Canadian Egyptologist - Rexine Hummel
Part I - The Beginning
Rexine (right) and myself looking over pottery sherds in the Sinai in 2004. (Photo by Patrick Carstens)
She has been an amazing mentor to me and many others over the years!
Rexine Hummel is someone I’ve always looked up to. I met her while undergoing my studies in Egyptian archaeology at the University of Toronto. I know there are lots of articles and books being written about early female archaeologists in Egypt - but primarily of British or American heritage.[1] I feel like Canada has also had a place, and Rexine is the first woman I thought of. There are others of course, like the wonderful Pat Paice (you are missed) - who I worked with at the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities (SSEA) in Toronto (while in Grad School), Amice Calverley, Violette Lafleur, Sally Katary, Gayle Gibson, Lyla Pinch Brock, Lyn Green, Catherine D’Andrea, Mary M.A. McDonald, Zoe McQuinn, Valérie Angenot … and many others. Forgive me if I haven’t included you here - but please let me know as I’d like to include all the amazing female Canadian Egyptian archaeologists here. Perhaps I will do a highlight series on each of you!
Rexine is one of the loveliest people I’ve ever met. She is extremely knowledgeable about Egyptian pottery and has a fascinating career that has spanned many decades. This year she turned 87, and I wanted to ask her these questions now - and let her know she is appreciated. Thank you so much Rexine for always being generous with your knowledge and your smiles.
When I emailed Rexine to ask her if she would be willing to let me write about her, she responded that there is probably a lot already on the internet, and that she had been interviewed by a local Ontario paper a few years back and I could start there.
A Beach Metro article from 2018 [2], regaled this tale that Rexine had shared:
“On her first day at the site, other risks emerged—or slithered. As one of the workmen was being lowered into a shaft to begin cleaning and clearing the bottom, he suddenly yelled to be pulled up. “It had snakes at the bottom, and so nobody would go down,” Hummel said. “Then, they got the guard and he shot the snakes—and that was the end of that story.”
Hummel’s no-nonsense recap betrays her general attitude to the apparent risks of her travels. “At my age, my gosh—I mean, it’s risky being 80… I could pop off anytime,” said Hummel.”
It is this kind of comment that makes me smile every time I think of her. Although very polite, Rexine is also very direct - and it is one of the things I love most about her. In addition to her answering my questions, I will be drawing on a private Storyworth project about her life that she wrote at the prompting of her granddaughter Taylor in 2022, which she graciously shared with me.
Rexine Helen Marie Thompson was born at Grace Hospital in Toronto, on June 19, 1937, to parents Reginald ‘Rex’ Hewitt Thompson and Nellie Julia Speed - who later changed her first name to ‘Helen’ Thompson. When she was eighteen (1955) she won a four-year scholarship to attend the University of Toronto, and decided to accept by entering the ‘Oriental Languages’ program. She says that she, “encountered resistance to my choice. I was encouraged to – apply to - Classics as being more suitable for a female.”[3] The course included learning Greek, Hebrew, Syriac and Aramaic.
“It was my experience in ancient languages and history that lead me finally to a wonderful career in archaeology in Egypt. That 1955 scholarship changed the future path of my life.”
During a summer job as a waitress at Banff Springs Hotel, she met her future husband, Reg Hummel, who was also employed as a bellhop. A chance encounter during a hike on her 21st birthday became the start of a very long relationship. A year later, and after graduation, she married Reginald Alexander Hummel of Hamilton on October 24, 1959. The couple went on to have three lovely daughters, Alexandra, Candace and Julie.
In 1976 Rexine, or ‘Pixie’ or ‘Rexy’ as she is known by close friends, joined her first excavation in East Karnak. And then in 1979, she went back to U of T to take up her Masters degree in Near Eastern Studies/Egyptology. She has gone on over 30 excavations in her long career!
The next section contains the answers to my questions, in Rexine’s own words. Footnotes are mine.
Debb asked: Was there a reason you chose Egyptian archaeology? When did you start?
RH - I don’t know exactly when I became interested in Egyptian archaeology. It was actually a journey. My parents, although they never went past grade 8, were voracious readers. My father’s brother was a delivery man for newspapers and magazines many of which he passed on to us. In the 1930s monthly art and history magazines were bound together into hard cover books. Our shelves were full of them. I specially loved the books about different people from all over the world. My father also introduced me to his favorite author, Rider Haggard [4] and I read every Rider Haggard book in the local library. His books introduced me to the idea of deciphering ancient texts. That was really what I wanted to be although in my heart I knew very little about it. When I was 12 a family of Greeks moved next door and I played with their children and learned some kitchen Greek.
In high school I took Latin in Grade 10 and Greek in Grade 11. I discovered that I had a very bad ear and although I loved languages I was very bad in Modern spoken languages but very good in the dead ones.
I became Scarboro Collegiate’s classic scholar and my teacher signed me up for a scholarship to U of T. I on the hand, had other plans. I planned to go to Normal School with my boyfriend and girlfriends and become a kindergarten teacher and I was accepted there. When I won the scholarship I turned it down. I knew nothing about University. My teacher phoned me and scolded me. My mother convinced me to go for only one year and take whatever I wanted. When I read the brochure with all the courses I found one that excited me. It was called Oriental languages and it promised, Hebrew, Greek, Akkadian, Egyptian, Aramaic, Syriac, etc. that was my dream course. I loved different scripts. I did not know that it was a course set up for men going into the ministry. The registrar refused to register me for a few days but I finally insisted and I joined three men in my new course. I loved it from day 1.
Four wonderful years which included a romance between myself and one of the men in the course. But that is a whole other story. I graduated with the silver medal and faced reality. There were no jobs for anyone without further education and even then women were not included. Barbara Mertz [5] faced this in Chicago. After a fight with my new boyfriend I planned a 10 week backpacking trip to the near East and applied for scholarships to Harvard and Columbia. In April of 1959 I faced a dilemma. My boyfriend Reg and I patched things up and he proposed marriage and at the same time I was offered scholarships to both Harvard and Columbia. I did what most women would do in the fifties. I accepted the proposal of marriage and turned down both scholarships. I went on an exciting 10 week trip with a girlfriend which involved Egypt, Jerusalem, Damascus, a revolution in Lebanon and many other adventures and misadventures. In the meantime my mother was making my wedding dress and planning the wedding. I arrived home in late August, began the Kindergarten specialist course at teachers college, and got married in October (you had to be in the country for at least 30 days to get married). I have never regretted my decision. My girlfriends who went on to get their PhD never married. Men in the fifties did not want to marry smart women.
I became a kindergarten teacher and as soon as I was pregnant I was required to quit. The rules have changed since then.
I had three daughters, a busy social life, knitted, sewed, baked, but something was missing in my life. I joined the Ontario Archaeological Society and met Faith Stanley [6] who introduced me to the SSEA. I took hieroglyph classes with Terry Miosi.[7] We met in peoples houses, the lessons were easy and fun. They were especially easy for me because of my experience with Semitic languages. Terry took me aside and told me I should go back and get my MA. In the spring of 1976, Terry was on the list to go to East Karnak with Don Redford.[8] Then it was discovered that his wife was pregnant with triplets and he could not go. Geoff Freeman [9] who was financing the dig at the time, chose me to go in his place.
It was a dream of my lifetime.
Rexine in her square at East Karnak (1976)
I was treated badly by the doctoral students on the dig but just being in Egypt kept my spirits high. They gave me a square to excavate and I learned there and then that digging was not my thing. That dig has its own story. [10]
A year or so later I signed up for my MA. My professor was Don Redford.
P.S. from Debborah - I will continue these posts about Rexine with the hope to have one up every 4-5 weeks. Please check back in February for Part II.
[1] Book Review: Women in the Valley of the Kings - https://www.debborahdonnelly.ca/blog/women-kv-book-review
[2] Beach Metro (2018) Meet Rexine, the 80-year-old Egyptologist extraordinaire from Birch Cliff. Beach Metro - posted online March 26, 2018 https://beachmetro.com/2018/03/26/rexine-egyptologist-birch-cliff/
[3] Hummel, R. (2022) Stories of My Life. Storyworth.
[4] Sir H. Rider Haggard (1856-1925) was an English writer of adventure fiction predominantly set in Africa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Rider_Haggard
[5] Barbara Mertz (1927-2013) was an American author and Egyptologist, better known under her pseudonym, Elizabeth Peters. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/13/barbara-mertz
[6] Faith Stanley was the first member of the SSEA, and a former employee of the Royal Ontario Museum.
[7] Dr. Terry Miosi is one of the founding members of the SSEA, which was incorporated in 1970. https://independent.academia.edu/TerryMiosi
[8] Don Redford (1934-2024) was a Canadian Egyptologist who taught at both the University of Toronto and the University of Pennsylvania. https://www.psu.edu/news/liberal-arts/story/acclaimed-egyptologist-donald-redford-passes-away-90
[9] Geoffrey Freeman was a founding member of the SSEA, editor of the JSSEA and archaeologist.
[10] Debb - note to self - get this story!
