DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51705#0013
INTRODUCTION
1. The excavations undertaken by the British
School of Archaeology in Egypt at Gurob were
carried onfrom the 11th January to the 6 th April, 1920.
I left Prof. Petrie’s work on the Pyramid of Illa-
hun on the 11th January with about one-third of the
Qufti workmen, i. e. about 16 men; I was joined
by Mr. Guy Brunton on the 25 th February, and
by Mrs. Brunton on the 2nd March. We con-
tinued together until I had to leave Prof. Petrie’s
work to enter the Antiquities Department on March
21st, 1920. The labours of the camp were divided
as follows: Mrs. Brunton did all the drawings of
the objects except those of the pots and beads, which
she shared with me; Mr. Brunton did the grave
recording and the men’s accounts, while I under-
took the photography, part of the pot and bead
drawings, and divided the recording with Mr.
Brunton. My wife kept house for us during most
of the period.
Prof. Petrie helped us in the tying-in of the
survey points and Mr. G. Jeffreys made plans
of the mastabas. A few of the scarabs and small
objects were drawn by Mrs. Petrie, and Miss
Hughes, before the arrival of Mrs. Brunton,
when I was unable to keep pace with the draw-
ing work. My thanks are due to Dr. Alan
H. Gardiner and Mr. Battiscombe Gunn for trans-
lations of texts.
The digging was done, as in previous years, by
a nucleus of workmen from Quft, but here, in
addition to them, we had a number of Fayumi
workmen from Mr. J. de M. Johnson’s Graeco-
Roman work (as he was not excavating this season),
together with other local men whom we had found
satisfactory in previous years.
Our reasons for returning to this already
much-excavated site were that our observations
there, both before the war when at El-Harageh,
and at the beginning of this season, showed
very clearly that the graves were by no means
finished.
We have adhered to the name Gurob instead
of using the more correct form “Medinet Ghurab,”
“Raven Town,” because this name Gurob has be-
come well-known from the publications of graves,
temple sites, papyri etc. Its Arab name is barely
used by the local inhabitants, who content them-
selves with the designation of “El Birbeh”.
2. Our work has suffered greatly through the lack
of published maps showing the extent of previous
excavations, a great deal of our time having been
spent in opening up graves already cleared. It was
difficult to know what to open and what to leave.
One would hardly expect to find anything of in-
terest in graves already cleared by excavators, but
here there has been an appalling amount of illicit
digging, and it is a well-established fact that dealers,
working hurriedly, leave about as much in graves as
they take out, and nearly all the tomb digging at Gurob
has been done illicitly. To clear such a site down to
rock would have been a work far above our finances,
and would not now be worth the expense. There was
some excuse, in the early days of archaeology, for
not surveying the sites worked, but now it is a prime
necessity. The omission of maps of this district in
the early publications has given modern excavators a
great deal of trouble. In the case of the Theban
necropolis, for example, an excavator may strike a
dozen large tombs and find later that they have been
already cleared, and sometimes published in great
detail, but with the locality not stated. Post-war prices
have compelled us to reduce the number of half-tone
plates to three, but nothing of importance was found
which could not be shewn in Mrs. Brunton’s draw-
ings. The necessity for the publication of more
important results from subsequent excavations, is
the chief cause of the delay in the issuing of this
volume. (R. E.)
1. The excavations undertaken by the British
School of Archaeology in Egypt at Gurob were
carried onfrom the 11th January to the 6 th April, 1920.
I left Prof. Petrie’s work on the Pyramid of Illa-
hun on the 11th January with about one-third of the
Qufti workmen, i. e. about 16 men; I was joined
by Mr. Guy Brunton on the 25 th February, and
by Mrs. Brunton on the 2nd March. We con-
tinued together until I had to leave Prof. Petrie’s
work to enter the Antiquities Department on March
21st, 1920. The labours of the camp were divided
as follows: Mrs. Brunton did all the drawings of
the objects except those of the pots and beads, which
she shared with me; Mr. Brunton did the grave
recording and the men’s accounts, while I under-
took the photography, part of the pot and bead
drawings, and divided the recording with Mr.
Brunton. My wife kept house for us during most
of the period.
Prof. Petrie helped us in the tying-in of the
survey points and Mr. G. Jeffreys made plans
of the mastabas. A few of the scarabs and small
objects were drawn by Mrs. Petrie, and Miss
Hughes, before the arrival of Mrs. Brunton,
when I was unable to keep pace with the draw-
ing work. My thanks are due to Dr. Alan
H. Gardiner and Mr. Battiscombe Gunn for trans-
lations of texts.
The digging was done, as in previous years, by
a nucleus of workmen from Quft, but here, in
addition to them, we had a number of Fayumi
workmen from Mr. J. de M. Johnson’s Graeco-
Roman work (as he was not excavating this season),
together with other local men whom we had found
satisfactory in previous years.
Our reasons for returning to this already
much-excavated site were that our observations
there, both before the war when at El-Harageh,
and at the beginning of this season, showed
very clearly that the graves were by no means
finished.
We have adhered to the name Gurob instead
of using the more correct form “Medinet Ghurab,”
“Raven Town,” because this name Gurob has be-
come well-known from the publications of graves,
temple sites, papyri etc. Its Arab name is barely
used by the local inhabitants, who content them-
selves with the designation of “El Birbeh”.
2. Our work has suffered greatly through the lack
of published maps showing the extent of previous
excavations, a great deal of our time having been
spent in opening up graves already cleared. It was
difficult to know what to open and what to leave.
One would hardly expect to find anything of in-
terest in graves already cleared by excavators, but
here there has been an appalling amount of illicit
digging, and it is a well-established fact that dealers,
working hurriedly, leave about as much in graves as
they take out, and nearly all the tomb digging at Gurob
has been done illicitly. To clear such a site down to
rock would have been a work far above our finances,
and would not now be worth the expense. There was
some excuse, in the early days of archaeology, for
not surveying the sites worked, but now it is a prime
necessity. The omission of maps of this district in
the early publications has given modern excavators a
great deal of trouble. In the case of the Theban
necropolis, for example, an excavator may strike a
dozen large tombs and find later that they have been
already cleared, and sometimes published in great
detail, but with the locality not stated. Post-war prices
have compelled us to reduce the number of half-tone
plates to three, but nothing of importance was found
which could not be shewn in Mrs. Brunton’s draw-
ings. The necessity for the publication of more
important results from subsequent excavations, is
the chief cause of the delay in the issuing of this
volume. (R. E.)