting of the soil, ensuring the safety of found objects from destruction, protection from the influence of the sun, temperature changes and other unfavorable factors.

Petrie did not have his own funds for such a large-scale work, but he received financial support from Amelia Edwards - one of those women who made the success of an archaeologist possible. Amelia Edwards, a writer, was passionate about Egypt and its history, collecting a collection of works of ancient Egyptian art, which, however, was not surprising, since Europe in the second half of the 19th century was seized by Egypt. But if most lovers of antiquity were guided by consumer motives - to find, bring, sell (or decorate their own living room), then Edwards was interested in the preservation of Egyptian antiquities and the development of knowledge about Egyptian culture, and in this her views coincided with the Petrie worldview.

What and with whose help Flinders Petrie discovered

Thanks to the very financial support - from the writer or the sponsors she found - Flinders Petrie excavated one site after another, introducing new methods of work for archaeologists: before, too many finds were soon lost - due to rough extraction from the sand or improper storage, lack of fixation of finds and their correct description.

The name of Petri is associated with the finds in Fayyum, where the temple of Amenemkhet III, a necropolis, traces of an ancient labyrinth, and dozens of portraits that adorned mummies were discovered. He carried out excavations in different parts of Egypt, found dozens of pyramids and tombs of the pharaohs. There was another merit, which, according to the scientist's own forecasts, should have become “the most famous of all that he found”: this is a granite stele at the temple of Merneptah more than three thousand years old, on which the first mention of Israel was found among the hieroglyphs. It happened in 1896, by that time Petrie was already heading the Faculty of Egyptology at the University of London, established by the bequest of the recently deceased Amelia Edwards. He held this post until 1933.

Among the students of Flinders Petrie was an archaeologist who in 1922 discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun - Howard Carter. And in honor of the seventieth anniversary of the "father of British Egyptology" was established "Petrie Medal" - it was awarded every three years to British subjects who have achieved success in archeology. It is interesting that among the outstanding scientists recognized by the scientific community as worthy of the medal, there were entirely male names, and meanwhile, the role of women Egyptologists in the study of Egypt was already at least deserving of recognition in those years.

Petrie may be considered the father of Egyptology, but in this case, one of the "mothers" of this science may well be considered his wife, Hilda Petrie, nee Ulrin. Hilda was content with the role of wife with an outstanding husband, and meanwhile did almost a great job during the expeditions to Egypt, in which she constantly took part. The exception was the period of time when she raised a young son and daughter, but even then Hilda worked as a secretary at London College, lectured, wrote books.

There was something to write to her about - and it was not just about getting to know Petrie and getting married. Hilda Ulrin met with the archaeologist when she came to him to make sketches of ancient Egyptian clothing for a scientific publication. After some time, they got married, and the very next day after the wedding, the newlyweds went on an expedition to Egypt. There Mrs. Petrie, like her husband, went down into the mines, explored the tombs, making drawings and compiling catalogs. One of the sarcophagi found during the search contained twenty thousand hieroglyphs carved on it - all of them were carefully sketched by Hilda Petrie - in the field, lying on the ground, sometimes with the risk of collapse of ancient structures.

The Significance of Petrie's Work and the Distribution of Recognition

Hilda was also the leader of her own excavations - in Abydos, where she was accompanied by other women archaeologists - there were already many of them at the beginning of the 20th century. One such researcher was her husband's student, the feminist Margaret Murray, who only came to a course in Egyptology at the age of thirty, but nevertheless made a brilliant career even by the standards of the present time, conducting independent excavations and lecturing at Oxford.

Flinders Petrie was knighted in 1923 for his services in the field of Egyptology. In London, the Museum of Egyptian Archeology bears his name. Petrie developed a method for dating ceramics, set new standards in science, and thousands of antiquities he found can be found in dozens of museums around the world; the number of books written by the scientist is approaching a hundred. In his writings, he did not forget to pay tribute to his wife's contribution to the development of science.

Beginning in 1926, Petrie lived and worked in Palestine - with his wife. At the age of eighty, he retired from his post of professor and finally moved to Jerusalem, where he died at the height of World War II, in July 1942. According to Petrie's will, his body was buried in the local cemetery, and his head (brain) was donated to science, the Royal College of Surgeons. On the centenary of Petrie's birth, his widow established a scholarship for talented students, allowing them to travel to Egypt.

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