Artefacts of Excavation

French Egyptologist; he was born in Elbeuf-sur-Seine, 28 Jan. 1874, son of Hippolite W. and Matilda Cohen; he at first went in for a military career; he did not turn to Egyptology until he was 30, when he studied under Maspero at the École des Hautes Études; he accompanied Petrie on his Sinai expedition, and shortly after this the future President of the United States, H. Hoover, then prospecting in this desert, used his work as the base for his own researches; Weill next excavated at Coptos with A. Reinach and discovered the famous series of royal decrees of the Old Kingdom; he excavated at Gezer and Jerusalem in Palestine before and after World War I; between the wars he dug at Zawiyet el-Maietin, Kom el-Ahmar, and Tuna; after the Second World War in which he again served his country, he carried out three further excavation seasons at Dara in Upper Egypt; he was appointed Director of the École des Hautes Études (History and Egyptian Archaeology), 1928-45 and was President of the Soc. Franç. d’Egyptologie; he specialized in the Second Intermediate Period and the Hyksos question, and was also interested in submerged harbours and port installations; he amassed a large collection of Egyptian antiquities which was acquired by the Louvre between 1911-48, to be followed by more after his death; he published many important works and articles in journals; Recueil des inscriptions égyptiennes du Sinai: bibliographie, texte, traduction et commentaire, précédé de la géographie, de l’histoire et de la bibliographie des établissements égyptiens de la péninsule, 1904, a work used by Gardiner in his preparation of the Sinai texts; Des monuments et de l’histoire des 2e et 3e dynasties égyptiennes. .., thesis, 1908; La Presqu’île du Sinai: étude de géographie et d’histoire, 1908; Les Décrets royaux de l’ancien empire égyptien...étude sur les décrets royaux trouvés à Koptos... 1910 et 1911..., 1912; La fin du Moyen Empire égyptien: étude sur les monuments et l’histoire de la période comprise entre la 12e et la 18e dynastie, 2 vols., 1918; Bases, méthodes et resultats de la chronologie égyptiénne, 2 Pts., 1926-8; Le Champ des roseaux et le champ des offrandes dans la religion funéraire et la religion générale, 1936; posth. Douzième Dynastie, royauté de Haute-Égypte et domination Hyksos dans le nord, 1953; Dara: campagnes de 1946-1948, with Madame Tony-Revillon and M. Pillet, 1958; he died in Paris, 13 July 1950.