EGYPTOLOGY

Interest in learning about ancient Egypt goes very far back in time, but serious research by scholars in a field of study known as Egyptology began only in more modern times. Scholars in the late 18th century realized that the monuments and the sites they came from had to be recorded properly in order to reconstruct the history and civilization of ancient Egypt. The decipherment of the ancient Egyptian language by Jean François Champollion in 1822 added to the sources of knowledge and created the field of Egyptian philology (study of written texts) and linguistics. Today, experts in a variety of specialized fields contribute to the study of Egyptology. They include archaeologists, art historians, philologists, medical and dental specialists, anthropologists, paleopathologists (scientists who study diseases in dead bodies from ancient times), paleobotanists (scientists who study the plant life of ancient times), computer specialists, geologists, and epigraphers (scholars who copy, study, and translate ancient inscriptions). Dating methods such as carbon dating, thermoluminescence, and dendrochronology (the study of tree rings) are used to determine the approximate age of objects. Some types of archaeology do not necessitate the excavation of entire areas to uncover sites. New noninvasive methods that use remote sensing devices can locate potential sites, pinpointing archaeological fixtures below the surface. Scientists today use sophisticated scans, computer imaging, X-ray analysis, bone studies, and DNA testing to learn about ancient diseases and nutrition. Conservators use the most up-to-date techniques to preserve monuments in the field and in museums. In the late 20th century, discoveries in the harbor of Alexandria opened the field to underwater archaeology. Photographic

advances, such as the video recorder and digitizing camera, have also been used to record monuments and artifacts. Sophisticated computer programs have simplified the compiling of databases, have aided epigraphers, and have become invaluable in archaeological reconstructions and surveys. And the discovery in 2006 of a new intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings—the first such discovery since 1922—appeared to dispel the belief that there were no more important tomb discoveries to be made. All of the information gathered by archaeologists aids scholars in interpreting the messages left by the silent monuments of Egypt's past, enabling them to communicate the wonders of this once grand civilization to the rest of humankind.