Dr. Peter Manuelian's "Walking Among Pharaohs" Examines the Origins of Modern Archaeology

Dr. Peter Der Manuelian, Barbara Bell Professor of Egypotology and Director of Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, published his 1,184-page book on Egyptologist George Reisner, entitled Walking Among Pharaohs, in late 2022. Since the book's release, much fascination and media coverage on Reisner and the origins of modern archaeological practices have come about. Through this publication, many have been provided a deeper, before unseen look into the vast impacts of Reisner's work, as well as the importance of re-evaluating the archaeological field's involvement with nationalism, colonialism, racism, and imperialist projects.

The Harvard Gazette recently posted a new article on the subject, entitled "Life seeking answers at Giza, Nubia." A portion of the article, partly a Q&A with Dr. Manuelian, is shared below:

GAZETTE: How did racial attitudes affect Reisner’s views of Nubia?

MANUELIAN: People at the time were studying cranium size as an indicator of intelligence and trying to explain the greatness of these ancient civilizations as being tied to Mediterranean or to European cultures. Reisner wasn’t tied to eugenics and ideas about racial superiority that some others were obsessed with, but he was curious about who these people were and where they came from. In the case of the Nubians, he got a lot of it wrong. He really thought the Nubians must be Libyans who emigrated southwards, or resettled Egyptians. He had trouble wrapping his head around an indigenous, great, African Nubian civilization.

I’ve divided the attitudes at that time into what I call “ancient racism” and “modern racism.” Ancient racism is the issue of “Where did these people come from? Did they have white European ties or not?” And in the early 20th century, depending on what decade you’re talking about, the theories range from, “They must have come in through the Levant.” Then, as anti-Semitism rises, the theory changed to “Oh, they must have come in through Libya.” And it goes back and forth.

Modern racism is about how expeditions functioned, the feeling that Western archaeologists were entitled to excavate, take the finds home, and pay little attention to Egyptian desires. It all plays out against the backdrop of the British running the government in Egypt from 1882 onwards, the French controlling the Antiquities Service, and the Egyptians in the background, struggling for independence.

Modern racism as it applies to Reisner is more complicated. Reisner favored British rule because he believed it stamped out corruption and protected the Egyptian population against what he viewed as a suspect and corrupt elite Egyptian class in Cairo. He was also very progressive, stood up for his workmen, and saw the country through their eyes. He took a much more enlightened view than some of the other American and European excavators who really looked at the Egyptians as just cogs in their expedition machine. They didn’t give them much credit or acknowledgement. We’re really trying to change that now, to go back and figure out who these Egyptian workmen and foremen were. Even though they’re often not credited in photos and we just have their names on paysheets and lists, we’re trying to do justice by them.

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GAZETTE: Have subsequent archaeologists worked through the backlog of data from his finds?

MANUELIAN: At almost all of his 23 sites in Egypt and Sudan, new expeditions are active, asking different research questions, and adding to Reisner’s knowledge base.

In terms of his expedition records, that’s really what prompted the biography. I was doing the Giza Project at the Museum of Fine Arts — that started in 2000 — and the goal was basically to scan all the photos, type all the diaries, database all the objects, and then link them online for the world community. As we were creating this online archaeological tool, we came across all the other expedition correspondence — the letters and the gossip and the scandals — and I felt that this is a story that should be told.

Read the full article here.