Napoleon’s Role in Archaeological Discovery and Recovery (Essay Sample)

Student’s Name Professor’s Name Subject DD MM YYYY Napoleon’s Role in Archaeological Discovery and Recovery Archeology is a field responsible for the accounting, grouping, and studying of ancient artifacts. Archeologists are to put the relics they discover in context. They do this by identifying the cultural beliefs of the individuals who used the materials. Over the years a lot of emphasis has been placed on archeology, this has lead to the discovery of a lot of antique art (Baker & Abigail 20). Egypt is one of the countries that have contributed a lot to this pool of ancient art. It is the home of ancient civilization and great construction feats such as the pyramids of Giza. The discovery of this ancient land was the vision of one man; Napoleon Bonaparte. He led an expedition in 1798 with the main goal of studying everything regarding Egypt. In this research paper, we will look at the impact of his mission on archeological Finding and reclamation. The chief discovery as a result of Napoleon’s mission was the identification of hieroglyphic writings. Egyptian hieroglyphs were among the first forms of writing systems. This system utilized both alphabets and symbols to convey messages. This symbols and letters were combined to form around one thousand unique characters that were crafted on wood or on an old form of paper made from papyrus reeds. This revolutionary discovery was made by Jean-François Champollion by studying Napoleon's Egyptian mission work in 1799 (Falser, Michael, and Monica 10). An artifact called the Rosetta stone was explained in details in the work by Napoleon's Egypt group. The stone had peculiar marks that even the linguists could not understand. All the language experts could say for sure was that the inscriptions were some sought of an ancient language. On coming across this artifact, Jean carefully assessed the characters and she identified a pattern. It was a message written in three languages; Egyptian hieroglyphs, demotic letters, and Greek engravings. The communication was specifically, a decree between two leaders; Ptolemy and Epiphanes. Since Demotic letters and Greek engravings had already been described Jean set out to explain the third language. After an in-depth look into the works written by the team commissioned by Napoleon to Egypt, he discovered the writings were Egyptian hieroglyphs. This discovery enabled the following generation of archeologists to decipher thousands of works written by early Egyptians. Napoleon's mission also lead to an increase in overseas archeological expeditions, this, in turn, increased the discovery of archeological sites. Despite the high interest in Egyptian art during the eighteenth century in Europe, no excursions had ever been made to a distant country like Egypt. All the information and works on Egypt's rich culture was from visitors from the East to Europe. After Napoleons' voyage to the East leaders in Europe realized it was possible to discover the beauty of Egypt's ancient culture by visiting it. They funded special trips to this far off destination to study and bring artifacts back to their country for display to the public. Some of the most famous expeditions include; Giovanni Battista Belzoni and Henry Salt's mission to Egypt to collect items for the British Library, Paul Botta's visit to the ancient palace of Assyria, Austen Henry's mission to the ruins of Babylon, and Carl Richard's excavation in the Middle East (Sackett, James 24). Most of the items on display in Museums around Europe were found during this period. Increased expeditions only served to fuel the public's appetite for archaeological materials. Shortly after the mission by Napoleon, there are existing records of tomb robbing in Egypt. One of the most notorious tomb raiders was Giovanni Battista Belzoni. He shipped all the items to Europe where he sold them to wealthy art collectors. In a bid to control this illegal trafficking of precious materials both the British and Egyptian museums were formed (Stevenson 4). In this way materials obtained from sites in Egypt were made available to the public instead of staying locked in private trophy rooms. If it were not for Napoleon the British Library and Museum would not look as colorful as they do today. Additionally, Napoleon's demand for a book to be written on the mission formed a benchmark for the next wave of Archeological projects. Before the "Description de l’Égypte” was published in 1808, it was hard to find any literature on archeological missions (Sackett, James 5). After publication of the first volume of Napoleon's missions finding, the archeological community expected every single expedition to be accompanied by extensive documentation. Some of the finest publications inspired by "Description de l’Égypte”, included; “A description of the East and other countries” by Richard Pococke, “Voyage d'Egypte ET de Nubie" by Frederik Ludwig and "Travel through Arabia and Other Countries" by Carsten Niebuhr (Vazquez & Elena 104). These three publications went on to describe in details the monuments, artifacts, language, and beliefs of the people in the east. On top of these, Bonaparte played a critical role in the establishment of Egyptology as an independent field of study. During mid-nineteenth century the findings of the Napoleon mission were on everyone’s mind including the educationists. The findings of the mission had succeeded in convincing everyone that there was a lot to learn from the culture of ancient Egypt. It had explained in details the different elements of the Egyptian culture and shown different art materials they possessed. As a result, different institutions started offering Egyptology as a distinct unit under archeology (Gange, David 74). The countries to first adopt this was France and Prussia, it then spread to all the major European institutions over time. Some of these institutions during the 18th century went as far as teaching the ancient Egyptian language. This push to learn the language was pioneered by one teacher, Athanasius Kircher (Evans, Christopher 56). He strongly believed that learning the old language would lead to a deep understanding of the way of life of the early people. All these educational initiatives utilized information detailed in the works published by the Bonaparte team. The mission by Napoleon encouraged the adoption of science into archeological discovery and reclamation. The team handpicked for the emperor’s mission was full of men of science about five hundred of them. They included; biologists, mineral experts, language experts, mathematicians, chemists and academicians (Evans, Christopher 20). These civilians approached the concept of archeology in a completely different. They looked at it from a scientific point of view. They went ahead to collect and analyzed data scientifically. Before this expedition study of ancient art involved digging up objects and monuments using crude tools such as hoes and spades. Studying the context of the surroundings of the material was completely disregarded. In a way, Bonaparte pioneered modern archeology. Today the core of this field is a principle called stratification (Tevdovski, Ljuben, and Zoran 7). The artifact in question is studied together with the environment it is found in. Like in the Egypt mission this process is multidisciplinary and involves linguists and experts in different fields. Furthermore, Napoleon's mission to Egypt helps set the standard for how big an expedition can be. Napoleon's army was notorious for looting art. In all his conquests throughout Europe and even in Egypt they collected all manner of precious art they could lay their hands on. As a result of this hunger for art Napoleon and his man decide to make the archeological escapades to Egypt big (Manganaro, Annamaria 10). The team to Egypt consisted of 50,000 men sailing in 350 ships (Evans, Christopher 24). The paintings and depictions of the mission show Napoleon inspecting different teams of explorers working at the same time. These teams were at work in different parts of the country, working in perfect harmony. Modern archeological excavation sites bear a great resemblance to the one set up by this iconic ruler centuries ago. They are made up of large teams working at different locations on the site. Heavy machinery is also deployed to aid in digging. The area under study most of the times spans several square kilometers. This is quite spectacular when you compare it to the early archeological studies. In the early stages of this field, archeological teams were composed of one or two individuals inspecting sites and using crude materials to dig up objects. Another impact brought by Napoleons' undertaking was an increase in initiative's to preserve Egypt's antiquities. After reading the publication made by Napoleon's team, Auguste Mariette championed the preservation of Egyptian sites (Gange, David 80). He performed his excavation using techniques that left the environs around the excavation site intact. This effort was acknowledged by the British government who established the antiquities services in Egypt. To date, it is responsible for ensuring archeological sites are left in a state as close to the original as possible. All artifacts obtained during excavations are the property of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. This has resulted in the extensive preservation of all art related materials. The impact of Napoleon on Egyptology was not always positive; the battles he waged during the Egyptian campaign destroyed a lot of archeological sites. The first group Bonaparte’s army encountered was a local tribe called the Marmelukes. This local community lived along the banks of river Nile. This area was known to contain a lot of artifacts associated with old agricultural practices (Gange, Dav...