Volume 1

The Wellcome excavations in the Sudan / [Frank Addison].

  • Addison, Frank
Date:
1949-1951
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: The Wellcome excavations in the Sudan / [Frank Addison]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PREFACE The excavations described in this volume and in those which are to follow were carried out by the late Sir Henry Wellcome during the years 1910-1914. I did not myself take any part in them. When the records and the excavated material were put at my disposal I had not even seen the sites and I was entirely ignorant of the nature and extent of the finds which had been made. In these circumstances it may seem surprising that I was entrusted with the publication at all, and it is desirable that I should explain how this came about. Sir Henry, who died in 1936, had directed in his will that his archaeological excavations should be completed and published by Dr. G. A. Reisner, and that the anthropological report on the human remains should be prepared and published by Sir Arthur Keith. Should either or both these eminent authorities be unable or unwilling to accept the charge, they were asked to nominate other persons to carry out the work. Dr. Reisner, whose health was already failing (he died in 1942), and whose own publication work was some years in arrears, was himself in no position to assume any additional burden and he was obliged to exercise his prerogative of nominating a substitute. I was honoured, yet slightly apprehensive, when his choice fell on me. Sir Arthur Keith was also unable to accede to Sir Henry's testamentary request but, whilst not actually himself nominating anybody, approved the suggestion that the anthropological work should be put into the hands of Dr. G. M. Morant. I am not directly concerned with this side of the publica- tion, but, to round off the account, I may add that, on the recommendation of (the late) Professor C. G. Seligman, Dr. A. Samson was appointed to assist Dr. Morant, and this partnership lasted until the outbreak of war in September 1939. After the war neither Dr. Morant nor Dr. Samson was free to carry to its conclusion the investigation they had begun and it was handed over to Mr. J. C. Trevor of the Duckworth Laboratory, Cambridge, under whose direction it has been studied by Messrs. R. K. Mukherjee and C. R. Rao. Their joint report is not, as I write, complete. When Sir Henry's Trustees apprised me of Dr. Reisner's decision, and invited me to undertake the task he had declined, it was agreed by all those concerned—the Trustees, the Conservator of Antiquities in the Sudan, and myself—that no further field work need be undertaken. While it was realised that Sir Henry had regarded his excavations as incomplete it was felt that to dig up still more acres of the Jebel Moya site would not be likely to increase the sum of scientific and histori- cal knowledge to an extent at all commensurate with the effort and expense involved. My work was to be confined to the examination and publication of the results already achieved. When I began it I was fortunate enough to have Mr. L. P. Kirwan as a collaborator, and his considerable experience of excavation in Egypt and the Sudan was of great value. A few weeks later, when the need for clerical and general assistance began to manifest itself, we were joined at Willesden, where our storehouse in London was situated, by Miss M. J. Halford. Coming, as she thought, to a purely secretarial appointment, she proved herself readily and cheerfully adaptable to all the new and miscellaneous and often dusty tasks which the handling of the material from a large excavation entails. Typing was merely one of her incidental activities. This harmonious partnership was abruptly broken by the outbreak of war and was fated never to be restored. The
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