Introduction

In 2006, a unique collection of Arabic field diaries documenting over thirty years of excavation at fifteen archaeological sites in Egypt and the Sudan resurfaced in the rural community of Quft (or Qifṭ), near Luxor, in the South of Egypt. The diaries originally formed part of a large, bilingual archive documenting the Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Egyptian Expedition between 1913 and 1947. The archive was created by the American archaeologist, George Reisner (1867–1942), and his teams in Egypt during the first half of the twentieth century. At the close of the expedition in 1947, the Arabic field records became separated from the larger expedition archive and remained unknown to scholars until resurfacing in Quft nearly sixty years later. In 2006, the collection was offered by the Dirāz family, Egyptian descendants of the original diary writers, to the Department of the Art of Ancient Egypt, Nubia, and the Near East at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA).

Written in an idiomatic mixture of literary (Standard) and colloquial (Cairene and Upper Egyptian) Arabic, the diaries were collectively authored by two generations of archaeological foremen from Quft, known as Quftis, whose role in knowledge production has long been marginalized. The existence of an Arabic excavation archive written by skilled technicians from rural Egypt is unique and unprecedented in the history of archaeology. Though overlooked since the time of their production, these texts belong among the canon of archaeological literature that has until now been published only in Western languages. The diaries are a unique primary source for historians and archaeologists, but also for linguists, as they are written in a mixture of Standard Arabic, Egyptian Arabic of Cairo, and Upper Egyptian Arabic. This project aims to make the diaries accessible for a new generation of scholars, promoting Egyptian Arabic as a proper language of research and taking a concrete step toward decolonizing Egyptology.

The Arabic Excavation Archive is an international research project directed by Prof. Peter Der Manuelian at Harvard University and co-directed by Dr. Wendy Doyon. This website will serve as an open-access digital repository for the manuscript collection, currently in the early stages of digitization, transcription, translation, and research. Here you will find details on the history and aims of the project, collaborating scholars, and resources on the history of Quft and archaeological labor in Egypt.

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