The forgotten architects of Egyptology: uncovering the lives of Abydos’s anonymous excavation workers
In short: For decades, the history of Abydos was told through the lens of Western excavators. Yet, the manual labor that built the site’s heritage remains largely unexamined. By digging into long-ignored field journals and lantern slides, researchers are finally revealing the names, daily lives, and essential contributions of the Egyptian workforce.
Between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, archaeological work at Abydos was dominated by the narratives of prominent Western excavators. However, the Egyptian individuals who labored alongside them were frequently relegated to the background, often depicted in published materials only as anonymous figures in dig pits. Amany Abd El Hameed, a scholar at the Penn Cultural Heritage Center, is currently working to bridge this historiographical gap by analyzing Egyptological archives to integrate these hidden stories into the broader history of the site.
The Egypt Exploration Society (EES) archives, which include field journals and lantern slides, offer a rare, unfiltered look at the 1909–1911 excavation seasons. While formal reports often omitted the human dimension of the work, these archival objects document the daily realities of the workforce, including their meals, living spaces, and moments of informal interaction. For instance, field journals reveal that the laborers were responsible for constructing their own huts, a detail rarely captured in official publications. Digitization projects have even uncovered unpublished images, such as a rare portrait of an unnamed worker, providing a visual record of the people who underpinned the archaeological process.
The archival records also provide a more granular view of the workforce’s organization. Day books from the 1909–1910 season list specific names of workers, often transliterated by excavators who were not fluent in Arabic. These records, which occasionally include notes in Arabic and Italian, reveal the technical and human dimensions of the site, such as the management of supplies in the workers' closets. By documenting these contributions, researchers hope to challenge colonial narratives and inform future heritage management, particularly as Abydos seeks World Heritage status.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The Hidden History of Egyptian Labor in Abydos
- Also: Labour and Everyday Life at Abydos
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