Reginald Engelbach (9 July 1888 – 26 February 1946) was an English

Egyptologist 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 ...

and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

. He is mainly known for his works in 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 of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, above all the compilation of a register of artifacts belonging of the museum.

Biography

Initially trained in engineering, in 1908 Engelbach had to discontinue his studies due to a long illness; in 1909-10 he went to convalesce in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

where he became fascinated by ancient Egyptian culture. In 1911 he started a collaboration with Sir

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egypt ...

as his assistant, excavating in various places such as Heliopolis,

Riqqeh Riqqeh (also known as ar-Riqqeh or Riqqa) is a modern village in Egypt. It is located about 80 km south of Cairo. Overview Close to the village, in the desert, was excavated a series of cemeteries. The cemeteries ranging in time from the ...

and

Harageh {{coord, 29, 13, , N, 31, 2, , E, region:EG_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title 100px, Canopic jar of Senebtisi, found at Harageh Harageh (also el-Harageh or Haraga) is a modern village in Egypt at the entrance to the river oasis of the Fay ...

. He later excavated in the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

too.
In 1915 he get married and in 1920-21, after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he resumed working with Petrie in his excavation at

El-Lahun El Lahun ( ar, اللاهون ''El Lāhūn,'' alt. Illahun, Lahun, or Kahun (the latter being a neologism coined by archaeologist William Matthew Flinders Petrie) is a workmen's village in Faiyum, Egypt. El Lahun is associated with the Pyramid of ...

and

Abu Gorab Abu Gorab (Arabic: أبو غراب , also known as Abu Gurab, Abu Ghurab) is a locality in Egypt situated south of Cairo, between Saqqarah and Al-Jīzah, about north of Abusir, on the edge of the desert plateau on the western bank of the Nile. ...

. He subsequently earned a remarkable number of charges and awards and began working at the Cairo Museum. His career, formed on both field and museum, culminated with the creation of the Register of the antiquities in the Cairo Museum. He died in Cairo on 26 February 1946.Warren R. Dawson, Eric P. Uphill: ''Who was who in Egyptology.'' 3rd revised edition, by Morris L. Bierbrier. The Egypt Exploration Society, London 1995, , pp. 97-98.

Significant works

* 1946. ''Introduction to Egyptian Archaeology. With special references to the Egyptian Museum, Cairo'' (ed) * 1931. ''Index of Egyptian and Sudanese Sites from which the Cairo Museum contains Antiquities'' * 1930. ''Ancient Egyptian Masonry'', with

Somers Clarke George Somers Clarke (1841–1926) was an architect and English Egyptologist who worked on the restoration and design of churches and at a number of sites throughout Egypt, notably in El Kab, where he built a house. He was born in Brighton. A ...

* 1927. ''Gurob'', with

Guy Brunton Guy Brunton (1878 in London, England – 17 October 1948 in White River, Mpumalanga, South Africa) was an English archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the Badarian predynastic culture. He married Winifred Newberry on 28 April 1906. ...

* 1924. ''A Supplement to the Topographical Catalogue of the Private Tombs of Thebes, nos. 253-254. With some notes on the Necropolis from 1913 to 1924'' * 1923. ''Harageh'', with Battiscombe Gunn * 1923.
The problem of the Obelisks, from a study of the unfinished Obelisk at Aswan
' * 1922.
The Aswân Obelisk, with some remarks on ancient engineering
' * 1915.
Riqqeh and Memphis VI
', with chapters by M.A. Murray, H. Petrie and W.M.F. Petrie

References

1888 births 1946 deaths People from Moretonhampstead English Egyptologists Egyptian Museum 20th-century British engineers Artists' Rifles soldiers {{Egyptologist-stub