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Document Details : Title: Papyri, Archaeology, and Modern History Subtitle: A Contextual Study of the Beginnings of Papyrology and Egyptology Author(s): DAVOLI, Paola Journal: Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists Volume: 52 Date: 2015 Pages: 87-112 DOI: 10.2143/BASP.52.0.3203265 Abstract : The first discoveries of Greek papyri and the beginning of archaeological activities in Egypt after the foundation of the Service des Antiquités (1858) are examined here from the point of view of the cultural, economic, and political context that deeply influenced the birth and development of Papyrology and Egyptology. This perspective allows for a better understanding of the complex dynamics and the general circumstances that led to the discovery of antiquities and of the attitude toward the preservation of the cultural heritage in Egypt. Sebbakhin are often mentioned as the cause of casual finds in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but their activities were not the only ones that affected Egypt’s archaeological heritage. The aim of this article is to enlighten the historical context in which archaeologists and papyrologists found themselves and the difficulties and contingencies they had to face. |
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