Uncovering ancient Egyptian secrets
Dec 19 2008 by Laura Davis, Liverpool Daily Post
Professor Garstang, Mrs Garstang, Harold Jones, and an unknown woman, taking tea in a tomb at Beni Hassan _320
“He found things like jars for make-up, pottery vessels for food, clothes and mirrors. It gave people much more of a sense of what sort of afterlife the ordinary people believed in.”
Although some of Garstang’s photographs suggest he was having a jolly old time, his expeditions were carefully regimented affairs.
“He ran his expeditions like a private enterprise,” reveals Dr Snape. “He was very good at tapping people for money and used to make contact with rich merchants and ship-owners.
“For each dig, he set up a committee and, at the end of each session of excavation, everyone who had helped fund it would get a selection of objects. He was good at finding lots of objects and kept his backers happy.”
These included Lord Leverhulme, who displayed many of the items in his Lady Lever gallery, in Port Sunlight.
Liverpool University continues to carry out digs in Egypt today, but on a smaller scale and using different techniques.
“In the early part of the 20th century, people were really interested in religious burial customs and there was a lot of stuff to be found in cemeteries.
“Today, we have become interested in other elements of Ancient Egypt, such as settlements or towns.”
Dr Snape has his own theory on why our fascination with the Land of the Pharaohs spans centuries.
“I think the reason people are so interested in Ancient Egypt is that it is both strange and familiar. Things like people having mirrors in their tombs are very human, but on the other hand they do strange things like build pyramids and have strange looking gods.
“They have also left a lot behind. They were really good at creating impressive architecture, statues and paintings. They have left a lot that is visually appealing.”
This period of history has also informed the work of another department of Liverpool University. Robert Connolly, senior lecturer in Physical Anthropology, is the third of four academic generations of bio-medical scientists to become interested in Ancient Egypt.
