The Archeological Survey
In 1890 the Fund, under the inspiration of Griffith, launched an ‘archaeological survey’. Griffith’s original intention was for a survey of the whole of Egypt, identifying new sites and describing the state of those which were already known, including recording their standing monuments. This praiseworthy but ambitious plan was soon modified, and the first expedition of the Archaeological Survey, directed by Percy Newberry, concentrated on recording the tombs at Beni Hassan and el-Bersheh.
In 1898 the Fund was fortunate to obtain the services of Norman de Garis Davies, a skilled draughtsman whose work greatly improved on the accuracy of the Survey’s earliest work.
After completing work for the publication of the tombs at Sheikh Said and Deir el-Gebrawi, Davies moved to the site of Tell el-Amarna, to record the tombs and boundary stelae. Davies left the Fund in 1907 and he and his equally gifted wife Nina continued their work at Thebes for the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
The new Field Director for the Survey was Aylward Blackman who continued the tradition by recording the tombs at the middle Egyptian site of Meir. In 1955 the Society was again fortunate in acquiring the services of Ricardo Caminos who, with Harry James, recorded the shrines at Gebel es-Silsila, and then moved on alone to record the temples of Nubia as part of the Society’s contribution to the UNESCO Nubian campaign. In the 1970s Vivian Davies, Alan Lloyd and Jeffrey Spencer copied, for the Survey, Old Kingdom tombs at Saqqara.