Edition - April, 2014
Gertrude Caton-Thompson on the problems of creating a unified Predynastic chronology, 1928
This brief article is based on a few pages from the book, and is made up almost entirely of Caton-Thompson sound-bites about her work in this area. It is intended as an insight into the work that she did on Predynastic chronologies and the clear thinking that helped her to be one of the most important archaeologists working in Egypt at the time. [more…]
Confessions of a Part-time Lecturer to Newcomers in Egyptology: Cheops or Khufu?
Call me a curmudgeon if you will, but I prefer “purist.” Purists are expected to rant occasionally, but often there is vindication for that, grounded in practicality. I am speaking of the mess the Greeks made of Egyptian words — names, especially — that has carried on down to the present day, perpetuated (unfortunately) by some of the best Egyptologists in the business, and by now no doubt irreversible. Purists can be frustrated — short of madness, although perhaps not by a wide margin — by such irritations and the futility of their remedial efforts, and I suppose others may as well just let those of us so inclined simply grimace and grind our teeth. [more…]