Our history

The Egypt Exploration Society was founded in 1882 by Amelia Edwards. Following a visit to Egypt in 1873-4, she developed a passion for documenting, exploring and preserving the country’s unique heritage. Her legacy, the EES, continues this mission today.

Such is the fate of every Egyptian monument, great or small... every day, more inscriptions are mutilated, more tombs are rifled, more paintings and sculptures are defaced.

Amelia Edwards, 1877

Over the course of our history we have explored over 150 sites and monuments in Egypt and Sudan, discovered thousands of artefacts and contributed to the scientific development of British archaeology in Egypt.

We now work closely with the Egyptian government to continue our mission and are the only UK charity to combine archaeological fieldwork in Egypt with a busy publications programme and a unique archive and research library.

At a time when heritage is more threatened than ever before, we are at the forefront; developing new ways of working with local communities, training Egyptian scholars and supporting fieldwork projects through grants and awards.

If you would like more information about our history then visit our Collection Highlights to read more.

Latest

BEC5 - Call for papers

The Fifth British Egyptology Congress will be held on 4th-6th September 2020: Call for papers
Egyptian Archaeology 55 is out

Find out what's inside the latest issue of our biannual magazine and how you can get your hands on a copy.
BANEA Conference 2020

‘Critical Debates in the Archaeology of the Middle East’, by the British Association of Near Eastern Archaeology (BANEA).
English Language Training 2020

Thanks to the generosity of our colleagues at the British Council, we will again be providing English language courses to Egyptian archaeologists and Egyptologists in 2020.