Canadian Egyptologist - Rexine Hummel
Part II - The First Dig
Rexine was selected to go on an Egyptian dig in 1976. At this time she had an undergraduate degree in Oriental Languages from the University of Toronto. Someone had to pull out of the dig, and she was asked to go. While excited by the prospect, Rexine later said that ‘digging wasn’t for her’. Following this excavation however, she would then go on to take up her Masters degree in Near Eastern Studies/Egyptology, in 1979, and continue as a ceramicist for many decades thereafter.
Following is the description of the dig house and this first excavation in Rexine’s own words. The footnote is mine.
RH - I was very lucky to be chosen to replace a team member, who had to pull out of the East Karnak dig at the last moment. I was so excited about just being on a real dig. I was instructed to fly to New York where I would join two new team members. We flew together to Cairo and were put up in Garden City House which was a 2 or 3 star hotel that was favoured by archaeologists (because of its cheap price and its closeness to ARCE and the Museum). Faith Stanley (the registrar) joined us in Cairo and we made our way to Beit Canada in Luxor.
Canada House at East Karnak
The location of the dig house was behind Karnak Temple.
Walk through the main entrance straight to the back gate. It will undoubtedly be locked because on later digs we had to climb over the wall in order to go to town. Turn left and the house is cuddled up to the temenos wall.
The front entrance looked nice since it was relatively new but it deteriorated quickly without constant upkeep.
Our taxi drove up to the house and we were welcomed by the Director, Don Redford, and his four doctoral students who had arrived much earlier. It was very hot.
The house was built around a central courtyard which had a stair case to the roof. In the evenings the team sometimes gathered on the roof to catch a breeze in the intense heat to see the sunset. We found 12 scorpions in the house on my first dig.🦂
Photos above: (L) women’s bedroom; (R) Some chose the roof in order to catch a breeze. We slept on bamboo cots and because of the million mosquitoes arranged netting to protect us.
Three bedrooms and a large bathroom occupied the back of the house. One bedroom was for the director, another room for females and the third for males. It was very hot with the temperature reaching close to 50 degrees centigrade in the afternoons so siesta time followed lunch until 4 PM when work started again. We just draped ourselves over our beds until 4.
The large bathroom had a western toilet that actually flushed. The shower in the corner, right beside the toilet, had a very low wall surrounding it which was intended to catch the splash but never did and so the floor was always wet. Water pressure was supplied by a large water tank on the roof into which contaminated ground water was pumped.
Little Egyptian Critters also enjoyed this bathroom specially the drain. One could sit on the toilet and have the company of some giant-sized cockroaches and even the occasional scorpion.
Also off the courtyard was a very small kitchen with a sink and a small gas stove that took buda gas (propane).
There was no room in the kitchen to prepare food so the cook Ahmed and his helper often prepared the meals on the veranda at the front entrance. Ahmed was an amazing cook who produced delicious meals every day.
Drinking water arrived every day on a donkey.
There was another small room off of the courtyard that was the artist’s workroom. It was used as an extra bedroom when needed. This is where I slept with two other roommates. In one corner of this room steps descended into a smaller room with a dirt floor and a mud wall with many shelves of pottery. This was the work room for the registrar Faith Stanley.
The Excavation Site
The excavation was close to the house. There was a table under an umbrella centrally located so that all the archaeologists could use it when they needed it. That is me under the umbrella (photo below).
The long trench (called Chevrier’s trench) that you see in the centre of the photo was the work of Henri Chevrier, Inspector of Antiquities in the 1920s.[1] He uncovered fragments of colossal statues of Akhenaten which are now in the Cairo Museum. The pillars on which the statues originally stood were still in place when we arrived. I had one in my square “D” which was quite exciting for a novice like me. I am afraid I annoyed my neighbor in the adjoining square B with my constant questions. My knowledge of hieroglyphs did not make up for my lack of knowledge about digging.
To see Part I of this series about Rexine you can find it here.
[1] More information about Henri Chevrier and the East Karnak excavations can be found in this article by Redford, Donald B.(1979) "The Akhenaten Temple Project and Karnak Excavations." Expedition Magazine 21, no. 2 (January, 1979): Accessed February 11, 2025. https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-akhenaten-temple-project-and-karnak-excavations/
