Author Description

A pioneering Egyptologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) excavated over fifty sites and trained a generation of archaeologists. This reissue brings together two of the well-illustrated excavation reports that he prepared with collaborators. The first, originally published in 1905, documents his work at Ehnasya (or Herakleopolis Magna), ranging in its coverage from the twelfth-dynasty temple to the houses of the Roman period. The text includes material by C. T. Currelly (1876-1957) on the various cemeteries. The second report, from 1912, records the findings from a number of sites. Petrie discusses the labyrinth located in the Faiyum; Gerald Wainwright (1879-1964) notes the discovery at Gerzeh of early examples of iron and ceramic artefacts; and the cemeteries and pyramids of Mazghuna are examined by Ernest Mackay (1880-1943). Petrie wrote prolifically throughout his long career, and a great many of his other publications are also reissued in this series.