Petrie - the real Indiana Jones

http://tinyurl.com/af3mp (The Times Argus)

A nice article produced on the back of the travelling exhibition Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London, which is now at the Albany Instutute of History Art: "In the late 1880s, William Matthew Flinders Petrie went to Egypt to measure the pyramids.While getting established as an archaeologist, the young adventurer lived in an abandoned tomb at the Giza necropolis, where he used a hammock for a bed. In one feat of excavation, he swung down 25 feet on a rope ladder and squeezed through a pyramid doorway into a flooded burial chamber. With only a candle to light the pitch-black walls, he waded through fetid water filled with floating coffins, skulls and other debris. Shortly after, his sensational finds made him the talk of London.Petrie went on to lead excavations at many of the most important sites in Egypt, including Hawara, Abydos and Amarna . . . . He's also credited with transforming archaeology from a treasure hunt to a real science. " See the full story for details of the exhibition.

Details of the permanent collection of Petrie's discoveries, together with an online catalogue of the collection, can be found at:

http://www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk/