01.10.2009
Four clips from the interview conducted with Professor Harry Smith, a Vice-President of the Society, as part of the Oral History Project, are now available online via the Society's page on Youtube.
Professor Smith on the day of the interview in March 2009.
The recordings of Professor Smith's voice are accompanied by images from the Society's archives and in one case by film footage shot by EES member Dr Anthony Hovenden at the now-lost Lower Nubian site of Buhen in 1962.
The fortress of Buhen, from an image in the Society's Lucy Gura Archive.
The Society's excavations at the site were directed by Bryan Emery and represented a major part of the British contribution to the UNESCO rescue campaign. Shortly after the work was completed the site was overtaken by the rising waters of Lake Nasser, created by the construction of the high dam at Aswan. Professor Smith's recollections and Dr Hovenden's film are therefore an invaluable record of an extremely important archaeological site, and of an entire landscape that is now destroyed.
In other clips Professor Smith recalls a meeting with the great philologist Sir Alan Gardiner, his experiences working with Dr Raymond O Faulkner, and the 'division' of objects discovered by the Society at Saqqara, some of which were brought back to the UK for redistribution to Museums and other institutions.
Slate statue of the Royal Scribe, Bakennefu (26th dynasty) discovered by the Society during the excavations at the Sacred Animal Necropolis, North Saqqara.
We hope to make more material from this interview and that conducted with Professor Kenneth Kitchen, available in due course. A third interview, with Eric Uphill, was recorded by John Johnston during July and August 2009, and further interviews are planned for the next few months.
The Society is extremely grateful to Professor Smith for sharing his reminiscences, to Dr Hovenden for allowing the Society to use his film, to Dr Alice Stevenson for transcribing the interview, and to the members of the Amelia Edwards Group for providing the funds to allow the Oral History Project to go ahead.You are strongly encouraged to view the video clips at Youtube and to leave comments!
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