John Pendlebury at Amarna

The EES has issued a video showing the work of John Pendlebury at Amarna.

The BSA and Egypt: Naukratis Excavation Fund

Just over £187 was raised for the excavation of Naukratis in 1899 by David Hogarth. The main donor was the Society of Dilettanti with £100. The Fitzwilliam and Ashmolean Museums also supported the project (£15 and £10, respectively).

Private donors
£10

• Arthur J. Evans, Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum
  
• C.E. Johnston (of Park House, Southall)
  
• Walter Leaf
  

£5

• Professor Ernest Gardner
• Professor Percy Gardner
• William Loring
• George A. Macmillan
• Rev. S.A. Thompson Yates
  

£3

• Douglas W. Freshfield
  

£2.2.0

• John L. Myres
• Francis C. Penrose
  

The BSA and Egypt: Naukratis

Ernest Gardner had excavated with Flinders Petrie at Naukratis in the western Delta prior to his admission as a Student to the BSA. In 1898 the BSA's director David Hogarth was alerted to the damage to the site and, with the support of the Society of Dilettanti, conducted further excavations in 1899. Hogarth was assisted by two BSA students: Campbell Cowan Edgar (1870-1938) of Oriel College, Oxford (and a graduate of Glasgow University where he had been taught by Jebb and Murray), and Charles Douglas Edmonds (b. c. 1876) of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Hogarth returned to the site in 1903 for a final season.

Bibliography
Gardner, E. A. 1886. "Excavations at Naukratis." American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts 2: 180-81. [JSTOR]
—. 1888. Naukratis II. London: Egypt Exploration Fund.
Edgar, C. C. 1898/9a. "Excavations at Naukratis. B. The inscribed and painted pottery." Annual of the British School at Athens 5: 47-65.
—. 1898/9b. "Excavations at Naukratis. C. A relief." Annual of the British School at Athens 5: 65-67.
Gutch, C. 1898/9. "Excavations at Naukratis. D. The terracottas." Annual of the British School at Athens 5: 67-97.
Hogarth, D. G. 1898/9. "Excavations at Naukratis. A. Sites and buildings." Annual of the British School at Athens 5: 26-46.
Hogarth, D. G., H. L. Lorimer, and C. C. Edgar. 1905. "Naukratis, 1903." Journal of Hellenic Studies 25: 105–36. [JSTOR]

Excavations: Ernest A. Gardner (1887-95)

Archaeological fieldwork was initiated during the directorship of Ernest Gardner who had gained experience in Egypt with Flinders Petrie at Naukratis. The first major project (from 1887) was on the island of Cyprus, supported by the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (Cyprus Exploration Fund).

The first excavation on mainland Greece was at Megalopolis. This proved to be controversial over the interpretation of the theatre.

Smaller projects were then attempted, first at Aegosthena in 1893, directed by E.F. Benson. The following year A.G. Bather and V.W. Yorke explored two sites, Abae and Hyampolis, in Phocis.

The financial position did not allow further field projects in the session 1894/95. However, a preliminary excavation at Alexandria was made in April 1895 by David G. Hogarth with assistance from two BSA students, E.F. Benson and Edwyn Robert Bevan.

A regional survey of Aetolia was conducted in 1892 and 1893 by W.J. Woodhouse (who had gained experience at Megalopolis).

Such work was in marked contrast to the other Schools in Greece: for example, the French at Delphi and on Delos, the Americans at the Argive Heraion, and the Germans in Athens itself.

BSA Students and the Levant

Former students of the BSA later influenced archaeological work in Egypt, the Levant, India and Britain.

One of the earliest to work in the Levant was John Garrow Duncan, an ordained minister of the Church of Scotland, who went to Athens in 1894/95. From there his interests turned to Egypt where he assisted Flinders Petrie. Duncan's focus lay in the link between Egypt and the Old Tesament.

One of the most experienced BSA excavators, Duncan Mackenzie (1861-1934), was to join the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) as 'Explorer' in December 1909. One of his first projects was at Ain Shems (Beth-shemesh). However shortage of funds led to the dismissal of Mackenzie and the cessation of the work at Ain Shems.

British work continued in the Levant with David Hogarth’s work at Carchemish which started in 1911. One of the team, T.E. Lawrence, was later recruited on the eve of the First World War, to take part in the survey of the Sinai peninsula (‘the Wilderness of Zin'), a project initiated by Hogarth through the PEF.

Other former BSA students continued to make their mark in the Levant. John Winter Crowfoot (1873-1959), who had excavated on Melos and then worked in Egypt, was elected Director of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem (1927-35). During Crowfoot's directorship Duncan excavated at the Ophel Quarter in Jerusalem on behalf of the PEF. Agnes Conway (1885-1950) (see her father, William Martin Conway), who had been admitted to the BSA on the eve of the First World War, later married George Wilberforce Horsfield, Director of Antiquities in Trans-Jordan (1924-36), and they participated in fieldwork together.

John Pendlebury: The Rash Adventurer

The research of John Pendlebury (1904-41) bridged the gap between Bronze Age Crete and Egypt. He was educated at Winchester, and Pembroke College, Cambridge. Grundon's detailed study gives a view of research at the BSA during the 1920s and 1930s. It covers Pendlebury's key work on Crete and his excavations at Amarna. There is a detailed discussion of Pendlebury's role in the defence of Crete in 1941.

Grundon, I. 2007. The rash adventurer: a life of John Pendlebury. London: Libri. [Amazon] [WorldCat]