|
|
|
|
|
Kent Weeks Interview (page: 4 / 7)Living Legend of Egyptology
|
 Print Interview
|
| |
You say there was no defining moment that inspired this passion, this commitment to what you do. How do you explain to somebody why it is so important and exciting to you?
Kent Weeks: I think part of it is the thrill of discovery. And the second part of it...
|
My dad was a police officer. This may have something to do with it, because I have always looked upon archeological work as being very much akin to detective work. Taking little clues here, and little pieces of evidence there, putting them all together and trying to reconstruct, in effect, the crime scene. What led up to the event in the tomb, the burial of a pharaoh, or the abandonment of an ancient house, or what have you? I've always enjoyed this, and I don't think it's any coincidence that a lot of my favorite leisure reading is detective novels. I love going through these. I like reading books on forensic medicine, all this kind of stuff. It's the puzzle, and it's working toward the solution that I really enjoy. Now there are any number of areas of archeology where you could have that same thrill. I happened to pick up on ancient Egypt, and again, I cannot tell you precisely why. But it was the idea of being an archeological detective, trying to reconstruct one of the most ancient, most spectacular civilizations the world has ever known, that appealed to me then and that continues to fascinate me as much now as it did 40 years ago. Fifty years ago, almost.
|
[ Key to Success ] Passion |
|
Was there any one person who gave you the break you needed to get started in your career?
|
Kent Weeks: Well, of all the people, I think the one I'm most beholden to in the field of Egyptology was my professor at Yale, William Kelly Simpson. When I was an undergraduate at the University of Washington, I wrote him a letter saying, "I would be very interested in doing some archeological work. I've had some experience working on the Columbia River, digging. I'm very interested in Egyptology. If you have a project, please let me know." Well, apparently Kelly did some calling around and sent me a letter back and said, "Sure, come aboard. We're going off to Nubia to work on the salvage program protecting monuments from the flood waters of the Aswan Dam, and we're going to leave in November." So in November of 1963, I packed my bags. Me, who had never been out of western Washington in his entire life, got aboard a flight, flew to New Haven, Connecticut. Spent three or four days there and then flew on to Cairo. It was the most incredible experience of my life.
|
|
|
I must admit that when I got off the plane and drove into Cairo, I just sort of went, "Ah! I'm home." Came down the next day with acute appendicitis and spent the next four days in the hospital. Went down to Aswan to board our boat down to the archeological site. There were about six Yale students on the project, they were all swimming in the Nile. I decided to swim in the Nile, dove in. Didn't realize how strong the current was, pulled all my stitches, so spent two days in the hospital in Aswan. And then finally went down to excavate with the Yale project in Nubia. About six days after we got there, Kelly gets a telegram. He says, "I've got to go back to Aswan. There's some paperwork that I've got to take care of." And he looks at me and he says, "You're in charge." Here I am, 20 years old, never been out of western Washington before. I am in Nubia, about 250 miles from the nearest living human beings, except for 300 local workmen, whom I suddenly am supposed to supervise, although I don't know a single word of Arabic. It was really an indoctrination, an ordeal by fire. I was just thrown into the thick of it, but I loved it. I was scared out of my mind. The first sentence of Arabic I learned was, "Stop! Don't dig any deeper." The second sentence I learned was, "Can't you dig faster? We're trying to work here!"
|
[ Key to Success ] Courage |
|
Why do you think you were the one who was chosen to take over? What do you think Dr. Simpson saw in you?
Kent Weeks: Well, that I'm not sure of. I think I was the one on the project who had the most archeological experience. There was a geologist, there was an Egyptologist who had worked with texts and so forth, but nobody had actually worked on an expedition before. What I think he didn't know was that the expeditions were digging shell middens on Puget Sound, where you'd be lucky in one season to find one artifact out of millions and millions of shells. And the work was done by us. We didn't supervise workmen, we actually were down there with shovels and trowels. But I learned. Sat in the evenings reading my little Sir Mortimer Wheeler's Guide Book to Archeological Techniques, trying to keep one step ahead of the workmen. But it was a terrific experience and I knew that I was doing exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
Many people have talent and potential, but don't necessarily get to do what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Why do you think you succeeded, where others might not have?
|
Kent Weeks: I think, quite frankly, the one explanation I have is simply perseverance. I just never took no for an answer. It's like writing research grants, which anyone in any field in the academic field has to do on a regular basis. You've got to get used to getting rejection slips. If you write a proposal that you think is brilliant, and they send it back and say, "Sorry. We're not going to give you a penny..." write another proposal. Try another funding agency, but keep going at it. And this is what I did. If trying to achieve my objective I couldn't go this way, I'd try an end run. I'd try another tack, another path, like a National Institutes of Mental Health fellowship. It was just perseverance. I was just too stubborn. I wouldn't take no for an answer. I don't think it's anything more than that.
|
[ Key to Success ] Perseverance |
|
Kent Weeks Interview, Page:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 |
This page last revised on Jun 11, 2011 09:22 EST
|
| |
