We
live in a time of careful egyptology. Gone are the days of shovels
and hurry; now the hero of the archaeological site is the trowel
and brush, with every cup of waste dirt sieved carefully through
metal screens. Every item, no matter how insignificant a shard
of pottery or broken mud-brick, is documented and sketched, photographed
and recorded before the next centimetre of dirt can be removed.
As such, discoveries are slow, sometimes excruciatingly so. But
also gone are the days of lost data in the haste to uncover colossal
statues and dig up stunning museum pieces. However, the archaeological
history of Tell el-Amarna, not always so carefully executed, is
a good story, full of intrigue, mystery and excitement.
(Image source: Peet, T. Eric, C. Leonard Woolley, The
City of Akhenaten, Part 1: Excavations of 1921 and 1922 at El-'Amarneh,
Thirty-Eighth Memoir of The Egypt
Exploration Society, Egypt Exploration Society, 1923.)
|