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The aim of this book is to put before the reader a general survey of what we now know, through recent discoveries, of the cultural achievements of the great people who lived on the banks of the Nile nearly five thousand years ago. While it is in no sense a text-book this absorbing study will make an equal appeal to the student and the layman. text book
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First published January 1, 1961
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About the author
Walter B. Emery
15 books1 followerWalter Bryan Emery (2 July 1902 – 11 March 1971 was a British Egyptologist born in Liverpool, England. Before his career in Egyptology began, he was introduced into the study of marine engineering where he became an excellent draftsman, which resulted in the brilliantly executed line drawings that permeated his later published works on Egyptology. With the exception of six years in the British Army during the Second World War, followed by four years in the Diplomatic Service at Cairo in Egypt, his entire life was devoted to the excavation of archaeological sites along the Nile Valley.
After preliminary training at the Liverpool Institute of Archaeology, he went to Egypt for the first time as an assistant on the staff of the Egyptian Exploration Society expedition in 1923. There he aided in the excavation of Amarna (the ancient city in Middle Egypt founded by the pharaoh Akhenaton).
By 1924, he was already Field Director of Sir Robert Mond's excavations at Thebes for the University of Liverpool. He made several clearings, restorations and protective operations into a score of tombs at Sheikh Abd el-Gurnah. Between 1924 and 1928, continuing as Director of the Mond Expedition, he worked on excavations at Nubia, Luxor and Thebes.
In 1929 he was appointed Field Director of the Archaeological Survey of Nubia under the auspices of the Egyptian Government Service of Antiquities, with authority to explore and excavate all ancient sites in Nubia which were soon to be flooded after the erection of the Aswan Dam. Working at Quban, Ballana and Qustul, he excavated the mysterious X group of tombs dating to the 3rd to 6th century A.D. He was assisted in his work by his wife, Molly. The completion of the excavations of the fortress at Buhen ended his work in Nubia.
He then became director of fieldwork at Luxor and Armant. During the years 1935 to 1939 he was the director of the Archaeological Survey of Nubia. During these years as director, Emery also investigated several early dynastic tombs at Saqqara. While at Saqqara he made the significant discovery of a "zoo" of mummified animal remains.
Following the years of interruption by the war and his service as a diplomat, Emery worked in the Sudan (Buhen, Qasr Ibrim). In 1964, he returned once more to Saqqara where he discovered the "enclosure of the sacred animals". In 1970 the discovery was announced of a "mausoleum of the sacred cow," one of the most important finds in the annals of Egyptology.
Emery obtained the Chair of Egyptology at University College London in 1951, and was a professor of Egyptology in London from 1951 to 1970. He was elected to the British Academy Fellowship in 1959. His principal publications are Great tombs of the 1st dynasty, (3 volumes) 1949-58; Archaic Egypt, 1961; and Egypt in Nubia, 1965.
After preliminary training at the Liverpool Institute of Archaeology, he went to Egypt for the first time as an assistant on the staff of the Egyptian Exploration Society expedition in 1923. There he aided in the excavation of Amarna (the ancient city in Middle Egypt founded by the pharaoh Akhenaton).
By 1924, he was already Field Director of Sir Robert Mond's excavations at Thebes for the University of Liverpool. He made several clearings, restorations and protective operations into a score of tombs at Sheikh Abd el-Gurnah. Between 1924 and 1928, continuing as Director of the Mond Expedition, he worked on excavations at Nubia, Luxor and Thebes.
In 1929 he was appointed Field Director of the Archaeological Survey of Nubia under the auspices of the Egyptian Government Service of Antiquities, with authority to explore and excavate all ancient sites in Nubia which were soon to be flooded after the erection of the Aswan Dam. Working at Quban, Ballana and Qustul, he excavated the mysterious X group of tombs dating to the 3rd to 6th century A.D. He was assisted in his work by his wife, Molly. The completion of the excavations of the fortress at Buhen ended his work in Nubia.
He then became director of fieldwork at Luxor and Armant. During the years 1935 to 1939 he was the director of the Archaeological Survey of Nubia. During these years as director, Emery also investigated several early dynastic tombs at Saqqara. While at Saqqara he made the significant discovery of a "zoo" of mummified animal remains.
Following the years of interruption by the war and his service as a diplomat, Emery worked in the Sudan (Buhen, Qasr Ibrim). In 1964, he returned once more to Saqqara where he discovered the "enclosure of the sacred animals". In 1970 the discovery was announced of a "mausoleum of the sacred cow," one of the most important finds in the annals of Egyptology.
Emery obtained the Chair of Egyptology at University College London in 1951, and was a professor of Egyptology in London from 1951 to 1970. He was elected to the British Academy Fellowship in 1959. His principal publications are Great tombs of the 1st dynasty, (3 volumes) 1949-58; Archaic Egypt, 1961; and Egypt in Nubia, 1965.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 17, 2007
Ok, early dynastic Egypt is not my favorite period, but it is truly fascinating, especially to see the roots of so many of the cultural institutions that survived nearly unchanged for the next 6,000 years or so.
January 19, 2021
This 1961 work applies a veritable microscope to the I and II Dynasties of ancient Egypt, covering the period from approximately 3400 to 2850 B.C. Considering that the great pyramids were built during the IV Dynasty, the religious reforms of Akhenaten occurred during the XVIIIth Dynasty, and the conquest by Alexander around 330 B.C. brought to an end the rule of the XXXth Dynasty, this is going way back and thoroughly justifies the use of the term 'archaic' in the title.
Actually, as pointed out in the foreword by M.E.L. Mallowan, the husband of Agatha Christie, little was known about this time until the late nineteenth and twentieth century. Emery actually worked for several decades as an archaeologist, and his book in a testament to the painstaking exactitude of his researches and findings. Somewhat unfortunately, there is far too much focus on the individual trees, and one misses the sense of the forest as a whole. In this, his work is quite similar to that of Adolf Erman's Life in Ancient Egypt, which I characterized more as an encyclopedia than a historical analysis, a judgment which would also hold for this work.
For instance, forty-five separate designs of cups, bowls, dishes and pots are described, both with respect to their general shape and as to their particular use, thirty-six different designs on wood, bone and ivory are replicated in one of the well over a hundred figures in the book, each of which is meticulously drawn. There are forty-seven pot marks which were drawn on pots before they were fired, the meanings of which are still unclear. Still, they are all faithfully reproduced in a figure. Finally, bricks of the period varied in size from 23 x 12 x 7 cm. to 26 x 13 x 9 cm. These examples could be added to again and again by the virtually unending flow of minutiae with which this book is filled.
Overall, there is an incredible amount of detail on tombs: ancient Egyptians were obsessed with the afterlife and although mummification had not come to encompass the art of embalming by this period, the elaborate designs of tombs, complete with side-rooms for retainers who were supposedly sacrificed to provide attendants for the higher ranked dead. The designs and construction of each tomb is faithfully rendered with precise drawings and elaborate detail.
Finally, Emery postulates that the unification of Lower (Northern) and Upper (Southern) Egypt was carried out by a foreign race, who imposed their rule over the native inhabitants, and whose customs and beliefs were eventually copied by the lower orders as the centuries passed. Neither Breasted nor Erman as far as I can recall posited such a theory, but Emery's book is of a later date and possibly understanding had progressed by his time.
A truly admirable work of meticulous scholarship, and a fitting representation of the writer's life work.
Actually, as pointed out in the foreword by M.E.L. Mallowan, the husband of Agatha Christie, little was known about this time until the late nineteenth and twentieth century. Emery actually worked for several decades as an archaeologist, and his book in a testament to the painstaking exactitude of his researches and findings. Somewhat unfortunately, there is far too much focus on the individual trees, and one misses the sense of the forest as a whole. In this, his work is quite similar to that of Adolf Erman's Life in Ancient Egypt, which I characterized more as an encyclopedia than a historical analysis, a judgment which would also hold for this work.
For instance, forty-five separate designs of cups, bowls, dishes and pots are described, both with respect to their general shape and as to their particular use, thirty-six different designs on wood, bone and ivory are replicated in one of the well over a hundred figures in the book, each of which is meticulously drawn. There are forty-seven pot marks which were drawn on pots before they were fired, the meanings of which are still unclear. Still, they are all faithfully reproduced in a figure. Finally, bricks of the period varied in size from 23 x 12 x 7 cm. to 26 x 13 x 9 cm. These examples could be added to again and again by the virtually unending flow of minutiae with which this book is filled.
Overall, there is an incredible amount of detail on tombs: ancient Egyptians were obsessed with the afterlife and although mummification had not come to encompass the art of embalming by this period, the elaborate designs of tombs, complete with side-rooms for retainers who were supposedly sacrificed to provide attendants for the higher ranked dead. The designs and construction of each tomb is faithfully rendered with precise drawings and elaborate detail.
Finally, Emery postulates that the unification of Lower (Northern) and Upper (Southern) Egypt was carried out by a foreign race, who imposed their rule over the native inhabitants, and whose customs and beliefs were eventually copied by the lower orders as the centuries passed. Neither Breasted nor Erman as far as I can recall posited such a theory, but Emery's book is of a later date and possibly understanding had progressed by his time.
A truly admirable work of meticulous scholarship, and a fitting representation of the writer's life work.
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July 17, 2021In het Nederlands: het oudste Egypte, aula 137
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews