During my research into ancient history, specifically ancient Egypt, I have spent a huge amount of time delving into the work of Colonel Howard Vyse, a man who led extensive excavations at Giza in Egypt, boasting a number of new discoveries.
His three volumes of work, titled ‘Operations carried on at the Pyramids of Gizeh in 1837’ isn’t just an in-depth descriptions of his excavations, but there are a number of beautiful and detailed illustrations or engravings, of how Giza and other sites across Egypt looked in the mid to late 1830s.
So, for this video I have spent time collating all of the main images from the three volumes of work because many of you will never have seen them. They give us a truly fascinating insight into key ancient Egyptian sites long before they were tidied up for tourism, and they come from a man who led the most thorough excavations before modern archaeologists took over.
Colonel Howard Vyse is the man who discovered the famous Khufu graffiti in the relieving chambers of the Great Pyramid, who found the entrance into the Pyramid of Menkaure and who first got to the bottom of Campbell’s Tomb. Together with Captain Giovanni Caviglia, they removed the sand from around the Sphinx and unearthed a number of finds from between its paws.
For anybody interested in studying ancient Egypt, the three volumes by Howard Vyse are a must-read, because in them, you can arguably learn more about the Giza Pyramids than any modern textbooks.
As you will see shortly, the images and diagrams are incredibly detailed and include the pyramids of Giza, Dahshur and Saqqara, as well as the unfinished pyramid of Abu Rawash and the Great Sphinx. I hope you enjoy this picture special - please like and subscribe.
All images are taken from Operations Carried on at the Pyramids of Gizeh Volumes I, II, III by Colonel Howard Vyse, 1837.