Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie
The man responsible for the excavation of the pyramid of Senwosret II and its surrounding area was Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie. A breed apart from his contemporaries, Petrie was a systematic excavator, indeed a pioneer. His work would set the benchmark for further excavations.
Petrie was born on June 3rd, 1853 in Charlton, Kent. When he was four Petrie became so ill his mother became convinced that he was a weak child. Since she was a scholar herself, she taught him at home and introduced him to Hebrew, Latin and Greek. Later on, a governess taught him, but when he became ill again, his official education effectively ended.
Petrie was an inquisitive child and developed an insatiable appetite for facts, toying with mathematics, discovering geometry and devising chemical experiments at the age of 15. His father, an industrial engineer, taught him the use of a sextant and how to map sites, so by the time he was 18 Petrie spent many days alone making surveys around his home. He wrote his first book at the age of 22 on the recovery of Ancient Measurements from Monuments, based on work he had done at Stonehenge.
Between 1880 and 1882, Petrie went to Egypt having read a book written by a family friend, Charles Piazzi-Smyth on the measurements of Egypt's pyramids. Since the book was heavily criticized, he travelled to Giza and the Great Pyramids, Saqqara, Dahshur and the Bent Pyramid, and Abu Rawash, exploring the pyramids' interiors and measured and triangulated to confirm these results. Returning again to Giza, he measured the thickness of sides and base of the royal sarcophagus and of the inside floor. Eventually he concluded that every measurement Piazzi-Smyth had taken was inaccurate. Petrie's own survey, the Pyramids and Temples of Giza, was published in 1883 and remains a standard in the field.
Having accomplished such impressive work he was recommended to the Egypt Exploration Fund (now Egypt Exploration Society), who needed an archaeologist in Egypt to succeed Edouard Naville. Petrie accepted the position and was given the sum of 250 pounds per month to cover the excavation's expenses. In November 1884, Petrie arrived in Egypt to begin his excavations. Petrie devised a way to ensure that no artefacts slipped on to the black market by offering payment to his workmen for the smallest find.
Petrie went on to lead excavations at many of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt such as Hawara, Meydum, Abydos and Amarna. He also developed a method for establishing the historical chronology of a site based on identifying different pottery styles. Petrie was known and respected for his belief in the importance of evidence like potsherds for informing the archaeologist about life in the past. He believed that this type of evidence was far more useful and informative to the archaeologist than individual, spectacular objects.
However, he soon became disheartened with the Fund and tendered his resignation in 1886. He set up an independent organization called the Egypt Research Account, later to become the British School of Archaeology in Egypt. He was also appointed the first Edwards Professor of Egyptology at University College in London in 1892 and awarded a knighthood in 1923.