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Diary Transcription:

microfilm: begin page 41

Monday, December 1, 1924 (continued)

(1) Street G 7000 and Avenue G 0
G I-a, main street and north side. Moved the loading point back 17 meters at 8 a.m., beyond the end of G 7110. Cleared main street to northeast corner of G I-a and northwest corner of G 7110. Went into old dump of Vyse on north side of G I-a and other debris (of decay) nearly to middle of IV side of G I-a.

(2) G 7110
Still going down in G 7110 pit. Debris continues as before.
Worked around north end of G 7110 clearing off surface and reached northeast corner where we propose to turn back working out the hard debris.

(3) G 7101
In cleaning away surface debris north of western side of G 7110 came on two small square pits (lined with crude brick) which appear to belong to a destroyed mastaba. This mastaba is No. G 7101. Pit letters not yet assigned. [Later: Pits D and E]

Tuesday, December 2, 1924
Day of rest for men.

Mahmud el Meyyit sent to Girga regarding shipment and to arrange abandonment of site [over] to Museum guard.

Wednesday, December 3, 1924
Twenty-ninth day of work.

Mr. Lacau and Mr. Englebach visited the excavations this morning:

(a) The plan of the Museum excavations north of G 7310 to G 7610 has not been controlled and dumping on the western part must wait a short time.
(b) Refilling of main street [G 7000] G I-a and G I-b. Low retaining wall leaving foundation course of pyramid and mastabas. Filling to cover tops of bins. Wall across west end of street between G I-a and G I-b [avenue G 1].
(c) The Service wishes to roof the chamber of mastaba Lepsius 56 (G 7070) (Senferu-kha-f [Snefrukhaf]).
(d) The area around this mastaba and eastward

microfilm: end page 41

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
    12/01/1924; 12/02/1924; 12/03/1924
  • Mentioned on page
    Mahmud Ahmed Said 'el-Meyyet' (Reis)
    Pierre Lucien Lacau, French, 1873–1963
    Reginald Engelbach, British, 1888–1946
    Richard William Howard Vyse, British, 1784–1853
    Snefrukhaf (G 7070)
  • Author
    George Andrew Reisner, American, 1867–1942

Tombs and Monuments 8

People 6

Ancient People

  • Snefrukhaf (G 7070)

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Remarks Son of Nefermaat and grandson of Nefertkaw

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.
  • Mahmud Ahmed Said 'el-Meyyet' (Reis)

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates
    • Remarks Head Reis for the Harvard-MFA expedition, 1926–1933. Brother of Said Ahmed Said (Head Reis 1908-1926) and father of Duwy Mahmud Ahmed (Head Reis 1933-1935).
  • Pierre Lucien Lacau

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates French, 1873–1963
    • Remarks Egyptologist. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology. (1873-1963) French Egyptologist; born at Brie-Comte-Robert, 25 Nov. 1873, son of Louis Clément L., an architect, and Lucie AdéIe Belin; he at first entered the Ecole Normale intending to take up geology and studied Natural Science at the Sorbonne; he then turned to philosophy taking his degree in this sub- ject 1897, but studying oriental languages simultaneously; he learnt Hebrew and wrote an article on a text in this language in the Revue d'Assyriologie when he was only twenty-one; the influence of Maspero (q.v.) led him to study Coptic and Egyptian and he joined the lnstitut Français at his suggestion and began work for the Cairo general catalogue; he arrived in Egypt in 1899 and in 1901 published his first article on an Egyptian subject, Textes de I'Ancien Testament en copte sahidique, in the Rec Trav, his first volume for the Catalogue on the coffins in the museum in Cairo followed in1906;in this work he not only revealed his philological knowledge in transcribing the texts, but also noted most carefully all the constructional details and provided useful diagrams as illustration; this work led him to become interested in religious texts and he published a series of articles on the Coffin Texts in Rec Trav, 26-37, which was of great importance before the appearance of the comprehensive work of de Buck (q.v.); he also wrote a number of articles on Egyptian grammar at this period; in 1912 Lacau was appointed Director of the IFAO in Cairo and the following year was elected a member of the lnstitut Egyptien; on 7 Oct. 1914 he was appointed Director of the Antiquities Service but delayed his departure to Egypt for war service until sept. 1915 when he was sent back to Egypt so that he could arrange a proper administration for the Antiquities Service throughout the war period; this done he returned to France, 1916, after delegating his work to the Secretary-General G. Daressy (q.v.); he returned to Egypt in 1917 and resumed his duties; in 1919 he married Anne-Marie Bernard, daughter of the Geography Professor at the Sorbonne, and was made Director of the Institut Français; he was made a correspondant of the Acad. des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 1923; in the period after the war Lacau issued directives for the partial uncovering of the funerary temples and their dependant buildings at Saqqara, and for the study of the Memphite tombs both architecturally and functionally, and for essential restoration and consolidation work to be carried out at Karnak; sondages were also to be made with a view to making possible the publication of all the completed parts; at the time of the discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun Lacau insisted on all the finds being retained in Egypt and secured the entire collection for Cairo Museum; he returned to France in 1936, and succeeded Moret (q.v.) in his chair in Paris 1938; in 1939 he became a Member of the Acad. des Inscriptions et Belles- Lettres; after the war he paid three further visits to Egypt, 1950-4, and died in Paris, 27 March 1963; his principal works were, Sarcophages antérieurs au Nouvel Empire, 2 vols. 1904- 6; Fragments d'apocryphes coptes, 1904; Textes coptes en dialectes akhmimique et sahidique, 1908; Textes religieux égyptiens, I pt. 1910; Stéles du Nauvel Empire, 2 vols. 1909,1926, for Cairo Cat.; Une stéle juridique de Karnak, 1949-, Sur le systéme hiéroglyphique, 1954; Une chapelle, de Sésostris ler à Karnak, with H. Chevrier, 1956; La Pyramide ? degrés, tom. 4. Inscriptions gravées sur les vases, with J. P. Lauer, 2 pts., 1959, 1961; Une chapelle d'Hatshebsout à Kamak, with H. Chevrier, 2nds, 1977, 1979. ASAE 59 (1966), 33-52 (portr.) (J. P. Lauer); Annuaire du Collége de France 63 (1963), 39- 41 (M. Bataillon); AfO 21 (1966), 272-3 (J. Leclant); BIFA062 (1964), 231-5 (F. Daumas); Chron. D' Eg. 38 (1966), 244-6 (B. van de Walle); CRAIBL1963, 1964, 105-11 (P. Montet); Rev. Arch. 1963, ii, 55-8 (Ch. Picard); Rev. d'Eg. 15 (1963), 7-10 (portr.) (J. Sainte Fare Garnot); Rev. del'Histoire des Religions, cxliv, no. 444 (1963),128-31 (J. Sainte Fare Garnot).
  • Reginald Engelbach

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates British, 1888–1946
    • Remarks Egyptologist and engineer. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology. (1888-1946) British Egyptologist and engineer; he was born in Moreton hampstead, Devon, 9 July 1888, son of Frederick George E., surgeon and Marianne Wrench; he was educated at Tonbridge School and afterwards trained as an engineer at the City and Guilds Institute 1905-8 but his studies were interrupted by a long illness, and a visit to Egypt during convalescence in 1909-10 turned his attention to Egyptology; he studied Egyptian, Coptic, and Arabic at University College London, and in 1911 went as assistant to Petrie (q.v.), excavating at Heliopolis, Shurafa, Kafr Ammar, Riqqa, and Haraga; in 1914 he joined the Artists Rifles, and served in France and Gallipoli and was then sent by Allenby to report on the ancient sites in Syria and Palestine; he married Nancy Lambert, 1915; after the war, he returned to help Petrie at Lahun and Gurob, 1919-20, and was appointed Chief Inspector in Upper Egypt for the Antiquities Service, 1920; Assistant Keeper, Cairo Museum, 1924; Chief Keeper, 1931; retired 1941; Hon. Member French Inst. 1935; Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, 1937; Hon. Fellow University Coll. London, 1946, but died before confirmed; Technical Adviser to Cairo Museum, 1941-6; Engelbach had an active career in the field and in museum work and arrangement, his greatest achievement being without doubt his great museum Register for Cairo, a vast index of 100,000 nos.; he contributed articles to ASAE and otherjournals regularly; his main publications were, Riqqeh and Memphis VI, with chaps. by M. A. Murray,. H. Petrie, W M. F. Petrie, 1915; The Aswân Obelisk, with some remarks on ancient engineering, 1922; The Problem of the Obelisks from a study of the unfinished Obelisk of Aswan, 1923; Harageh, with B. G. Gunn, 1923; A Supplement to the Topographical Catalogue of the Private Tombs of Thebes, nos. 253-334. With some notes on the Necropolis from 1913 to 1924,1924; Gurob, with G. Brunton, 1927; Ancient Egyptian Masonry, with Somers Clarke, 1930; Index of Egyptian and Sudanese Sites from which the Cairo Museum contains Antiquities, 1931; edited the Introduction to Egyptian Archaeology. With special reference to the Egyptian Museum Cairo. 1946; some of his papers are in the Griffith Institute; he died in Cairo, 26 Feb.1946. ASAE 48 (1948), 1-7 (portr.) (bibl.) (G. Brunton); BIE29 (1946-7), 329-44 (0. Guéraud); JEA 32 (1946), 97-9 (S. R. K Glanville); R Janssen, The First Hundred Years, 1992, 14.
  • Richard William Howard Vyse

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates British, 1784–1853
    • Remarks Army officer, excavator, author and benefactor; Drew up plans of Zawiet el-Aryan in 1837. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.