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SUMMARY:Places and Practices in Victorian Egyptology: ‘Armchair Archaeol
 ogy’ at Tell el-Yahudiyeh\, 1870-1880 - Meira Gold – PhD Student\, Dep
 artment of History and Philosophy of Science\, Wolfson College
DTSTART:20160304T144500Z
DTEND:20160304T145500Z
UID:TALK64988@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Francisco Orozco
DESCRIPTION:In recent years\, there has been increasing attention paid to 
 the institutionalization of European Egyptology at the end of the 19th cen
 tury and the shift from antiquarianism to an independent\, unified\, profe
 ssional discipline. However\, the traditional narrative that the field dev
 eloped linearly—quickly progressing towards the inevitable implementatio
 n of a number of scientific techniques—is misleading. My paper will mudd
 y up this narrative by discussing some unconventional ways Egyptological k
 nowledge was produced and disseminated during this period\, and how these 
 ideas received credibility. I will focus on early British fieldwork at the
  now-overlooked Egyptian site of Tell-el Yahudiyeh. Once of immense intere
 st to 19th century scholars because of its biblical associations\, knowled
 ge of Tell el-Yahudiyeh was initially circulated amongst Victorian audienc
 es through a network of ‘armchair archaeologists’ (museum practitioner
 s and professors) in London and ‘fieldworkers’ (explorers and antiquit
 ies collectors) in Egypt between 1870 and 1880. While the phenomena of lat
 e 19th century “armchair” scholarship has been discussed in the contex
 t of other expeditionary sciences\, such as anthropology and geography\, i
 t is not normally associated with archaeological excavations. Examining th
 ese antiquarian practices at Tell el-Yahudiyeh will highlight some of the 
 lesser-known methods Egyptologists deployed in attempting to make authorit
 ative claims about ancient Egypt.
LOCATION:Lee Hall\, Wolfson College
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