Egyptian Expedition

Project Type Research Project

Status Completed

Field Domain Archaeology & Fieldwork

Time Period Antiquity

Overview

One of the earliest projects associated with ISAC is the Egyptian Expedition that was led by James Henry Breasted for two seasons: the winters of 1905–1906 and 1906–1907. The purpose of the project was to document the sites of Nubia in modern Egypt and the Sudan and nearly 1,200 photographs were taken. The cameras used produced these images on glass plate negatives, many of which have now been digitized. In addition, the team conducted a few limited excavations at sites and brought back objects to the then Haskell Oriental Museum (now the ISAC Museum).

Granite altar from Gebel Barkal (P. 3001).

Stela from Gebel Dosheh showing Nebmaatre and Satet (N. 2329).

Sudanese individual next to granite columns at Sai (N. 2339).

Colossus on the isalnd of Argo — Colossus on the island of Argo (P. 3088).

History of the Egyptian Expedition

In the first year of the expedition, James Henry Breasted together with his wife Frances Hart Breasted, his son Charles, as well as Victor Smith Persons and Robert Koch (photographer) documented the sites in Lower Nubia. Breasted copied all the historic inscriptions from pre-Ptolemaic temples, focusing his attention in particular on the site of Abu Simbel and the temples of Ramses II. In the second season, Breasted explored Upper Nubia together with Horst Schliephack (photographer) and Norman de Garis Davies. It was on these trips that Breasted started formulating the way to copy ancient inscriptions which would become what is now known as the "Chicago House Method."