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Theodore
Davis
THEODORE
DAVIS (the man without a hat in the image) was an elderly and wealthy financier
from Newport, Rhode Island and was one of the key figures in the history of
archaeological exploration in the Valley of the Kings. Theodore Davis had
wintered regularly in Egypt since 1889, sailing up and down the Nile on his
dahabiya, 'Bedawin', with his companion Mrs Emma B Andrews (who kept a diary of
their day-to-day activities). But he came to digging only late and then by
chance. As Carter recorded in his unpublished autobiographical
'sketches'. 'Davis often told me that he would like to have some active
interest during his sojourns in Upper Egypt. Thus… I put the following
proposition to him., The Egyptian Government would be willing, when my duties
permitted, for me to carry out the researches in the Valley of the tombs of the
Kings on his behalf, if he would cover the costs thereof, that the Egyptian
Government in return for his generosity would be pleased, whenever it was
possible, to give him duplicate antiquities resulting from these researches. At
the same time I told him of my conjecture regarding the possibility of
discovering the tomb of Tuthmosis IV…'. |