George Andrew Reisner Jr. (November 5, 1867 – June 6, 1942) was an American archaeologist of Ancient Egypt,

Nubia Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...

and Palestine.

Biography

Reisner was born in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

. His parents were George Andrew Reisner I and Mary Elizabeth Mason. His father's parents were of German descent. Reisner gained B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University, before becoming a travelling fellow. He married Mary Putnam Bronson, with whom he had a daughter, also called Mary. In 1889, Reisner was head football coach at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...

, coaching for one season and compiling a record of 2–1.

Archaeology career

Upon his studies at

Jebel Barkal Jebel Barkal or Gebel Barkal ( ar, جبل بركل) is a mesa or large rock outcrop located 400 km north of Khartoum, next to Karima in Northern State in Sudan, on the Nile River, in the region that is sometimes called Nubia. The jebel is 1 ...

(The Holy Mountain), in

he found the

Nubian kings The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXV, alternatively 25th Dynasty or Dynasty 25), also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, the Black Pharaohs, or the Napatans, after their capital Napata, was the last dynasty of th ...

were not buried in the

pyramids A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

but outside of them. He also found the skull of a Nubian female (who he thought was a king) which is in the collection of the

Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is a museum affiliated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1866, the Peabody Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums focusing on anthropological material, with ...

at Harvard. Reisner believed that

Kerma Kerma was the capital city of the Kerma culture, which was located in present-day Sudan at least 5,500 years ago. Kerma is one of the largest archaeological sites in ancient Nubia. It has produced decades of extensive excavations and research, i ...

was originally the base of an Egyptian governor and that these Egyptian rulers evolved into the independent monarchs of Kerma. He also created a

list of Egyptian viceroys of Kush The former Kingdom of Kerma in Nubia, was a province of ancient Egypt from the 16th century BCE to eleventh century BCE. During this period, the polity was ruled by a viceroy who reported directly to the Egyptian Pharaoh. It is believed that the ...

. He found the tomb of Queen Hetepheres I, the mother of King

Khufu Khufu or Cheops was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, in the first half of the Old Kingdom period ( 26th century BC). Khufu succeeded his father Sneferu as king. He is generally accepted as having c ...

(Cheops in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

) who built the

Great Pyramid The Great Pyramid of Giza is the biggest Egyptian pyramid and the tomb of Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu. Built in the early 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World ...

at Giza. During this time he also explored mastabas.

Arthur Merton Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more ...

(London Times) remarked in 1936 in the aftermath of the

Abuwtiyuw The Egyptian dog Abuwtiyuw, also transcribed as Abutiu (died before 2280 BC), was one of the earliest documented domestic animals whose name is known. He is believed to have been a royal guard dog who lived in the Sixth Dynasty (2345–2181 ...

discovery that Reisner "enjoys an unrivalled position not only as the outstanding figure in present-day

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious p ...

, but also as a man whose soundness of judgement and extensive general knowledge are widely conceded." In 1902 permission to excavate the Western cemetery in Giza was granted by

Gaston Maspero Sir Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (23 June 1846 – 30 June 1916) was a French Egyptologist known for popularizing the term "Sea Peoples" in an 1881 paper. Maspero's son, Henri Maspero, became a notable sinologist and scholar of East Asia. ...

, director of the

Egyptian Antiquities Service The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) was a department of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture from 1994 to 2011. It was the government body responsible for the conservation, protection and regulation of all antiquities and archaeological excavatio ...

. The area was divided into three sections, and chosen by lot. The 1902-1905 excavations were financed by Phoebe Apperson Hearst. The southern section was given to the Italians under

Ernesto Schiaparelli Ernesto Schiaparelli (; July 12, 1856 – February 14, 1928) was an Italian Egyptologist. Biography He was born in Occhieppo Inferiore (Biella). He found Queen Nefertari's tomb in Deir el-Medina in the Valley of the Queens (1904) and ...

, the northern strip to the Germans under

Ludwig Borchardt Ludwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ludwig (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Ludwig (surname), including a list of people * Ludwig Ahgren, or simply Ludwig, American YouTube live streamer and ...

, and the middle section to Andrew Reisner. He met Queen Marie of Romania in Giza. In Egypt, Reisner developed a new archaeological technique which became a standard in the profession, combining the British methods of Petrie, the German methods of Dorpfeld and Koldewey, his own American practicality and his skill for large-scale organization. Despite later being recognised as a mark of good practice, this technique was at the time controversial, and was criticised as being overly elaborate. In 1908, after a decade in Egypt, Reisner headed the Harvard excavation of

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...

.The Archaeology of Palestine, W.F. Albright, 1960, p.34 In 1913 Reisner was tasked with training the young archaeologist O.G.S. Crawford in excavation techniques, Crawford was later to warmly recall that Reisner was "an excavator of the first rank".

Timeline

* 1897–1899: Classified

collection of the

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display a ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

* 1899–1905: Led the

Hearst Expedition The Hearst Expedition was an archaeological project led by the University of California to explore burial grounds at and around Qift, Egypt. The expedition spanned the years 1899–1905, and was named for Phoebe Hearst, mother of William Randolph H ...

of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

to explore burial grounds at and around

Qift Qift ( arz, قفط ; cop, Ⲕⲉϥⲧ, link=no ''Keft'' or ''Kebto''; Egyptian Gebtu; grc, Κόπτος, link=no ''Coptos'' / ''Koptos''; Roman Justinianopolis) is a small town in the Qena Governorate of Egypt about north of Luxor, situated un ...

* 1905: Edited ''The Hearst Medical Papyrus'' * 1905–1914: Assistant professor of Egyptology at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

* 1907–1909: Directed archaeological survey of

(

Nilotic The Nilotic peoples are people indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Among these are the Burun-sp ...

Sudan) for Egyptian government * 1910–1942: Curator of Egyptian collections at the

Boston Museum of Fine Arts The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

* 1914–1942: Professor of Egyptology at Harvard University * 1916: Discovers in Jebel Barkal, in two separate caches, hard stone statues, representing

Taharqa Taharqa, also spelled Taharka or Taharqo ( Egyptian: 𓇿𓉔𓃭𓈎 ''tꜣ-h-rw-k'', Akkadian: ''Tar-qu-u2'', , Manetho's ''Tarakos'', Strabo's ''Tearco''), was a pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt and qore (king) of the Kingdom of ...

and four of his five successors: Tanwetamani,

Senkamanisken Senkamanisken was a Kushite King who ruled from 640 to 620 BC at Napata. He used royal titles based on those of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. Biography He might have been married to queens Amanimalel and Nasalsa, the latter of whom bore ...

Anlamani Anlamani was a king of the Kingdom of Kush in Nubia, who ruled from 620 BC and died around 600 BC. Under his reign, Kush experienced a revival in its power. Anlamani was the son of Senkamanisken, his predecessor, and the elder brother of ...

, and

Aspelta Aspelta was a ruler of the kingdom of Kush (c. 600 – c. 580 BCE). More is known about him and his reign than most of the rulers of Kush. He left several stelae carved with accounts of his reign. Family Aspelta was the son of Senkamanisken a ...

* 1916–1923: Explored pyramids of

Meroë Meroë (; also spelled ''Meroe''; Meroitic: or ; ar, مرواه, translit=Meruwah and ar, مروي, translit=Meruwi, label=none; grc, Μερόη, translit=Meróē) was an ancient city on the east bank of the Nile about 6 km north-east ...

, dug out temple at

Napata Napata (Old Egyptian ''Npt'', ''Npy''; Meroitic ''Napa''; grc, Νάπατα and Ναπάται) was a city of ancient Kush at the fourth cataract of the Nile. It is located approximately 1.5 kilometers from the right side of the river at the ...

* 1931: Wrote ''Mycerinus'' (alternative name of

Menkaure Menkaure (also Menkaura, Egyptian transliteration ''mn-k3w-Rˁ''), was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the fourth dynasty during the Old Kingdom, who is well known under his Hellenized names Mykerinos ( gr, Μυκερῖνος) (by Herod ...

) * 1942: Published final work, ''A History of the Giza Necropolis''

Published works

* (reprint ) * * * (reprint ) * (with

Clarence Stanley Fisher Clarence Stanley Fisher (August 17, 1876 – July 20, 1941), known as C. S. Fisher, was an American archaeologist. Early life Clarence Stanley Fisher was born on August 17, 1876 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of ...

and

David Gordon Lyon David Gordon Lyon (24 May 1852 – 4 December 1935) was an American theologian. He was born in Benton, Alabama, the son of a doctor. In 1875 he received his AB from Howard College in Marion Alabama. (Howard is now Samford University and locat ...

) * * * * (completed by Mohammad Hassan Abd-ul-Rahman)

Head coaching record

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reisner, George 1867 births 1942 deaths American Egyptologists Harvard University alumni Harvard University faculty Purdue Boilermakers football coaches People from Indianapolis American people of German descent