Egypt Exploration Society

The Egypt Exploration Society (EES) was founded in 1882 by Amelia Edwards and Reginald Stuart Poole in order to examine and excavate in the areas of Egypt and Sudan. The intent was to study and analyze the results of the excavations and publish the information for the scholarly world. The EES have worked at many major Egyptian excavation and sites. Their discoveries include the discovery of a shrine for the goddess Hathor, a statue of a cow from Deir el-Bahri, the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut, and the sculpted model of Nefertiti from Amarna. The Society has made major contributions to the study of the ancient Egyptian world. The Society is based in London and is a registered charity under English law.

In 1873, the English writer Amelia Edwards was led to the sites of Egypt while encountering cold, wet climates in Europe. She and several friends ended up traveling up the Nile River from Cairo to Abu Simbel. She recorded the events and discoveries of this journey and eventually published it as A Thousand Miles up the Nile in 1876. The book became renowned for its description of 19th century Egypt and the largely un-excavated antiques that she encountered. Edwards's descriptions changed the world's perspective on both moderns and Ancient Egypt. This attracted the attention of both scholarly society and the rest of the world. It ended up becoming a bestseller due to this increased interest, which prompted Edwards to think about continuing her studies of Ancient Egypt. In 1882, Amelia Edwards and Reginald Stuart Poole, an employee from the Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum, decided to create the Egypt Exploration Fund as a way to raise funds for more excavations in the Delta, which had been noted as being rarely visited. After announcing their intentions in The Times, they started off being funded by individuals such as the Archbishop of Canterbury. the poet Robert Browning and Sir Erasmus Wilson. Wilson, in particular, showed enough interest to pledge £500 to the Egypt Exploration Fund. This marked the start of the Egypt Exploration Society.

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