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Diary Transcription:

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Tuesday, January 18, 1910 (continued)

the second pyramid). I pointed out to them that our valley temple is nearly as large as the upper (pyramid) temple and that there ought to be a fore court still in front of the granite temple. Borchardt's conclusions on the plans of the pyramid temples will have to be modified, I think.

Wednesday, January 19, 1910

Photographs of heads made this morning - all right.

Visitors to the excavations to see the statue in position were as follows (invited by private messages): Mr. and Mrs. and Miss Iddings (American Diplomatic Agency), Mr. and Mrs. Wakeling, Holscher and Schulze (the German party), Mr. and Mrs. Philpot, Mr. and Mrs. Urquanhart, Mrs. Cassel.

Cleared the full diameter of the hole down to the feet of the statue [MFA 11.1738]. All perfect - except a scarcely noticeable chip from the end of the king's beard. Beautiful work. The basis is not inscribed. I am not yet quite certain that the king is Menkaure.

The clearing of the mud from the northwest quarter fore court continues - a work requiring great care and constant oversight. About 4 p.m. the gang at work on the strip in front of the doorway to Dynasty 6 temple found a shattered slate triad [MFA 11.3147] lying on its back in the mud. The head and feet were smashed and the left side. This beautifully worked triad had been larger than those found last year (120 - 130 cm) and consisted from right to left of Hathor, Menkaure, and a nome represented as a god, all standing and holding hands.

Thursday, January 20, 1910

This morning came Sir Ernest Cassel and later Mrs. Beals to see the statue.

Work went on as usual on the northwest quarter fore court until noon. I also started a small gang following out the foundation walls of the old 4th temple in room II 1.

After lunch began to get statue [MFA 11.1738] out of hole. Sent all the younger hands to sand lifting and all the strong ones for the heavy job. The statue had to be lifted up about 2 meters onto

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Details

  • Classification
    Documentation-Expedition diary pages
  • Department
    Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
  • Credit Line
    Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
  • Display Page Dates
    01/18/1910; 01/19/1910; 01/20/1910
  • Mentioned on page
    Ludwig Borchardt, German, 1863–1938
    Mr. Schulze
    Mrs. Beale
    Mrs. Ernest Cassel
    Sir Ernest Cassel
    Uvo Hölscher, German, 1878–1963
    Khafre
    Menkaure
    Dr. and Mrs. Wakeling
    Mr. and Mrs. Philpot
    Mr. and Mrs. Urquanhart
    Mr., Mrs., and Miss Iddings
  • Author
    George Andrew Reisner, American, 1867–1942

Tombs and Monuments 2

People 9

Ancient People

  • Khafre

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Remarks Fourth king of Dynasty 4. Son of Khufu. Builder of the Second Pyramid at Giza and probably of the Great Sphinx as well. Known two thousand years later by the Greeks as King Khephren. A number of diorite and greywacke statues and statue fragments depicting the king have been discovered in Khafre's valley temple, including Cairo CG 9-17. The fragmentary head of an alabaster royal statue (MFA 21.351 + MFA 33.1113) is attributed to Khafre.
  • Menkaure

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Remarks Fifth king of Dynasty 4. Son of Khafre. Husband of Khamerernebti II. Builder of the Third Pyramid at Giza. Known two thousand years later by the Greeks as King Mycerinus.

Modern People

  • George Andrew Reisner

    • Type Author
    • Nationality & Dates American, 1867–1942
    • Remarks Egyptologist, archaeologist; Referred to as "the doctor" and "mudir" (Arabic for "director") in the excavation records. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.
  • Ludwig Borchardt

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates German, 1863–1938
    • Remarks Egyptologist. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology. (1863-1938) German Egyptologist; he was bom in Berlin, 5 Oct. 1863, son of Herman B. and Bertha Levin; he trained as an architect at the Technische Hochschule, 1883-7; he assisted in the Egyptian section of Berlin Museum 1887-8; between 1890 and 1897 he was in charge of building works at Konigsberg; Doctor hon. c. 1897; he studied Egyptology under Erman (q.v.) and first visited Egypt in 1895, working at Philae under Capt. Lyons(q.v.); following de Morgan's great project to catalogue the standing monuments of Egypt ,he inaugurated a less grandiose scheme in conjunction with Maspero (q.v.) for the great (Catalogue Général of Cairo Museum; he became attaché to the German Consulate in Cairo; Borchardt founded and directed the German Institute of Archaeology, 1907-28, on his retirement, he founded his own institute which later became the Swiss Institute; he also contributed a great many texts and much useful information to the Berlin Dictionary; using methods partly derived from Dorpfeld he excavated the sun temple of King Nyuserre at Abu Gurab, 1898-1901, and the pyramids of Abusir; he also excavated and established reconstructions of Amarna houses, 1913-14; Borchardt was the first person to make an intensive study of Egyptian architecture as a subject on its own; he also discovered the workshop of the sculptor Thutmose at Amarna and enriched Berlin Museum with many fine objects from this excavation; another interest of his was chronology; he was a member of the German Arch. Institute, 1898, and a bibliography of his writings, 214 nos., was issued in 1933 to celebrate his 70th birthday; he published, Die aegyptischen,.-, Pflanzensaule1897; Denkmaeler des Alten Reiches (ausser den Statuen) im Museum von Kairo, pt. 1, Cat. Gén., 1901; Das Re- Heiligtum des Konigs Ne-woser-re (Rathures), pt. 1, Der Bau, 1905; Zur Baugeschichte des Amonstempels von Karnak, 1905; Nilmesser und Nilstandsmarken, 1906; Das Grabenkmal des Konigs Ne-user-rec , 1907; Works of Art from the Egyptian Museum at Cairo. With explanations by L. Borchardt, 1908; Das Grabenkmal des Koenig Nefer-ir-ke3-rec, 1909; Das Grabdenkmal des Konigs S'a3hu-rec, 3pts, 1910, 1913; Statuen und Statuetten von Koenigen und Privatleuten im Museum von Kairo, Cat. Gén., 1911-36; Die Annalen und die zeitliche Festlegung des Alten Reiches der Aegyptischen Geschichte, 1917; Quellen und Forschungen zur Zeitbestimmung der Aegyptischen Geschichte, 3pts. 1917, 1935, 1938; Die Altaegyptische Zeitmessung 1920; altaegyptische Festungen an der zweiten Nilschnelle, 1923; Portraets der Koenigin Nofret-ete aus den Grabungen 1912/13 in Tell el-Amarna, 1923; Agypten. Landschaft, Volksleben, Baukunst, with H Ricke, 1930; Allerhand Kleinigkeiten ... zu seinem 70. Geburtstage am 3. Oktober 1933, 1933 Beitraege zur Aegyptischen Bauforschung und Altertumskunde, with Ricke, 1937; Die Entstehung des Generalkatalogs und seine Entwicklung in den Jahren 1897-1899, 1937; Aegyptische Tempel mit Umgang, 1938; he died in Paris, 12 Aug. 1938, and was buried in Cairo. ASAE 39 (1939), 43-7 (portr.) U. Leibovitch); Chron. d .Eg. 14 (1939), 141-3 U. Capart) JEA 24 (1938), 248 (G. Steindorff); NDB 2, 455 (H. Ricke).
  • Mr. Schulze

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates
    • Remarks German archaeologist
  • Mrs. Beale

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates
    • Remarks Visitor
  • Mrs. Ernest Cassel

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates
    • Remarks Visitor
  • Sir Ernest Cassel

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates
    • Remarks Visitor
  • Uvo Hölscher

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates German, 1878–1963
    • Remarks Archaeologist and architect. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.

Groups 4