Edward Russell Ayrton (17 December 1882 – 18 May 1914) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 religiou ...

and archaeologist. Edward Russell Ayrton

Early life

Ayrton was the son of William Scrope Ayrton (1849-1904), a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

consular official in China, and his wife Ellen Louisa McClatchie, and was born in

Wuhu Wuhu () is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Anhui province, China. Sitting on the southeast bank of the Yangtze River, Wuhu borders Xuancheng to the southeast, Chizhou and Tongling to the southwest, Hefei city to the northwest, Ma'ansh ...

, China, on 17 December 1882 (coincidentally, the same year as the formation of the Egypt Exploration Fund). His younger sister was the suffragist Phyllis Ayrton (1884-1975). The Ayrton family originated in Yorkshire. Edward's similarly-named forebear, Edward Ayrton (1698-1774), was mayor of

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city ...

in 1760, laying the foundations for the family's subsequent prominence. The mayor's son was the leading organist and choirmaster, Dr.

Edmund Ayrton Dr. Edmund Ayrton (1734 – 22 May 1808) was an English organist who was Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal. Early life Edmund Ayrton was born in Ripon and baptised on 19 November 1734. His father was Edward Ayrton (1698-1774), a 'bar ...

(1734-1808) and his son in turn - the mayor's grandson and the great-grandfather of the archeologist - was the theatre-reviewer William Ayrton (1777-1858). Ayrton was educated at St Paul's School, in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Career

He began his career in Egyptology at the age of 20, assisting the pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology

William Matthew 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 ...

. He joined Petrie on the Egypt Exploration Fund excavations at Abydos (which began in 1899) from 1902 to 1904. Ayrton's first independent work was the excavation of the

Second Dynasty The Second Dynasty of ancient Egypt (or Dynasty II, c. 2890 – c. 2686 BC) is the latter of the two dynasties of the Egyptian Archaic Period, when the seat of government was centred at Thinis. It is most known for its last ruler, K ...

site of

Shunet ez Zebib Shunet El Zebib (Arabic:شونة الزبيب lit. "raisin barn" or "storage of the raisins"), alternatively named Shuneh and Middle Fort, is a large mudbrick structure located at Abydos in Upper Egypt. The edifice dates to the Second Dynasty (c ...

(at Abydos). Later, he worked near Ghurab with William Leonard Stevenson Loat. In 1904-05 he excavated and recorded graves of several ancient princesses found in the funerary temple complex of king

Mentuhotep II Mentuhotep II ( egy, Mn- ṯw- ḥtp, meaning " Mentu is satisfied"), also known under his prenomen Nebhepetre ( egy, Nb- ḥpt- Rˁ, meaning "The Lord of the rudder is Ra"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the sixth ruler of the Eleventh D ...

at Deir al-Bahari, as part of the expedition led by

Édouard Naville Henri Édouard Naville (14 June 1844 – 17 October 1926) was a Swiss archaeologist, Egyptologist and Biblical scholar. Born in Geneva, he studied at the University of Geneva, King's College, London, and the Universities of Bonn, Paris, a ...

and Henry Hall. Working for Theodore M. Davis 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 Medit ...

Valley of the Kings The Valley of the Kings ( ar, وادي الملوك ; Late Coptic: ), also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings ( ar, وادي أبوا الملوك ), is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th ...

from 1905 to 1908, he discovered the following tombs: *

KV47 Tomb KV47, located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, was used for the burial of Pharaoh Siptah of the Nineteenth Dynasty. It was discovered on December 18, 1905 by Edward R. Ayrton, excavating on behalf of Theodore M. Davis; Siptah's mummy ha ...

(of the pharaoh

Siptah Akhenre Setepenre Siptah or Merenptah Siptah was the penultimate ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. His father's identity is currently unknown. Both Seti II and Amenmesse have been suggested although the fact that Siptah later changed his r ...

, in 1905) *

KV55 KV55 is a tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. It was discovered by Edward R. Ayrton in 1907 while he was working in the Valley for Theodore M. Davis. It has long been speculated, as well as much disputed, that the body found in this tomb wa ...

( Amarna Period, interment problematic, in 1907) *

KV56 Tomb KV56, also known as the Gold Tomb, is a tomb located in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor, Egypt. It was discovered by Edward R. Ayrton in January 1908 and contained what is thought to be the intact burial of a royal child from the late Ni ...

(of a royal child, in 1908) and *

KV57 Tomb KV57 is the royal tomb of Horemheb, the last pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty and is located in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. The tomb was located by Edward Ayrton in February 1908 for Theodore Davis. Due to its location in the valley f ...

(of the pharaoh

Horemheb Horemheb, also spelled Horemhab or Haremhab ( egy, ḥr-m-ḥb, meaning " Horus is in Jubilation") was the last pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt (1550–1295 BC). He ruled for at least 14 years between 1319 BC and 1292 BC. ...

, in 1908). He also led or participated in the excavation of the following tombs: *

KV2 Tomb KV2, found in the Valley of the Kings, is the tomb of Ramesses IV, and is located low down in the main valley, between KV7 and KV1. It has been open since antiquity and contains a large amount of graffiti. Contemporary plans of the tomb T ...

KV10 Tomb KV10, located in the Valley of the Kings near the modern-day Egyptian city of Luxor, was cut and decorated for the burial of Pharaoh Amenmesse of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. However, there is no proof that he was actually burie ...

KV46 Tomb KV46 in the Valley of the Kings is the tomb of the ancient Egyptian noble Yuya and his wife Thuya, the parents of Queen Tiye and Anen. It was discovered in February 1905 by Chief Inspector of Antiquities James E. Quibell, excavating under th ...

KV48 Tomb KV48 is an ancient Egyptian tomb located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. It was discovered in 1906 by Edward R. Ayrton excavating on behalf of Theodore M. Davis, and contained the robbed burial of the Eighteenth Dynasty noble Amenemipe ...

KV49 Tomb KV49, located in the Valley of the Kings, in Egypt is a typical Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty corridor tomb. It was the first of a series of tombs discovered in 1906 by Edward R. Ayrton in the course of his excavations on b ...

, KV50,

KV51 Tomb KV51 is located in the Valley of the Kings, in Egypt. It was discovered in 1906 by Edward R. Ayrton excavating on behalf of Theodore M. Davis. The tomb, together with KV50 and KV52 forms a group of three known as the "Animal Tombs". It cont ...

KV52 Tomb KV52 is located in the Valley of the Kings, in Egypt. It was discovered in 1906 by Edward R. Ayrton excavating on behalf of Theodore M. Davis. Together with KV50 and KV51 it forms a group known as the "Animal Tombs", it contained a mummif ...

, KV53,

KV54 Tomb KV54 is located in the Valley of the Kings, in Egypt. It was originally excavated by Edward R. Ayrton on behalf of the American lawyer Theodore M. Davis, who funded the work. History Not so much a tomb but a small pit located near the tomb ...

, KV59, and

KV60 Tomb KV60 is an ancient Egyptian tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. It was discovered by Howard Carter in 1903, and re-excavated by Donald P. Ryan in 1989. It is one of the more perplexing tombs of the Theban Necropolis, due to the uncertain ...

. Again working with Loat, in 1908-09 he excavated amongst the

Sixth Dynasty The Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty VI), along with the Third, Fourth and Fifth Dynasty, constitutes the Old Kingdom of Dynastic Egypt. Pharaohs Known pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty are listed in the table below. Manetho acc ...

tombs at Abydos and also the Predynastic cemetery at El Mahasna. In 1911 he accepted a position with the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon. On the 18 May 1914 he drowned while on a shooting expedition, in an accident on the Tissa Tank lake,

Tissamaharama Tissamaharama ( si, තිස්සමහාරාමය , ta, திஸ்ஸமஹாராம) is a town in Hambantota District, Southern Province, Sri Lanka. History It was the capital of the Sinhalese Kingdom of Ruhuna as early as the 3 ...

, in southern Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' printed his obituary on the 23 May 1914; and his Probate Administration was published in 1915. The Estate of £457 18s 1d was left to his elder sister, Florence Margaret Ayrton.

Bibliography

* E. R. Ayrton, "Discovery of the tomb of Si-ptah in the Bibân el Molûk, Thebes", PSBA, 28, 1906. * Edward R. Ayrton and W. L. S. Loat, "Pre-dynastic cemetery at El Mahasna", 1911, London. * Edward R. Ayrton, "The Date of Buddhadasa of Ceylon from a Chinese Source". ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland'', 1911. * Edward R. Ayrton, "The Excavation of the Tomb of Queen Tîyi", ''The Tomb of Queen Tîyi'', ed. Nicholas Reeves, San Francisco, KMT Communications, 1990.

References

External links

* Obituary (by H.R. Hall) in ''The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology'', Vol. 2, No. 1 (Jan., 1915), pp. 20–23. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayrton, Edward 1882 births 1914 deaths English archaeologists English Egyptologists People educated at St Paul's School, London Deaths by drowning 20th-century archaeologists Accidental deaths in Sri Lanka British expatriates in China