2019/08/05 by Rachael Thyrza Sparks · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Ancient Egypt and Archaeology #Archaeological Research and Protection #Archaeology and Historical Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.5334/bha-609
openalex publication_date 2019/08/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Gerald Lankester Harding (1901–1979) was an influential archaeologist and epigrapher whose field career began in 1926, when he set out to work for Flinders Petrie at Tell Jemmeh in British Mandate Palestine. Harding’s experiences on this, his first dig, were captured through his personal diary and photographs, which form part of a larger archive now housed in the UCL Institute of Archaeology Collections. This material is presented here for the first time, exploring how Harding came into archaeology, what it was like to work and live on a Petrie excavation, and to show how personal histories like this can contribute to a wider understanding of historic archaeological practice and methodology.