Transcriber’s Note
Italics are enclosed in _underscores_, boldface in =equals signs=.
METHODS AND AIMS
IN
ARCHAEOLOGY
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Fig. 1. CHAIN OF BOYS CLEARING THE OSIREION AT ABYDOS.
41 feet deep.]
METHODS & AIMS
IN
ARCHAEOLOGY
BY
W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE
HON. D.C.L., LL.D., LIT.D., PH.D. : F.R.S. ; HON. F.S.A. (SCOT.) :
Member of the Imperial German Archaeological Institute;
Member of the Society of Northern Antiquaries;
Member of the Roman Society of Anthropology;
Edwards Professor of Egyptology, University College, London.
WITH 66 ILLUSTRATIONS
London
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1904
_All rights reserved_
TO MY FRIENDS
F. LL. GRIFFITH,
E. A. GARDNER,
F. J. BLISS,
H. CARTER,
B. P. GRENFELL,
J. E. QUIBELL,
J. DUNCAN,
H. F. PETRIE,
N. DE O. DAVIES,
A. C. MACE,
D. RANDALL-MACIVER,
B. ORME,
A. E. WEIGALL,
M. A. MURRAY,
L. ECKENSTEIN,
H. STANNUS,
C. T. CURRELLY,
E. R. AYRTON,
WHO HAVE JOINED IN VARIOUS PORTIONS OF THE WORK HERE DESCRIBED,
1884–1903.
PREFACE
Archaeology is the latest born of the sciences. It has but scarcely
struggled into freedom, out of the swaddling clothes of dilettante
speculations. It is still attracted by pretty things, rather than by
real knowledge. It has to find shelter with the Fine Arts or with
History, and not a single home has yet been provided for its real
growth.
All other sciences deal with the things around us; with subjects which
may, or may not, affect us. Even medical sciences are concerned with
the mechanical structure of the body, rather than with the nature and
abilities of the mind. But the science which enquires into all the
products and works of our own species, which shows what man has been
doing in all ages and under all conditions, which reveals his mind, his
thoughts, his tastes, his feelings,--such a science touches us more
closely than any other.
By this science, of which History forms a part, we trace the nature of
man, age after age,--his capacities, his abilities; we learn where he
succeeds, where he fails, and what his possibilities may be.
From another point of view the subject should be considered; it
gives a more truly “liberal education” than any other subject, as
at present taught. A complete archaeological training would require
a full knowledge of history and art, a fair use of languages, and a
working familiarity with many sciences. The one-sided growth of modern
training, which produces a B.A. who knows nothing of natural science,
or else a B.Sc. who knows nothing of human nature, is assuredly not
the ideal for a reasonable man. Archaeology,--the knowledge of how man
has acquired his present position and powers--is one of the widest
studies, best fitted to open the mind, and to produce that type of wide
interests and toleration which is the highest result of education.
Though this volume is a book of reference for those engaged in actual
work, yet it will also serve to give the public a view of the way in
which this work is done, the mode in which results are obtained, the
ends which are pursued, and the important questions which must be
considered. We have nothing here to do with the details of the facts
discovered; but deal only with the methods and aims, which have been
slowly learned in a quarter of a century. Yet every year there are
fresh methods to add, and more clear views of the aims; and far more
might easily have been said about each of the subjects here discussed.
If in this outline there is much more reference to Egypt than to other
countries, it is for the reason that most of my own work has lain
there; and there is the more need to deal with that land, as more
exploration is going on there than elsewhere.
I have to thank my friends for six of the photographs here used.
W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE.
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE EXCAVATOR PAGE
Purpose, 1; Character, 2; Experience, 3; Organization, 5;
Acquirements, 5; Demands of the work, 6 1–8
CHAPTER II
DISCRIMINATION
Temples, 9; Towns, 10; Cemeteries, 11; Indications, 12;
Productions, 14; Pottery, 16; Style, 17; Visual
memory, 19 9–19
CHAPTER III
THE LABOURERS
Quality, 20; Education, 21; Control, 22; Substitution,
23; Overseers, 24; Direct system, 26; Day pay, 27;
Piecework, 29; Day and piece work, 30; Rewards, 33;
Accounts, 35; Native ways, 37 20–40
CHAPTER IV
ARRANGEMENT OF WORK
Clearances, 41; Turning over, 43; Raising earth, 44;
Tracing walls, 46 41–47
CHAPTER V
RECORDING IN THE FIELD
Need of record, 48; Value of record, 50; Resulting view,
50; Marking, 51; Nature of notes, 52; Planning, 53;
Plotting, 55 48–59
CHAPTER VI
COPYING
Paper squeezes, 60; Dry squeezes, 61; Casting,
64; Drawing, 68; Restored forms, 71; Copying
inscriptions, 72 60–72
CHAPTER VII
PHOTOGRAPHING
The Camera, 73; Preparing objects, 76; Lighting, 77;
Arrangement of objects, 79; Stereographs, 81;
Developing, 82 73–84
CHAPTER VIII
PRESERVATION OF OBJECTS
Stone, 86; Pottery, 88; Textiles, 89; Wood, 89; Ivory,
91; Papyri, 93; Bead-work, 95; Stucco, 96; Gold, 98;
Silver, 98; Copper, 99; Bronze, 100; Lead, 102; Iron,
102; Sorting, 102 85–104
CHAPTER IX
PACKING
Blocks, 105; Long objects, 106; Heavy stones, 107;
Pottery, 108; Softening, 109; Cases, 110; Unpacking, 111 105–113
CHAPTER X
PUBLICATION
Arrangement, 114; Plates, 115; Processes, 117; Editions,
119; Text, 120; Publishing, 120 114–121
CHAPTER XI
SYSTEMATIC ARCHAEOLOGY
Systems of work, 122; Need of a _corpus_, 123; Example of
_corpus_, 124; Utility, 125; Successive ages, 126;
Sequences, 127; Sequence dates, 129; Conservation,
130; Buildings, 130; Lighting, 131; Grouping, 132;
National Repository, 133 122–135
CHAPTER XII
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
Nature of proof, 136; Legal evidence, 136; Witnesses,
138; Material facts, 138; Exhaustion, 139;
Probabilities, 139; Legal proof, 140; _Egypt and
Europe_, 141; In XXVIth Dynasty, 142; XVIIIth Dynasty
paintings, 144; Burnt groups, 145; Rubbish mounds,
147; Houses, 148; Scarabs, 149; Tombs in Egypt,
150; Tombs in Greece, 152; Variation with date, 153;
Style, 154; Recapitulation, 155; XIIth Dynasty,
Kahun, 156; XIIth Dynasty in Crete, 158; Pan-graves,
159; VIth to IIIrd Dynasties, 162; 1st Dynasty
Aegean, 164; 1st Dynasty Cretan, 166; Prehistoric, 167 136–168
CHAPTER XIII
ETHICS OF ARCHAEOLOGY
Individual rights, 169; Destruction, 170; Restoration,
172; Sacrifices, 173; Responsibility, 174; Rights of
the future, 175; Rights of the past, 176; Duties,
178; Future of museums, 180; Publications, 182; State
claims, 183; State rights, 184; Excavating laws, 187 169–188
CHAPTER XIV
THE FASCINATION OF HISTORY 189–193
INDEX 195–208
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURE PAGE
1. Chain of boys clearing the Osireion _Front._
2. } Going up the desert 1
3. }
4. Tent-life 6
5. Hut-life 6
6. Temple at El Hibeh 9
7. Temple at Tanis 9
8. Mound at Defeneh 10
9. Cemetery of Zuweleyn 10
10. Copper and bronze adzes 14
11. Cutting-out knives 15
12. Typical forms of pottery 16
13. Lad and girl at Tanis 20
14. Three little Muhameds 20
15. Girls and boys at Tanis 24
16. Girls sorting durra 24
17. Line of carrier boys, Abydos 30
18. Heaps thrown out, Abydos 30
19. Lifting and carrying, Abydos 32
20. Carrying at Royal Tombs 32
21. Account card for wages 38
22. Carrier boys throwing, Abydos 41
23. Town site, turned over, Kahun 41
24. Cutting down top of work 42
25. Cemetery, Tell el Yehudiyeh 43
26. Clearing a tomb, Abydos 43
27. Chain at tomb of Usertesen II 44
28. Chains of men at tomb of Den 44
29. Plan measured from two lines 54
30. Method of plotting survey 56
31. Copy drawn on paper squeeze 62
32. System of numbering sheets 63
33. Paper squeeze 64
34. Plaster cast from paper 64
35. Inventory sheet 70
36. Frame for drawing vases 71
37. Weathered stone, sanded 71
38. Throwing sand; drop-shutter view 75
39. Girls resting; diagonal mirror view 75
40. Tablet, with black and white filling 76
41. Hypocephalus, with white filling 76
42. Wooden floor of Azab 77
43. Prehistoric grave, Naqada 77
44. Ebony negress 78
45. In tomb of Sem-nefer 78
46. Foundation deposit, Aahmes II 80
47. Bracelet of King Zer 80
48. Pavement, Tell el Amarna 88
49. Fresco of princesses, Tell el Amarna 88
50. Box with diagonal bars 106
51. Tray for heavy stones 107
52. Box with three-way grain 110
53. Box end, nailed diagonally 111
54. Nile boat 112
55. Camels, starting and returning 112
56. Naukratite warrior 144
57. Graeco-Egyptian figures 144
58. Aegean vase, Tahutmes III 152
59. False-necked vases 154
60. Celtic and pan-grave pottery 160
61. Black incised pottery 161
62. Buttons, VIIth Dynasty 162
63. Aegean pottery, Royal Tombs 165
64. Black pottery, Cretan 166
65. Khufu, builder of the great pyramid 178
66. Mer-en-ptah, Pharaoh of the Exodus 178
[Illustration: Fig. 2. GOING UP THE DESERT, ABYDOS.]
[Illustration: Fig. 3. GOING UP THE DESERT, ABYDOS.]
CHAPTER I
THE EXCAVATOR
[Sidenote: Purpose.]
In few kinds of work are the results so directly dependent on the
personality of the worker as they are in excavating. The old saying
that a man finds what he looks for in a subject, is too true; or if he
has not enough insight to ensure finding what he looks for, it is at
least sadly true that he does not find anything that he does not look
for. Whether it be inscriptions, carvings, papyri, or mummies that
excavators have been seeking, they have seldom preserved or cared for
anything but their own limited object.
Of late years the notion of digging merely for profitable spoil, or
to yield a new excitement to the jaded, has spread unpleasantly--at
least in Egypt. A concession to dig is sought much like a grant of a
monastery at the Dissolution: the man who has influence or push, a
title or a trade connection, claims to try his luck at the spoils of
the land. Gold digging has at least no moral responsibility, beyond the
ruin of the speculator; but spoiling the past has an acute moral wrong
in it, which those who do it may be charitably supposed to be too
ignorant or unintelligent to see or realise.
And some systematic outline of archaeological methods and aims is
needed, not only for those whose moral sense is so untrained that
they may ruin a site, and say “I have done no wrong”; but it may
even profit those who take up the name of archaeology when they mean
solely art, or inscriptions, or some single branch of the subject. The
most familiar teaching entitled archaeological is that of Classical
Archaeology, which in the ways of most teachers means Greek sculpture
and vase paintings. In spite of all the professorships and schools of
that subject, we are still so profoundly ignorant of the archaeology
of Greece and Italy that there is scarcely a single class of common
objects of which any one knows the history and transformations.
Certainly we know far less of the archaeology of classical lands than
we do of that of Egypt.
[Sidenote: Character.]
If, then, the character of the excavator thus determines his results,
our first step is to consider that character, and to give some outline
of the aptitudes and acquirements--the wit and the cunning, as our
forefathers well distinguished them--which are wanted in order to avoid
doing more harm than good.
Firstly in every subject there is the essential division between those
who work to live, and those who live to work--the commercial, and the
scientific or artistic aim;--those who merely do what will best provide
them a living, and those whose work is their honour and the end of
their being. These two halves of mankind are by no means to be found
ready labelled by their professions. The R.A. who drops his aspirations
because portraits pay best, the scientific scholar who patents every
invention he can, are of the true commercial spirit, and verily they
have their reward. Rather let us honour the professed dealer who will
sooner sell a group to a museum than make a larger profit by playing
to the wealthy _dilettante_ and scattering things. Let us be quit, in
archaeology at least, of the brandy-and-soda young man who manipulates
his “expenses,” of the adventurous speculator, of those who think that
a title or a long purse glorifies any vanity or selfishness.
Without the ideal of solid continuous work, certain, accurate, and
permanent,--archaeology is as futile as any other pursuit. Money alone
will not do the work; brains are the first requisite. A hundred pounds
intelligently spent will do more good and far less harm than ten
thousand squandered in doing damage. Mere money gives no moral right to
upset things according to the whim of one person. Even scholarship is
by no means all that is wanted; the engineering training of mind and
senses which Prof. Perry advocates will really fit an archaeologist
better for excavating than book-work can alone. Best of all is the
combination of the scholar and the engineer, the man of languages and
the man of physics and mathematics, when such can be found. So much for
the wit, and now of the cunning that is wanted.
[Sidenote: Experience.]
The most needful of all acquisitions is archaeological experience.
Without knowing well all the objects that are usually met with in an
ancient civilisation, there is no possible insight or understanding,
the meaning of what is met with cannot be grasped, and the most
curious mistakes are made. A cloud is “very like a whale,” the
pre-Christian cross is found everywhere, an arrow-straightener is
called a ceremonial staff, an oil-press becomes a sacred trilithon,
half a jackal is called a locust, and lathe chucks become “coal money.”
Of course the needed experience has to be gradually built up, and those
who first explore a civilisation must work through many mistakes. When
I first came to Egypt Dr. Birch begged me to pack and send to him a box
of pottery fragments from each great town, on the chance that from the
known history of the sites some guess could be made as to the age of
the objects; so complete was the ignorance of the archaeology a quarter
of a century ago. But when such knowledge has been once accumulated, it
is the first duty of any excavator to make himself well acquainted with
it before he attempts to discover more. At present the archaeological
experience that should be acquired before doing any responsible work
in any country ought to cover the history of the pottery century by
century, the history of beads, of tools and weapons, of the styles of
art, of the styles of inscriptions, of the burial furniture, and of the
many small objects which are now well known and dated, better in Egypt
than perhaps in any other country.
Next to this is needed a good knowledge of the history. Not only every
dynasty, but every king of whom anything is known, should be familiar.
The general course of the civilisation, the foreign influences which
affected the country, and the conditions at different periods, should
be clearly in mind. Without such ideas the value and meaning of
discoveries cannot be grasped, and important clues and fresh knowledge
may be passed by.
[Sidenote: Organization.]
Organization, both of the plan of work, and of the labourers, is very
necessary. Scheming how to extract all that is possible from a given
site, how to make use of all the conditions, how to avoid difficulties;
and training labourers, keeping them all firmly in hand, making them
all friends without allowing familiarity, getting their full confidence
and their goodwill;--these requirements certainly rank high in an
excavator’s outfit.
[Sidenote: Acquirements.]
The power of conserving material and information; of observing all
that can be gleaned; of noticing trifling details which may imply a
great deal else; of acquiring and building up a mental picture; of
fitting everything into place, and not losing or missing any possible
clues;--all this is the soul of the work, and without it excavating is
mere dumb plodding.
Of more external subjects, such as may be deputed to other helpers,
drawing is mainly wanted; more in mechanical exactitude of
facsimile-copying than in freehand or purely artistic work. Surveying
and practical mathematics, with plan drawing, are almost always
involved in dealing with any site. Photography is incessantly in use,
both during the course of the working and for preparing publications.
The outlines of chemistry and physics and a good knowledge of materials
are necessary to avoid blunders in handling objects and in describing
them. The ancient language of a country, all important as it is in the
study of remains, is yet in its critical aspects not so essential
during field-work. But the excavator should at least be able to take
the sense of all written material which he finds; and in Egypt that
should include hieroglyphic, hieratic, demotic, Greek, and Coptic
writing. The spoken language of the country should be fluently acquired
for simple purposes, so as to be able to direct workmen, make bargains,
and follow what is going on. To be dependent on a cook, a dragoman,
or a donkey boy, is very unsafe, and prevents that close study of
the workmen which is needed for making the best use of them. And a
general eye to the safety and condition of everything, both of work,
antiquities, and stores, is incessantly wanted if a camp is to be
successful and prosperous.
Many of these requirements can well be undertaken by different
people; in fact, not a single living person combines all of the
requisite qualities for complete archaeological work. But all of these
requirements must be fulfilled by different members in a party, if
they are to command success as well as deserve it. In all points,
imagination and insight, the sense of all the possibilities of a case,
is to be the medium of thought both in theoretical and in practical
affairs.
[Illustration: CAMP LIFE, ABYDOS.
Fig. 4. Tent in desert.]
[Illustration: CAMP LIFE, ABYDOS.
Fig. 5. Huts at temple.]
[Sidenote: Demands of the work.]
In the externals of the work an excavator should be always his own best
workman. If he be the strongest on the place, so much the better; but
at all events he should be the most able in all matters of skill and
ability. Where anything is found it should be the hands of the master
that clear it from the soil; the pick and the knife should be in his
hands every day, and his readiness should be shown by the shortness
of his finger-nails and the toughness of his skin. After a week of
work in the soil, feeling for delicate things in a way that no tools
can do, the skin almost wears through, and the nails break down. But a
week or two more at it, and the excavator grows his gloves, and is in
a fit state for business, with the skin well thickened, and ready to
finger through tons of grit and sand. Nothing can be a substitute for
finger-work in extracting objects, and clearing ground delicately; and
one might as well try to play the violin in a pair of gloves as profess
to excavate with clean fingers and a pretty skin. It need hardly be
said that clothing must correspond to the work; and there must never
be a thought about clothes when one kneels in wet mud, scrapes through
narrow passages, or sits waist deep in dust. To attempt serious work
in pretty suits, shiny leggings, or starched collars, would be like
mountaineering in evening dress, or remind one of the old prints of
cricketers batting in chimney-pot hats. The man who cannot enjoy his
work without regard to appearances, who will not strip and go into the
water, or slither on slimy mud through unknown passages, had better not
profess to excavate. Alongside of his men he must live, in work hours
and out; every workman should come to him at all times for help and
advice. His courtyard must be the pay office and the court of appeal
for every one; and continual attention should be freely given to the
many little troubles of those who are to be kept properly in hand. To
suppose that work can be controlled from a distant hotel, where the
master lives in state and luxury completely out of touch with his men,
is a fallacy, like playing at farming or at stockbroking: it may be
amusing, but it is not business. And whatever is not businesslike in
archaeology is a waste of the scanty material which should be left for
those who know how to use it. An excavator must make up his mind to do
his work thoroughly and truly, or else to leave it alone for others who
will take the trouble which it deserves and requires.
[Illustration: TEMPLE RUINS.
Fig. 6. El Hibeh.]
[Illustration: TEMPLE RUINS.
Fig. 7. Tanis, with obelisks.]