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Title: The Lost Tomb by Kent R. Weeks ISBN: 0-688-15087-X Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 01 October, 1998 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Average Customer Rating: 3.88 (32 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: The Lost Tomb
Comment: There are certain topics which seem to have a nearly universal appeal. One is dinosaurs. Another is space. Still another is Egyptology. I don't know what it is, but people have a fascination with studies of ancient civilizations and studies of the ancient Egyptian civilization may be the most fascinating.
The Lost Tomb is an informal book on Egyptology. One need not know much about the topic as the author doesn't assume any background on the reader's part. In addition, the book is not comprehensive in discussing the whole of Egyptian culture or even an entire period or pharoah's reign. It is instead a personal account of (primarily) one man's career in archaeology and his exploration of one tomb in particular.
Dr. Kent Weeks is an Egyptologist with the American University in Cairo. Weeks begins his story with his childhood and rapidly proceeds down the path that led him to where he is today. Much of what we know of the Egyptian civilization originates with their burial rites and tombs. It was Weeks' interest in locating the various tombs in the Valley of Kings in Thebes that was his first step down the path. He was frustrated with the fact that, even for those tombs that have been uncovered in historic times, no map existed which accurately portrayed their locations. This led him to the first stage of what became known as the Theban Mapping Project, or TMP. The goal of the TMP was to precisely ascertain the locations of the tombs (and other monuments) as a prelude to conservation of them.
The next step was a logical one to take. In addition to knowing where the tombs were located was a desire to know what the tombs looked like. Thus began a phase whereby the surface survey (mapping the locations of known tomb entraces) moved underground to map their interiors. Years of exploring various tombs and mapping their interiors led inexorably to the most recent phase of Weeks' career: the uncovering and exploration of a once-discoverd, but subsequently lost, tomb.
Weeks knew of the existence of the tomb denoted as KV 5. Designated by an early Egyptologist and subsequently entered into by another some decades later, the location of KV 5 was only vaguely known in this century. In fact, only the one archaeologist was known to have entered it, and that 175 years ago. Weeks and his team set out to rediscover this "lost tomb" in 1989. Their subsequent rediscovery and painstaking exploration of this unique structure is the focus of most of the book.
By the way, if this tale sounds familiar (as it did to me), you may have seen the BBC documentary which was about this work. (It aired on ABC in the United States.)
The Lost Tomb is a wonderful account of one man's work in a field he clearly loves. To that end it conveys his feelings marvelously. To be certain, the book lacks the rigor one might expect of a more technically oriented study and clearly does not give equal voice to competing theories. As it is, the necessary history is sometimes daunting to grasp for the novice, so a more rigorous text would have probably been as arid as the Valley of Kings itself. It is my feeling that Weeks struck the right possible level to engender interest in his work without unduely oversimplifying it, a difficult task for any scientist.
Rating: 4
Summary: Fascinating History
Comment: Kent Weeks did not actually "discover" KV5. That was done by James Burton in the early part of the 19th century. Weeks more or less stumbled upon the entrance to the tomb while working on his Theban Mapping Project. However accidental, you have to give Dr. Weeks his due. The re-discovery of KV5 is perhaps one of the greatest events in Egyptology ever, definitely since the days of Howard Carter. This book is a gripping, detail-filled account of Weeks' excavation of some of the first chambers of the tomb. Yes, there is a lot of detail here about pottery fragments among the debris but Weeks makes it very clear that the debris in the tomb is just as important to learning about the ancient Egyptians as the tomb paintings. Maybe the discovery of KV5 was not flashy enough for some - no rooms filled with gold and riches. Dr. Weeks deserves a lot of credit for his dedicated , painstaking work on KV5 and in the Valley of the Kings in general. This book is perfect for all amateur Egyptologists or anyone interested in ancient history.
Rating: 1
Summary: Weeks' excavation did more damage than good
Comment: It is amazing reading these reviews and realizing that people actually enjoyed this man's book. This was a botched excavation from the start. There was no real great discoveries in KV5, just more of the same stuff that we find in the Valley of the Kings (KV5 was discovered long before in the 18th century to boot). It is wise to remember this when Weeks' excavation damaged the tomb itself. He had his work-crews removed wet flood debris (dirt) from the tomb and then only put rocks at the doorway to allow "air to dry up the inside" for an entire season!
However, if you are familiar with John Romer's studies on the Valley of the Kings' geology, you would know that the limestone walls would have expanded with moisture and contracted when dried. Weeks' ignorance of this simple fact (he did know of Romer's report but called his study 'unmodern') allowed the tomb roof and walls to contract at an uncontrolled speed. The result was the walls cracked, lost paint and ultiamately the roof fell in an area.
The damage Weeks' excavation did was totally atrocious and it even continues to this day. Support conservation in the Valley of the Kings instead of destructive excavation and ecourage excavations in the Delta (where Egyptologies knowledge is lacking). In conclusion, don't buy this book.
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Title: KV5: A Preliminary Report on the Excavation of the Tomb of the Sons of Ramesses II in the Valley of the Kings. by Kent R. Weeks ISBN: 9774245741 Publisher: Amer Univ in Cairo Pr Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: The Wisdom of the Bones: In Search of Human Origins by Alan Walker, Pat Shipman ISBN: 0679747834 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Complete Pyramids: Solving the Ancient Mysteries by Mark Lehner ISBN: 0500050848 Publisher: Thames & Hudson Pub. Date: 24 November, 1997 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt by Richard H. Wilkinson ISBN: 0500051208 Publisher: Thames & Hudson Pub. Date: 26 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology by Kenneth L. Feder ISBN: 076742722X Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages Pub. Date: 11 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $39.40 |
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