Walter Bryan Emery

Walter Bryan Emery (2 July 1902 - 1971) was a British Egyptologist born in Liverpool, England. Before his career in Egyptology began, he was introduced into the study of marine engineering where he became an excellent draftsman, which resulted in the brilliantly executed line drawings that permeated his later published works on Egyptology. [cite web|url=http://xoomer.alice.it/francescoraf/hesyra/Emery.htm|publisher=Francesco Raffaele|date=1999|title=Saqqara|accessdate=2008-01-20] With the exception of six years in the British Army during the second world war, followed by four years in the Diplomatic Service at Cairo in Egypt, his entire life was devoted to the excavation of archaeological sites along the Nile Valley. [Archaic Egypt (bio), Walter B. Emery, Pelican Books, London, 1963.]

After preliminary training at the Liverpool Institute of Archaeology, he went to Egypt for the first time as an assistant on the staff of the Egyptian Exploration Society expedition in 1923. There he aided in the excavation of Amarna (the ancient city in Middle Egypt founded by the pharaoh Akenaton). [Archaic Egypt (bio), Walter B. Emery, Pelican Books, London, 1963.]

By 1924 he was already Field Director of Sir Robert Mond's excavations at Thebes for the University of Liverpool. He made several clearings, restorations and protective operations into a score of tombs at Sheikh Abd el-Gurnah. Between 1924 and 1928, continuing as Director of the Mond Expedition, he worked on excavations at Nubia, Luxor and Thebes. [cite web|url=http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/abcde/emery_walter.html|title=Walter Bryan Emery|publisher=Minnesota State University Museum|author=Katherine Tumer|date=2003|accessdate=2008-02-03]

In 1929 he was appointed Field Director of the Archaeological Survey of Nubia under the auspices of the Egyptian Government Service of Antiquities, with authority to explore and excavate all ancient sites in Nubia which were soon to be flooded after the erection of the Aswan Dam. [cite web|url=http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/saqqare/Exploration/Personal_Profiles.html|title=Walter Bryan Emery|publisher=Personal Profiles|author=Saqqare Online|accessdate=2008-02-03] Working at Quban, Ballana and Qustul, he excavated the mysterious X group of tombs dating to the 3rd to 6th century A.D. He was assisted in his work by his wife, Molly. [cite web|url=http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/abcde/emery_walter.html|title=Walter Bryan Emery|publisher=Minnesota State University Museum|author=Katherine Tumer|date=2003|accessdate=2008-02-03] The completion of the excavations of the fortress at Buhen ended his work in Nubia. [Archaic Egypt (bio), Walter B. Emery, Pelican Books, London, 1963.]

He then became director of fieldwork at Luxor and Armant. During 1935 - 1939 he was the director of the Archaeological Survey of Nubia. During these years as director, Emery also investigated several early dynastic tombs at Saqqara. While at Saqqara he made the significant discovery of a "zoo" of mummified animal remains.

Following the years of interruption by the war and his service as a diplomat, Emery worked in the Sudan (Buhen, Qasr Ibrim). In 1964 he returned once more to Saqqara where he discovered the "enclosure of the sacred animals". [cite web|url=http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/saqqare/Exploration/Personal_Profiles.html|title=Walter Bryan Emery|publisher=Personal Profiles|author=Saqqare Online|accessdate=2008-02-03] In 1970 the discovery was announced of a "mausoleum of the sacred cow," one of the most important finds in the annals of Egyptology. [Archaic Egypt (bio), Walter B. Emery, Pelican Books, London, 1963.]

Emery obtained the Chair of Egyptology at University College London in 1951, and was a professor of Egyptology in London from 1951-1970. [cite web|url=http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/abcde/emery_walter.html|title=Walter Bryan Emery|publisher=Minnesota State University Museum|author=Katherine Tumer|date=2003|accessdate=2008-02-03] He was elected to the British Academy Fellowship in 1959. His principal publications are "Great tombs of the 1st dynasty", (3 volumes) 1949-58; "Archaic Egypt", 1961; "Egypt in Nubia", 1965. [cite web|url=http://www.calgarycoin.com/reference/egypt/egyptian.htm|title=Archaic Egyptian Art|publisher=R & T Enterprises Ltd.|date=1997-2004|accessdate=2008-02-11]

Emery died in March 1971.

Bibliography

Emery published a number of works, including:

*1938 "The Tomb of Hemaka", Cairo
*1939 "Hor-aha", Cairo
*1949 "Great Tombs of the First Dynasty I", Cairo
*1954 "Great Tombs of the First Dynasty II", London
*1958 "Great Tombs of the First Dyansty III", London
*1961 "Archaic Egypt", Edinburgh
*1962 "A Funerary Repast in an Egyptian Tomb of the Archaic Period", Leiden

References

Further reading

*"Hutchinson Encyclopedia 1990"

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