A Century of Excavation in the Land of the Pharaohs

A Century of Excavation in the Land of the Pharaohs is by James Baikie. Chapter III, The Beginnings of the Modern Period, says the coming of Mariette in 1850 marked the close of the old and bad period of reckless pillage in Egypt. Chapter II, Mariette and His Work, tells of the life-work of the man who, more than any other, was responsible for the creation of a genuine interest in the great works of ancient Egypt.

Miss Amelia Edwards is quoted as saying that our explorer in Egypt is only called upon to be an all-round archæologist within the field of the national history. The text says it is scarcely too much to say that, because of the minute care of the modern excavator, we are better acquainted with the life of the Egypt of the New Empire than we are with that of the ordinary European nation of the Dark Ages. The text speaks of the man of science who allows himself to be lowered on an Arab rope, down a 40-feet shaft, to explore a dark gallery of the dead.