EES Excavations at Amarna Part 1: John Pendlebury

Among the many treasures kept in the Egypt Exploration Society’s Lucy Gura Archive is the ’film record’ of excavations at Tell el-Amarna, which was made over the course of three seasons from 1930 to 1933. The excerpts used here were selected for what they show of the character of the expedition Director, John Pendlebury, and his love of athletic competition and play-acting. For further information on the film please see the following recently published article: ’The “Film Record of the Egypt Exploration Society’s Excavations at Tell-El-Amarna“’ KMT vol. 21, No. 3 (Fall 2010), 45-53. The footage is also accompanied by the voices of Julia Samson and Margaret Drower both of whom worked with Pendlebury at Amarna. Their reminiscences were recorded by Rosalind Janssen during the 1990s and digitized recently as part of the Society’s Oral History Project. The Society is very grateful to Mrs Janssen for her generosity in allowing the digital recordings to be added to the Society’s archives, and for permission to use the sections included here. For further information about the EES and its archives or if you would like to support our ongoing work please visit