Egyptian archaeology gained impetus in modern times following Napoleon's
ill-fated Egyptian campaign. The savants who accompanied the army of
Napoleon studied Egyptian antiquities and discovered the trilingual
inscription known as the Rosetta Stone which provided scholars with the
key to the decipherment of hieroglyphic writing. That, in turn, enabled
modern students to get a firsthand view of life in ancient Egypt,
instead of depending on references to Egypt in classical literature for
basic information.
A French scholar, Jean Francois Champollion, studied the Rosetta Stone
in the light of his previous work in Coptic, a late form of the Egyptian
language which used a modified Greek alphabet. After four years of
research, in 1822 Champollion published his conclusions which provided a
firm foundation for the science of Egyptology which was soon added to
the curricula of the major universities of Europe. Scholars, both
professional and amateur, began making their way to Egypt to copy
inscriptions and study antiquities.
The rock tombs beyond the Amarna plain did not escape these early
travelers. During his explorations in Egypt from 1821 to 1831, John
Gardner Wilkinson visited Amarna, and a more systematic study of the
nearby tombs was made by a Prussian expedition directed by Karl Richard
Lepsius from 1842 to 1845. Amarna art and inscriptions found a place in
the twelve volume work of Lepsius, _Denkmaler aus Aegypten und
Athiopien_ (in English, _The Monuments from Egypt and Ethiopia_). The
Prussians traced the ground plan of Akhetaton, observing the lines of
its ancient streets. They noted that some of the remains of the
principal temple were still standing.