El pozo y el péndulo. La actividad egiptológica de anticuarios y arqueólogos españoles, 1868-1966 [The Pit and the Pendulum. Egyptological activities of Spanish antiquarians and archaeologists, 1868-1966]

In this chapter, the two phases of Spanish participation in the Egyptian archaeological fieldwork are analyzed: the years following the Revolution of 1868 and the Nubian Salvation Campaign. The latter is the starting point from which a regular activity in the Nile Valley has been established.The author hypothesizes that in the second half of 19th century Spain, the interest in the East in general and in Egypt in particular followed identical paths to those countries with the same cultural environment, but at a faster pace –as a consequence of imitation– and a reduced scale. The appearance of the first specialists in Oriental languages –excluding old Egyptian– joined the maintenance of a late antiquarian spirit that clashed with the difficulties brought by the Service de Conservation des Antiquités in the exportation of objects. In this cultural environment several government initiatives occur to allow the study of Egyptian antiquities through brief stays in Egypt as well as the activities of individuals displaced to the country for personal reasons. The fact that a professional Spanish Egyptology does not emerge at that moment is attributed, on the one hand, to the later displacement of archaeological activity to other Spanish African colonies –Maghreb, Guinea–, and on the other hand, to the absence of a university infrastructure capable of carrying out such a specialized historical or philological project as required for the study of Egyptian past.For the analysis of the activities of the Comité español para el salvamento de los tesoros arqueológicos de Nubia, personal recollections of some members of the campaigns as well as excavation reports have been used. The political motivations that pushed F. Franco’s Spain to integrate into the Campaign, the excavated sites, the methodology and the most significant discoveries are developed. Finally, the historiographical importance of this initiative is remembered, which allowed the possibility of starting regular excavations in Egypt.