Egyptology
How
18th - 20th Century Climate Affected Pursuit of Egyptology
knowledge
Archeology
in Egypt started in earnest with the invasion of Egypt by Napoleon in the 18th
Century. Napoleon was accompanied by a group of scholars who after the
successful invasion started recording archaeological artifacts of Egypt. Their
findings were published in a book called the Description de l’ Egypt. Courtesy of these scholars finding, Jean-
Francois Champollion who was a French Historian and language expert was able to
interpret and decipher the ancient writings of the Egyptian in for the first
time in 1882[1].
The
deciphering of the Egyptian writings made it possible for scholars to read and
understand many writings which have been left by the past Egyptians. The
deciphering was the most important step leading to Egyptian archeology
otherwise known as the Egyptology. Egyptology is the study of ancient Egypt
culture and languages that existed between the 6th millennium BC to the first
century AD. It combines the latest archaeological methods and practices, to
decipher ancient Egyptian texts using philological and linguistic
investigations.
The
first document which was written by the pharaohs was written around 3150 BCE[2]
after the development of hieroglyphic script founded in Upper Egypt. The
preservation of the documents written by the pharaohs, their children and their
successors were greatly aided by the arid climate of Egypt. These documents
formed the foundation upon which Egyptology was founded.
The
history of Egypt was affected briefly after the Romans conquered Egypt at
around 31 BCE[3].
The coming of the Romans witnessed the introduction of Hellenism which greatly
influenced the Egyptian culture. This was because the Romans wanted Egyptian to
desert their way of living their religion particularly and start practicing
Catholicism. Because of this, the
Egyptian culture was greatly contaminated by this invasion. However, what contributed
significantly to the preservation of the Egyptian culture and their religion
was the existence of the hieroglyphic scripts which had been written on the
walls of the Egyptian temples. Introduction of Christianity in Egypt during the
1st century also contributed to the erosion of the Egyptian culture, in a way
when Greek alphabet was introduced in Egypt in 250 CE as a replacement of
Egypt’s hieroglyphic alphabets[4].
The
other great discovery that gave a big boost to the study of the Egyptology was
the discovery of Rosetta stone. A French engineer discovered the Rosetta stone,
and it contained hieroglyphic and demotic texts from Greece. Jean-François
Champollion helped to decipher what was inscribed in the Rosetta in 1822[5].
After the successful deciphering, Champollion together with an Italian scholar
embarked on an expedition of Egypt at around 1828 and published their findings
in a book named Monuments de L’Egypte et Nubie. Their expedition was followed
closely by another one by Karl Richard Lepsius in 1845. Sir John Gardener from
England also made an essential contribution to this end of copying and
collecting materials in Egypt. As a result of these expeditions, a lot of
information about Egypt was made available to European scholars and
archeologist who would later visit Egypt for archaeological purposes.
During
Muhammad Ali’s reign as the Egyptian president from 1805- 1849, the president
opened Egypt to foreigners and consular representatives. This ushered in the
period of adventures by the foreigners in search of antiquities. The ensuing
rash for antiquities was at times done in ways that can be categorized as
plunder. From this act of opening of Egypt to foreigners, it captivated the
establishments of numerous European Egyptian Museum collections. Most of the
museums relied on restocking mostly from smuggled and stolen Egyptian
artifacts. An archaeologist called
Auguste Mariette after discovering the Serapenum successfully approached Sa’id
Pasha who was a viceroy of Egypt to establish an Egyptian Museum as well as
open a department of services for the antiquities. The viceroy made Auguste
Mariette the director of both establishments. These two establishments were
instrumental in curtailment of uncontrolled plundering, collection and digging
of antiquities in an uncontrolled manner.
Egyptology
became an academic discipline was founded by three gentlemen from France,
Germany, and England. In 1880 a technique of scientifically recording
excavation in a controlled manner was introduced in Egypt by Sir Flinders
Petrie. Sir Petrie is credited with inventing techniques for excavation and
sequence dating which helped greatly in in the reconstruction of the Egyptian
history from Egypt’s ancient artifacts and cultures. This technique literally,
revolutionized archeology because it managed to shove back the origin of the
Egypt culture to 4500 BCE[6]. The establishment of British Egypt
Exploration Fund which was founded in 1882, promoted some excavation using the
newly founded Petrie’s principles.
There
are other factors, however, that affected the pursuit of knowledge of the
Egyptian past like first the tomb robbers. Tomb robbing took away with it
precious artifacts that archeologists would have pieced together to advance the
furtherance of the knowledge we have today of ancient Egypt. Secondly, stealing
of Egyptian Obelisk by the Romans also hindered the advancement of the
understanding of the Egypt past. Stealing them was tantamount to taking the
Egyptian history as the Obelisk was significant items central to the Egyptian
religion and culture. The two most notable Obelisks stolen from Egypt and now
found in Rome were Lateranense obelisk and Flamingo Obelisk. Other factors that
affected the furtherance of the knowledge included, the existence of people who
traded mummies for money and leisured antiquarians, the demand for Egyptian
artifacts by European museums and lastly individual. Like Giovanni Belzoni who
is famed for rooting and plundering Egyptian artifacts more than any other
individual.
Archeologist's
Differences About Nature and Purpose of Archaeology
Archeology
can be defined as the study of the human past and present using past material
remains. It is a subfield in the discipline of anthropology, which is the study
of human cultures. Archeologists study the past and present remains to pursue and
comprehend the understanding of past human culture and the way of living.
Archeologist main purpose is to reconstruct past cultures from material remains
touching on human activities, or items people made and left behind in the past.
These material remains are known as the artifacts.
From
these remains, archeologists try to re-model what that past culture was like.
Archeologists usually study the pattern of artifacts to give them clues about
how those people who used to use them lived. There are different types of
archaeology, such as historic, prehistoric, underwater and classic, however
more often than not the different kinds of archeology overlaps in nature and
purpose.
Most
relevant part of an archeologist is placing artifacts in their respective time
and space. The process of putting objects in the right space and identifying
the correct time is known as the context. This process finds its support from
what is known in the archeological circles as the geological law of
association. This law means that artifacts found in similar geological
placement are connected and contemporary to each other in addition to this,
objects which sit in lower layers are judged to be older than those which are
found above them (geological law of superposition)[7].
The
process and the nature of archeology often differ from an archeologist to
another. A perfect example is about the pyramids of Giza where two
Egyptologists who have undertaken a comprehensive scientific investigation to
uncover the engineering technology, religious and the cultural worth of the
Giza findings, could not agree on the interpretations of the evidence they had
found. In another instance, some archeologists do not agree with suggestions
made by classical Greek Historian Herodotus that slaves constructed the
Pyramids of Egypt. They are however they were all in agreement that;
innovation, good administration and social organization were key in the
formation of Egyptian civilization.
The
Roles of Divergent Views on Egypt’s Excavations and Discoveries.
The
major purpose of archeology is learning about how the human race evolved and
how the past communities and societies were developed. Most of the notable
societal developments occurred during the period of the prehistoric culture.
These ancient cultures existed during a time when writing had not yet been
discovered, and for that reason, there was no existing record of writing upon
which people would have referred to.
No
universal archeological theory can be said to be agreeable to all
archeologists. Over time, and as a result of professional rivalries in the
field of archeology, there have been several theories which have evolved. The
first archeological theory was known as cultural history archeology, which
major goal was to explain why cultures have evolved and adapted. Later on,
American archeologists rebelled against the cultural history archeology and
introduced processual archaeology. These archeologists, led by Binford and Kent
Flannery, introduced processual archeology which would be anthropological as
well as scientifically supported by hypothesis as well as scientific testing[8].
Another
factor that has played a significant role in the field of archeology is
imperialism. The basic entry point of
imperialism is power to dominate one society by another. This started from
Egypt’s archaic period, the middle period, the new kingdom, the Roman conquest
just to mention a few. Other factors that played an essential role in
archeology include sexism and racial prejudices.
Questions
Great Archeologists Neglect to Ask
The
great archeologists to start with, failed to address themselves to the question
on the impact of the discovery of human artifacts on the science of prehistoric
archaeology. There was a need to explore the links between real science and
fiction. The finding of the human antiquities and the acceptance of Charles
Darwin’s theory of evolution casted an aspersion as to how the social and
cultural nature of the human race could have been met within such a vast
period. This current course of events regarding time dramatically hinders the
conclusive dealing of contemporary issues that are emanating from a
re-evaluation about the meaning and interpretation of archaeological time.
The
archeologists also failed to address the question as to the accuracy of the
dating of the discovered artifacts. This is because the existing dating
techniques are still undergoing refinement and there has never been an accurate
dating technique, this then raises the fundamental moral question as to whether
the current information we rely on as the correct dating of the archeological
finding is correct after all. Even though there exists more than one method of
verifying the accuracy of artifacts dating, lack of accurate technique of
dating raises questions on the credibility of the accepted history of the human
race. If a precise method of dating is found some of the things that are
considered factual and certain today will undoubtedly be errors in the future.
Bibliography
Breasted, James Henry. 2001. Ancient
records of Egypt. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Fagan, Brian M. 2004.The rape of
the Nile: tomb robbers, tourists, and archaeologists in Egypt. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
[1] "Cracking the Egyptian code: the revolutionary life of
Jean-Francois Champollion." Choice Reviews Online 50
[2]
Jill Kamil, "Egyptology in the Early Twentieth Century," Labib
Habachi, 2007
[3]
Breasted, James Henry. "A History Of Egypt.
[4]
"Cracking the Egyptian code:
the revolutionary life of Jean-Francois Champollion." Choice Reviews
Online 50,
[5]
"Rosetta Stone Sequences."
Encyclopedia of Genetics, Genomics, Proteomics and Informatics, 2008.
[6]
Daly, Okasha El. Egyptology: the missing millennium: ancient Egypt in
medieval Arabic writings. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2009.
[7]
Rieppel, Olivier. "The “Law of Superposition”." Evolutionary Theory
and the Creation Controversy, 2011, 111-33.
