DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11610#0172
i6o
TEN YEARS' DIGGING IN EGYPT
of thousands of pounds to lay bare the Hyksos level.
The town of the twelfth dynasty at Illahun, on the
contrary, yielded a harvest of small objects and
papyri, revealing all the products and habits of that
remote time, at a cost of two or three hundred
pounds; simply because it was unencumbered. The
temple of Ephesos cost sixteen thousand pounds, and
almost a life's work, to discover it, owing to its depth
under the surface. Naukratis and Defenneh, on the
contrary, gave us the remains of the archaic Greeks,
merely for the picking up and a little grubbing, both
together not costing a thousand. It is plain enough
that the main consideration is an accessible site.
An excellent rule in excavating is never to dig any-
where without some definite aim. Form at least some
expectation of what may be found ; and so soon as the
general clue to the arrangement is known, have clearly
in the mind what you expect to find, and what is the
purpose of every separate man's work. One may be
following the outside of a fortification, another trench-
ing across it to find its thickness, another sinking a pit
inside it to find the depth of the soil, another clearing
a room, or trenching to find the limits of the town, or
removing a rubbish deposit layer by layer. Unless
just beginning work on a very featureless site, the
aimless trenching or pitting is merely an excuse for a
lazy mind. Far better have some theory or working
hypothesis, and labour to prove it to be cither right
or wrong, than simply remain in expectancy. When
you know what to look for, the most trivial indica-
tions, which otherwise would seem to be nothing, be-
come of great importance and attract the eye. And
TEN YEARS' DIGGING IN EGYPT
of thousands of pounds to lay bare the Hyksos level.
The town of the twelfth dynasty at Illahun, on the
contrary, yielded a harvest of small objects and
papyri, revealing all the products and habits of that
remote time, at a cost of two or three hundred
pounds; simply because it was unencumbered. The
temple of Ephesos cost sixteen thousand pounds, and
almost a life's work, to discover it, owing to its depth
under the surface. Naukratis and Defenneh, on the
contrary, gave us the remains of the archaic Greeks,
merely for the picking up and a little grubbing, both
together not costing a thousand. It is plain enough
that the main consideration is an accessible site.
An excellent rule in excavating is never to dig any-
where without some definite aim. Form at least some
expectation of what may be found ; and so soon as the
general clue to the arrangement is known, have clearly
in the mind what you expect to find, and what is the
purpose of every separate man's work. One may be
following the outside of a fortification, another trench-
ing across it to find its thickness, another sinking a pit
inside it to find the depth of the soil, another clearing
a room, or trenching to find the limits of the town, or
removing a rubbish deposit layer by layer. Unless
just beginning work on a very featureless site, the
aimless trenching or pitting is merely an excuse for a
lazy mind. Far better have some theory or working
hypothesis, and labour to prove it to be cither right
or wrong, than simply remain in expectancy. When
you know what to look for, the most trivial indica-
tions, which otherwise would seem to be nothing, be-
come of great importance and attract the eye. And