154 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 



things must be given to the doyen of British excavators, Sir FHnders Petrie, 

 who has never failed, in spite of every obstacle, to furnish a published 

 account of his field work within the shortest possible time of its completion. 

 This example and the growing pressure of public opinion have been very 

 effective in Great Britain, but several continental countries have fallen 

 far short of our standard. It is sometimes the fault of the individual, 

 sometimes of the institution. There are some men who direct workmen 

 admirably, but seem to be seized with paralysis at any mention of publica- 

 tion. And there are many institutions which make no provision and take 

 no thought for the publication of their material, once it has been safely 

 hoarded in their exhibition rooms. Now let me be perfectly outspoken 

 on this matter. That explorations should be made and left unpublished 

 is a disaster, and if the explorer or his employers are responsible for this 

 failure it is a crime. Nothing can take the place of publication. Notes, 

 drawings, photographs and plans, however elaborate and careful, are of 

 very limited usefulness except to the man who made them and who can alone 

 interpret them. It is an error even to suppose that a literary executor can 

 take over the material and produce a satisfactory result. If an archaeologist 

 does not bring out his material, or at least fully prepare it for publication, 

 in his own lifetime, a great part of it is irretrievably lost to the world. 



This being the case, the institution which obtains a site for excavation 

 ought to guarantee the expenses of a reasonable publication and ought to 

 bind its excavator by contract to publish. I may quote as an example my 

 personal experience with an institution which appreciated its duties fully 

 and exactly. In January of 1907 I accepted a contract with the University 

 of Pennsylvania to conduct excavations in Egypt and the Northern Sudan. 

 The term was fixed at five years, and the University stipulated that before 

 the lapse of these five years I should have prepared for publication a full 

 report of all the results. In accepting this provision I stipulated on my 

 side that the University should publish every word that I might write 

 and every illustration that I might deem necessary. No obstacles were 

 allowed to stand in the way, and the contract was precisely fulfilled on 

 both sides. I consider that such an undertaking ought to be given by 

 every institution that sends its man into the field, and that this should be 

 so fully recognised that the excavator need not even have to propose it. 



There is still one more consideration in regard to the exploration of 

 sites which is very little appreciated. The wisdom of one generation, 

 even if it be our own, is inadequate to foresee all possible problems. 

 Therefore, whenever the circumstances allow, a portion of every site 

 should be left unexplored and reserved for future study. The advantages 

 of this are manifest ; let me quote only two examples. The results 

 obtained at Pompeii within the last ten years have been so revolutionary 

 that they have put all the old standard books out of date. If this city had 

 been cleared at one sweep when first discovered all this knowledge would 

 have been lost, owing to the imperfections of the methods then in use. 

 The proper technique has only gradually been evolved. On the other 

 hand, the frantic rush to explore all lake-dwellings in the third quarter of 

 the last century barely left Vouga enough material for the studies which 

 he has just completed. Had they been all destroyed by the first excavators 



