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Authors: Michael J Marfleet
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right time to reveal the pictures but for now Newberry’s emphasis was on speed and quantity and the young apprentice had to toe the line.
Their work at Beni Hasan was completed too quickly, it seemed to Howard, but he had enjoyed it immensely. It was to the yet greater satisfaction of Newberry, who wrote many letters to Griffith lauding the praises of his younger colleague and themselves as a team.
Carter, too, did some writing. He began what was to become a relatively regular accounting of his experiences in Egypt in epistles to Lady Amherst. Without her personal interest and help he could not have come this far and he felt he owed an enormous debt of gratitude. At the time he could have no conception of the melancholy circumstances that would lead to his final payment some twenty years later.
The night before they journeyed south to Deir el Bersha, their next assignment, it was with some considerable emotion that Carter packed his things. He consoled himself with thoughts of expectation and the new wonders awaiting him. This seemed the appropriate moment to show Newberry examples of his freehand work. The demonstration was successful and he obtained his supervisor’s approval to try the technique at el Bersha.
During his time at their second site, Carter met two more of Newberry’s colleagues, Messrs Blackden and Fraser. Newberry introduced them as ‘MW’ and ‘GW’ and thereafter never referred to the pair in any other way. For himself, Carter didn’t bother to pursue a familiarity that would get them all on proper first name terms. The two seemed far too relaxed and undisciplined for his tastes. After a drink or two a sufficiency for the likes of Carter they would drink some more and talk much and loudly of the young lady tourists they had seen lately in Minya. To Carter their minds were too preoccupied with thoughts of future liaisons, and less so with the work. Neither was he impressed with their professional handiwork. His unforgiving, overcritical eye observed that Blackden’s artwork was barely fair, almost cartoonish in style. On Fraser’s skills as a surveyor he held no opinion. It was already Carter’s view that this particular component of the profession of Egyptology was little more than blue-collar. Together the pair seemed to develop a thirst every hour or so and would disappear into the tomb the party used as a mess hall long enough to put away a beer or two before returning to their work. Carter tried to ignore them, immersing himself in the task at hand.
A giant frieze in one of the tombs at el Bersha captured the young man’s attention. Rows of identical half-clad men, one above the other in four ranks, ahead of and dwarfed by the colossal statue of a seated monarch as, in regiments, they pulled it slowly out of the quarry from which it had been cut. Standing awkwardly on a ladder, he copied it with precision. The discomfort never bothered him.
The day after he had finished work on this relief happened to be Christmas Eve. Carter hardly gave the occasion a second thought. The cooler days of winter provided precious time for comfortable daytime working conditions, and besides it was hardly pleasurable celebrating Christmas in the sand.
Fraser and Blackden, however, were more inclined to play out the holiday season and that morning they took off for Minya, the prospects of a Christmas cuddle or two uppermost in their minds.
Carter and Newberry returned to the reliefs and continued their work.
On the evening of Christmas Day, Carter relaxed with Percy Newberry. They sat in the mouth of the tomb in which they were encamped, gazing out at the paling orange light. The two shared interpretations of what they had seen during the course of the day’s work. As their conversation began, the leader of their Arab helpers ran over from his camp. Panting somewhat from exertion and somewhat from fear of interrupting his masters during their private evening discussions, the reis respectfully asked to
Their work at Beni Hasan was completed too quickly, it seemed to Howard, but he had enjoyed it immensely. It was to the yet greater satisfaction of Newberry, who wrote many letters to Griffith lauding the praises of his younger colleague and themselves as a team.
Carter, too, did some writing. He began what was to become a relatively regular accounting of his experiences in Egypt in epistles to Lady Amherst. Without her personal interest and help he could not have come this far and he felt he owed an enormous debt of gratitude. At the time he could have no conception of the melancholy circumstances that would lead to his final payment some twenty years later.
The night before they journeyed south to Deir el Bersha, their next assignment, it was with some considerable emotion that Carter packed his things. He consoled himself with thoughts of expectation and the new wonders awaiting him. This seemed the appropriate moment to show Newberry examples of his freehand work. The demonstration was successful and he obtained his supervisor’s approval to try the technique at el Bersha.
During his time at their second site, Carter met two more of Newberry’s colleagues, Messrs Blackden and Fraser. Newberry introduced them as ‘MW’ and ‘GW’ and thereafter never referred to the pair in any other way. For himself, Carter didn’t bother to pursue a familiarity that would get them all on proper first name terms. The two seemed far too relaxed and undisciplined for his tastes. After a drink or two a sufficiency for the likes of Carter they would drink some more and talk much and loudly of the young lady tourists they had seen lately in Minya. To Carter their minds were too preoccupied with thoughts of future liaisons, and less so with the work. Neither was he impressed with their professional handiwork. His unforgiving, overcritical eye observed that Blackden’s artwork was barely fair, almost cartoonish in style. On Fraser’s skills as a surveyor he held no opinion. It was already Carter’s view that this particular component of the profession of Egyptology was little more than blue-collar. Together the pair seemed to develop a thirst every hour or so and would disappear into the tomb the party used as a mess hall long enough to put away a beer or two before returning to their work. Carter tried to ignore them, immersing himself in the task at hand.
A giant frieze in one of the tombs at el Bersha captured the young man’s attention. Rows of identical half-clad men, one above the other in four ranks, ahead of and dwarfed by the colossal statue of a seated monarch as, in regiments, they pulled it slowly out of the quarry from which it had been cut. Standing awkwardly on a ladder, he copied it with precision. The discomfort never bothered him.
The day after he had finished work on this relief happened to be Christmas Eve. Carter hardly gave the occasion a second thought. The cooler days of winter provided precious time for comfortable daytime working conditions, and besides it was hardly pleasurable celebrating Christmas in the sand.
Fraser and Blackden, however, were more inclined to play out the holiday season and that morning they took off for Minya, the prospects of a Christmas cuddle or two uppermost in their minds.
Carter and Newberry returned to the reliefs and continued their work.
On the evening of Christmas Day, Carter relaxed with Percy Newberry. They sat in the mouth of the tomb in which they were encamped, gazing out at the paling orange light. The two shared interpretations of what they had seen during the course of the day’s work. As their conversation began, the leader of their Arab helpers ran over from his camp. Panting somewhat from exertion and somewhat from fear of interrupting his masters during their private evening discussions, the reis respectfully asked to
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