This book is Petrie's archaeological memoir of his work at a half-dozen major Egyptian sites in the late 19th century. It's somewhere between a site report and a popular history; he throws in a couple of anecdotes (which will be familiar to readers of Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody series), but it focusses almost exclusively on the work of excavation and the objects that were found.

I'd say it's not for the casual reader; Petrie's writing is clear but not particularly enjoyable. He assumes his reader has some familiarity with Egyptology, and a map of the sites he discusses would have been a great help. It is, however, illustrated on almost every page with line drawings of the buildings and artifacts under discussion.

The book ends with a few general chapters on the implications of his findings, the art of scientific excavation (of which he was the first and greatest pioneer), and, heaven help us, "The Fellah", meaning working-class Egyptians. The former chapters have some interest, and the latter chapter is a compound of the smugness, racism, and misunderstanding you would expect from your standard bigoted Victorian gentleman. Then comes a few fascinating pages of his 19th century Rough Guide to backpacking in Egypt!

He also makes some references to his dodgy "dynastic race" theories; it was a common opinion of the day that Africans could not have developed a culture as advanced as the Egyptians'. Therefore, it must have originated with a (cough white cough ) tall, aquiline-nosed so-called "dynastic race" who invaded and civilised all the poor benighted natives. This theory has long been out of favour in Egyptological circles. Repugnant as his views are (and Petrie's belief in eugenics, not discussed in this book) they were, of course, fairly common in Victorian England.

Most enjoyable are the rare glimpses into Victorian life and archaeology: Petrie waxing nostalgic about bedding down in a nice cool tomb; Petrie spitting out festering mouthfuls of water in a half-submerged shaft, trying to drag the lid off a sarcophagus; and my wondering exactly what he meant when he tells us he "stripped" to perform a survey in a filthy tomb full of Late Period mummies.

A mixed bag of a book, then; only for people with a particular interest in Victorian Egyptology. ( )