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Vol.13.p.281

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Diary Transcription:

microfilm: begin page 281

Sunday, March 8, 1925 (continued)

(3) G 7000 X (continued)
had already been found at the north. Some shapeless mud was also pushed into interstices at the east side of this blocking. The gyps (= gypsum) used was very fine and hard. [Also later was found the bone of a bird].
At 11:10 a.m. Rowe first looked through the wide hole made by the clearing, using reflected sunlight from above. The others in the pit looked in afterwards.
Towards the east side of the chamber (which was under south-north then east-west) stood a perfect and large alabaster sarcophagus of good stone and cutting. No inscription was visible upon this.
Upon the sarcophagus a number of wooden(?) staves or maces with heads of gold or (?) in some cases of copper or bronze lay side by side. Decayed wood from these had trickled over the lid of the sarcophagus. All these were sheathed in gold.
Beyond, to the east, on the floor was a good deal of gold in strips which seemed to bear some embossed design.
Upon the sarcophagus also is what seems to be a mat (?) of gold lacery wherein the name [GLYPHS] [Snefru] is clearly legible from the door beside the vulture of the title "Nbty". This may belong to a bed or canopy of which the "staves" above are posts.
The whole space west of the coffin and to the south is packed with the deposit of royal furniture. There are a great number of vessels of the rarer stones, a large alabaster bowl is very prominent towards the south-west corner. Near the center of this space are a fine copper or bronze ewer and basin. Two golden head-rest supports stand beyond these. There is a great deal of gold (much of it in strips) laid out all over the area.

Immediately upon having ascertained the character of the discovery Rowe sent a code cablegram to Dr. Reisner announcing the simple facts about it.
He then telephoned to Mr. Quibell and was assured that the Director General [M. Lacau] and himself would be at the works at 3 p.m.
During the afternoon Mr. Engelbach inspected the chamber from the level platform we have left, perhaps 2 meters or less above the floor, and his visit was followed by that of M. Lacau and of Mr. Quibell, and later of Hakim Effendi, Inspector of the Service at Giza, and several archaeologists connected with the government Service.
In accordance with a request from the Director General arrangements were made with Russell Pasha, who was present, for the posting of a permanent police guard over the tomb for as

microfilm: end page 281

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
    03/08/1925
  • Mentioned on page
    Alan Jenvey Rowe, British, 1890–1968
    George Andrew Reisner, American, 1867–1942
    Hakim Abou Seif (Effendi), Egyptian
    James Edward Quibell, British, 1867–1935
    Pierre Lucien Lacau, French, 1873–1963
    Reginald Engelbach, British, 1888–1946
    Sir Thomas Wentworth Russell
    Snefru
  • Author
    Thomas Richard Duncan Greenlees, British, 1899–

Tombs and Monuments 1

People 9

Ancient People

  • Snefru

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Remarks First king of Dynasty 4. Father of Khufu.

Modern People

  • Alan Jenvey Rowe

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates British, 1890–1968
    • Remarks Egyptologist and archaeologist. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.

  • George Andrew Reisner

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • 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.

  • Hakim Abou Seif (Effendi)

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates Egyptian
    • Remarks Chief Inspector, Department of Antiquités, ca.1924–1939.

  • James Edward Quibell

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates British, 1867–1935
    • Remarks Egyptologist; husband of Annie Abernethie. Nationality and life dates from Who was Who in Egyptology.

  • 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.

  • Sir Thomas Wentworth Russell

    • Type Mentioned on page
    • Nationality & Dates
    • Remarks Born: November 22, 1879. Joined the Egyptian Civil Service in 1902 and formed the Camel Corps before becoming, in 1917, commandant of the Cairo Police. Later head of the Central Narcotics Intelligence Bureau, which the Egyptian Government set up in 1929. Died: April 10, 1954.

  • Thomas Richard Duncan Greenlees

    • Type Author
    • Nationality & Dates British, 1899–
    • Remarks Thomas Richard Duncan Greenlees, born South Africa, Sivaratri, March 10, 1899. British subject with a Scottish father and an English mother. For a brief period during 1925 he was a staff member of Harvard University--Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition, who later joined the Theosophist movement in India. Greenlees received his MA degree in 1922 from Oxford, where he studied Egyptian, Coptic and Arabic. April 2,1925, Greenlees appointed Assistant Curator of Egyptian Art at MFA.