DOI article:
Griffith, Francis Ll.: Progress of Egyptology: archaeology, hieroglyphic studies, etc.
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11503#0068
56
Progress of Egyptology.
topography of Ancient Egypt, but scholars would also thereby be furnished with
a well arranged handbook to the accessible monuments and inscriptions in the
country."
A further legacy to the new Director from his official predecessors is the duty of
making full and scientific publication of the results of former excavations. " Not
only is there no full publication of the funeral outfit of Aahhetep, which first revealed
to us the treasures of the Egyptian goldsmith's art, but even the world-renowned
mastabas of Ty and Ptahhelep, excavated by Mariette—as to the artistic and
archaeological importance of which no word is needed—are still unpublished. The
publication of the Serapeum discovered by Mariette has never been completed. As
for the royal mummies and their belongings found in the pit at Deir el Bahri, the
discovery of which sixteen years ago excited such wide and well-founded enthusiasm,
although M. Masporo has dealt exhaustively with this in its historical aspects, and
also given an inventory of the objects found, there is still needed a full illustrated
account, including objects which at first might have appeared insignificant. ' And
we have no publications of the mastabas of Mereru . ke (Mery), Kagemni, and
Ptah . shepse?, discovered by M. de Morgan. For these we trust that we are not to
be kept waiting much longer, and that their appearance is not relegated to the Greek
Kalends in consequence of M. de Morgan's departure. Here again, we have indicated
only a few of the more obvious instances of neglected responsibilities. ... It
cannot be urged that the means are wanting for such costly publications. The
claims of science in the matter could be met by setting aside annually the cost of a
single excavation if the publications were instituted on a modest scale, after the
style of Flinders Petrie's Memoirs. But that excavations should be made and their
results—no matter how insignificant—withheld from the world of learning is a
course of proceeding against which no protest is too strong."
Herr SteindorfF then points out how impossible it is for a single official adequately
to supervise excavations and the preservation of the monuments and ruins, and at
the same time to administer the Museum of Cairo, the greatest Egyptian museum
in the world. On the lowest computation this museum (founded by Mariette
1857-8) contains—apart from its stores—four times as many antiquities as the
Egyptian Museum in Berlin, where " one director, two assistant keepers, and
several assistants are barely adequate to the official and scientific work for which
they are responsible." ... In the Museum at Cairo " there are at present—apart
from clerks—the chief, two keepers {conservateur.t), two assistant keepers
conserva/eur-adjoint.s), an artist (inspecteur-dcssinatetir), and a restorer (conservateur-
reparateur). Their employment is by no means confined to the administration of
the Museum, but is largely connected with excavations and the charge of the
monuments in the country. By reason of his extensive excavations M. de Morgan
himself could devote but a scanty portion of the year to his duties as chief of the
Museum, and the services of one assistant keeper, the artist and the restorer, were
likewise mostly claimed by work lying outside its walls. The remaining officials—■
one keeper and one assistant keeper—are Arabs, with slight scientific training, who
can do little therefore but attend to the ordinary routine business. For years, in
fact, the whole administration of the Muieum has rested in the hands of a single
keeper, Emil Brngsch-Bey, a German, and brother of the renowned Egyptologist,
Heinrich Brugsch, who died but a few years ago. It is obvious that under such
administrative conditions a scientific institution of the size and importance of the
Cairo Museum cannot fail to suffer. For instance, the Museum has no full,
scientific, and accessible catalogue to specify each antiquity and its provenance.
During certain years such an inventory was more or less kept for others it is
Progress of Egyptology.
topography of Ancient Egypt, but scholars would also thereby be furnished with
a well arranged handbook to the accessible monuments and inscriptions in the
country."
A further legacy to the new Director from his official predecessors is the duty of
making full and scientific publication of the results of former excavations. " Not
only is there no full publication of the funeral outfit of Aahhetep, which first revealed
to us the treasures of the Egyptian goldsmith's art, but even the world-renowned
mastabas of Ty and Ptahhelep, excavated by Mariette—as to the artistic and
archaeological importance of which no word is needed—are still unpublished. The
publication of the Serapeum discovered by Mariette has never been completed. As
for the royal mummies and their belongings found in the pit at Deir el Bahri, the
discovery of which sixteen years ago excited such wide and well-founded enthusiasm,
although M. Masporo has dealt exhaustively with this in its historical aspects, and
also given an inventory of the objects found, there is still needed a full illustrated
account, including objects which at first might have appeared insignificant. ' And
we have no publications of the mastabas of Mereru . ke (Mery), Kagemni, and
Ptah . shepse?, discovered by M. de Morgan. For these we trust that we are not to
be kept waiting much longer, and that their appearance is not relegated to the Greek
Kalends in consequence of M. de Morgan's departure. Here again, we have indicated
only a few of the more obvious instances of neglected responsibilities. ... It
cannot be urged that the means are wanting for such costly publications. The
claims of science in the matter could be met by setting aside annually the cost of a
single excavation if the publications were instituted on a modest scale, after the
style of Flinders Petrie's Memoirs. But that excavations should be made and their
results—no matter how insignificant—withheld from the world of learning is a
course of proceeding against which no protest is too strong."
Herr SteindorfF then points out how impossible it is for a single official adequately
to supervise excavations and the preservation of the monuments and ruins, and at
the same time to administer the Museum of Cairo, the greatest Egyptian museum
in the world. On the lowest computation this museum (founded by Mariette
1857-8) contains—apart from its stores—four times as many antiquities as the
Egyptian Museum in Berlin, where " one director, two assistant keepers, and
several assistants are barely adequate to the official and scientific work for which
they are responsible." ... In the Museum at Cairo " there are at present—apart
from clerks—the chief, two keepers {conservateur.t), two assistant keepers
conserva/eur-adjoint.s), an artist (inspecteur-dcssinatetir), and a restorer (conservateur-
reparateur). Their employment is by no means confined to the administration of
the Museum, but is largely connected with excavations and the charge of the
monuments in the country. By reason of his extensive excavations M. de Morgan
himself could devote but a scanty portion of the year to his duties as chief of the
Museum, and the services of one assistant keeper, the artist and the restorer, were
likewise mostly claimed by work lying outside its walls. The remaining officials—■
one keeper and one assistant keeper—are Arabs, with slight scientific training, who
can do little therefore but attend to the ordinary routine business. For years, in
fact, the whole administration of the Muieum has rested in the hands of a single
keeper, Emil Brngsch-Bey, a German, and brother of the renowned Egyptologist,
Heinrich Brugsch, who died but a few years ago. It is obvious that under such
administrative conditions a scientific institution of the size and importance of the
Cairo Museum cannot fail to suffer. For instance, the Museum has no full,
scientific, and accessible catalogue to specify each antiquity and its provenance.
During certain years such an inventory was more or less kept for others it is