The Temples of Lower Nubia Report of the Work of the Egyptian Expedition, Season of 1905-'06

Excerpt from The Temples of Lower Nubia: Report of the Work of the Egyptian Expedition, Season of 1905-'06



In View Of the above facts, it is evident that the work of mak ing permanent records of our fast-perishing inheritance in Egypt cannot begin too soon. The work of excavation now so ably carried on is a task of such magnitude that the organizations or expeditions now in the field can hardly be expected to undertake any additional responsibility. A grand beginning and a splendid record have already been made by the archaeological survey of the Egypt Exploration Fund, while the work of individuals, like that of Newberry, has now and then saved invaluable-records. The Service des Antiquités, under'maspero's able leadership, has more than it can do with its various excavations and its never ceasing struggle with vandalism for the preservation Of the mon uments. Meantime the monuments slowly perish, no precautions can save them, and the future will certainly hold us responsible for some adequate and permanent record of the documents acces sible to us. Under these circumstances it seemed to the present writer'the urgent duty of our expedition, for the present at least, to do what it could in this field, rather than to undertake the work of excavation exclusively.