The most famous Egyptologists in history and their incredible discoveries

Egyptology is the study of ancient Egypt. This can include everything from the history and culture of ancient Egyptians to the language and hieroglyphs that they used.

In reality, many people become interested in Egyptology after visiting Egypt or seeing Egyptian artifacts in a museum. 

Egyptologists use many different methods to learn about ancient Egypt. They often study ancient texts and inscriptions, as well as artifacts like sculptures and pottery.

Over the last few decades, they have also begun to use more modern scientific techniques, such as carbon dating, to analyze objects and determine their age. 

Giovanni Belzoni was an Italian adventurer who became an Egyptologist after a series of career changes. 

In his early life, Belzoni was a circus performer and a travelling salesman for almost a decade.

He was much taller than average for his day and stood at around 6ft 7in (just over 2 metres). 

In particular, Belzoni travelled through Britain, giving shows as a 'strongman', under the stage names of 'The Patagonian Sampson’ and ‘The Great Belzoni'.

A turning point came in 1815, when he was in Malta. There, Belzoni met an agent of Muhammad Ali Pasha, the ruler of Egypt, who encouraged the Italian to work in hydraulics in Egypt.

Unfortunately, this career change proved unsuccessful, but while in Egypt, Belzoni met the British consul-general, Henry Salt.

Through the influence of Salt, Belzoni became interested in ancient Egypt after seeing some Egyptian artifacts in a museum. 

However, Belzoni was not formally trained in archaeology, but he had some experience as an engineer.

This allowed him to develop new methods for moving and lifting heavy objects. 

With Henry Salt, Belzoni successfully removed the colossal statue of Ramses II (called the 'Statue of the Younger Memnon') from Egypt to the British Museum in London, where it remains to this day.

Then, he worked on the site of the ancient temple of Abu Simbel in the south of Egypt.

Belzoni managed to clear the entrance to the great rock-cut temple of Ramses II, which had been buried in sand.

Unfortunately, his archaeological methods were not very gentle. In his haste to remove objects from tombs, he often damaged them.

He also destroyed many objects that he could not remove. At times, he stomped over fragile mummies, destroyed ancient columns and tomb walls when they were in his way, sliced up precious artefacts to carry them away, and even he left his name carved into statues that he couldn't move.

Ultimately, Belzoni's greatest discovery was the entrance to the tomb of Seti I, which he first saw on the 17th of October, 1817.

This tomb had been untouched for over 3000 years and contained many well-preserved artifacts.

However, it was one of the most elaborately decorated tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

Its vibrantly coloured and detailed reliefs have provided a much better understanding of ancient Egyptian burial practices and beliefs about the afterlife. 

Jean-Francois Champollion was a French scholar who is best known for deciphering the hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone.

The Rosetta Stone had been discovered in 1799 by French soldiers who were rebuilding a fort in Egypt during Napoleon's campaign.

It is a stone tablet with inscriptions in three different written scripts: Ancient Greek, Demotic script (a form of Egyptian), and hieroglyphs. 

At the time, historians knew how to read the ancient Greek, but not the other two.

However, Champollion was able to begin the process of deciphering the hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone by comparing them to the Greek.

Through this process, he realized that many of the hieroglyphs were sound symbols, or phonograms.

This meant that they represented specific sounds, rather than whole words. 

Then, using his knowledge of Coptic, a later form of the Egyptian language, he was able to slowly construct the sounds and meanings of the ancient writing. 

Champollion finally announced his breakthrough in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs on September 27, 1822.

Now, for the first time in over 2000 years, modern people could begin reading the writing of Egypt.

Once Champollion had deciphered the hieroglyphs, he then began to work on translating many other ancient Egyptian texts.

In the 19th century, perhaps the most famous of all of the Egyptologists was a man named Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie.

Born in England, he is often called the 'father of modern archaeology' due to his meticulous recording methods, which revolutionized archaeological practices.

What made him so influential in his day was his new methods of stratigraphy and seriation for dating artifacts. 

In particular, Petrie developed a typology system for pottery that allowed archaeologists to date layers of archaeological sites more accurately by comparing pottery styles.

As a result, Petrie's work was very important in changing the way that archaeologists viewed ancient cultures.

Before Petrie, many people believed that ancient cultures were static and unchanging.

However, Petrie's work showed that cultures changed and developed over time. 

Using his techniques, Petrie's excavations at Naqada in 1894 led to the identification of the Predynastic period of Egypt: the earliest stage of development of Egyptian society and culture.

Petrie also made many important discoveries during his career. These include the memorial temple of Ramses II and the Merneptah Stele.

His most famous work though, was at the ancinet site of Amarna. This was the capital of ancient Egypt during the reign of the notorious king Akhenaten: the 'heretic' pharaoh.

At Amarna, Flinders Petrie uncovered numerous artifacts and excavated many important buildings, including the royal palace.

Ultimately, his work at Amarna helped to shed new light on this little-known period of Egyptian history. 

To many today, Howard Carter is the most famous of all Egyptologists. He was an English archaeologist who is best known for his discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922.

Carter was born in Kensington, London, in 1874. When he was a young man, he moved to Egypt work on excavations at Beni Hasan, before he became an assistant to the famous archaeologist Flinders Petrie. 

Then, in 1899, Carter was appointed as the chief inspector of antiquities for the Egyptian government.

As part of this role, he oversaw a number of key excavations. Then, in 1907, Carter was funded by George Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon.

It was at this time that he made his most famous discovery.

On November 4, 1922, Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings. 

The tomb had been hidden for more than 3000 years and it contained over 5,000 artifacts, including the famous golden death mask.

The discovery made Carter famous overnight and cemented his place as one of the most famous Egyptologists of all time. 

Although Carter was highly respected for his careful and methodical excavation practices.

He made sure to record every detail of his work and, unlike Belzoni, took great care to preserve the artifacts that he found.

In fact, Carter's detailed recording techniques set new standards in archaeology, as he meticulously documented the location and condition of each artifact found in Tutankhamun's tomb.

While, the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb was a remarkable achievement, it was only one of many important discoveries made by Howard Carter during his career.