Past Perfect: In Defense of the Realm

It’s not surprising that the young Herbert Eustis Winlock (1884–1950), son of one of the highest officials at the Smithsonian Institution, was exceedingly curious about the world. After completing his studies in ancient history at Harvard, the 22-year-old Winlock signed on as the youngest member of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art’s expedition to the royal necropolis at el-Lisht, an early-second-millennium B.C. site 25 miles south of Cairo. Winlock was later transferred to the Kharga Oasis, about 100 miles west of Luxor, where he helped restore a temple of the god Amun. In 1911 Winlock began excavating the […]