Portal:Ancient Egypt/Featured Egyptologist

William Flinders Petrie

Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (3 June 1853 – 28 July 1942) was an English Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology.

From 1892 to 1933 Petrie was the first Edwards Professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology at University College, London. This chair had been funded by Amelia Edwards, who was a strong supporter of Petrie. He continued to excavate in Egypt after taking up the professorship, training many of the best archaeologists of the day. In 1913 Petrie sold his large collection of Egyptian antiquities to University College, London, where it is now housed in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. For his services to British archaeology and Egyptology, he was knighted in 1923

Petrie left Egypt for Palestine in 1926. Here he excavated a series of frontier sites between Egypt and Canaan, including Tell el-Hesi which he considered (mistakenly, as it turned out) to be site of ancient Lachish. Sir Flinders Petrie died in Jerusalem in 1939 and is buried in the Protestant Cemetery on Mount Zion.