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Janet Gourlay

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For the British physiologist Janet Vaughan (1899–1993), sometimes known by her married name of Gourlay, see Janet Vaughan.
Janet A. Gourlay
EducationUniversity College, London
PartnerMargaret Benson

Janet A. Gourlay (1863–1912) was a Scottish Egyptologist,[1] that is most well known for her excavation of and publication on the Mut Complex in Egypt. Janet was born on January 30, 1863 in Dundee, Scotland to Henry G. Gourlay and Agnes Christine Burell.[2] Later in life, she briefly studied at University College, London in 1893, with William Matthew Flinders Petrie, the pioneering archaeologist, and Margaret Murray.[3]

Personal Life

Janet would meet her lifelong partner Margaret Benson in 1896 during the second excavatino of the Mut Complex. [2] The two would become fast friends and worked together over the span of two digging seasons[1]. Upon completion of their excavations, Margaret’s health began deteriorating, so the two women returned to their respective homes[1]. They kept in close contact via letters[4]. In these, they expressed their devotion, emotions, and happenings to one another. Margaret’s health never made a recovery so plans made by the pair to return to Egypt for more excavations were never continued.[1]

On March 3, 1912, Janet died in Kempshot Park, Basingstoke.[2] She never married in her lifetime.[2]

She joined Margaret Benson in 1896 in her second season of excavation at the Mut Complex in Karnak, Thebes, in Egypt.[5] Janet and Margaret’s excavation of the Mut Complex would go on to span three digging seasons.[6] She became Margaret's lifelong companion.

Janet and Margaret are credited with the excavation of the Temple of Mut in Asher where they found the head of Amun (or Amun-re), a figure of Ramsese II, the figure of priest Sur and other items.[7]

Publications

  • Benson, Margaret and Gourlay, Janet. The Temple of Mut in Asher: An account of the excavation of the temple and of the religious representations and objects found therein, as illustrating the history of Egypt and the main religious ideas of the Egyptians, London, John Murray, 1899[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Women in Old World Archaeology". www.brown.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  2. ^ a b c d Bierbrier, M.L. (2012). Who Was Who in Egyptology. The Egypt Exploration Society. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-85698-207-1.
  3. ^ Sheppard, Kathleen (2021-07-06). "British Egyptology (1882-1914)". UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. 1 (1).
  4. ^ Benson, Arthur Christopher (1917). Life and letters of Maggie Benson. University of California Libraries. London : J. Murray.
  5. ^ Peck, William H. "Janet A. Gourlay". Breaking Ground: Women in Old World Archaeology. Brown University. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  6. ^ Pinkowski, Jennifer (2006). "Egypt's Ageless Goddess". Archaeology. 59 (5): 44–49. ISSN 0003-8113.
  7. ^ Hillier, Bevis (6 November 1972). "Egyptian Sculpture for Auction". The New York Times. p. 1.
  8. ^ Benson, Margaret; Gourlay, Janet A.; Newberry, Percy Edward (1899). Temple of Mut in Asher; an account of the excavation of the temple and of the religious representations and objects found therein, as illustrating the. Princeton Theological Seminary Library. London, J. Murray.


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