Jacques de Morgan
Encyclopedia
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
mining engineer , geologist, and archaeologist. He was the director of Antiquities in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
during the 19th century , and excavated in Memphis
Memphis, Egypt
Memphis was the ancient capital of Aneb-Hetch, the first nome of Lower Egypt. Its ruins are located near the town of Helwan, south of Cairo.According to legend related by Manetho, the city was founded by the pharaoh Menes around 3000 BC. Capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, it remained an...
and Dashur, providing many drawings of many Egyptian
Egyptians
Egyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...
pyramids. He also worked at Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
, and Persepolis
Persepolis
Perspolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire . Persepolis is situated northeast of the modern city of Shiraz in the Fars Province of modern Iran. In contemporary Persian, the site is known as Takht-e Jamshid...
, and many other sites.
He also went to Russian Armenia
Russian Armenia
Russian Armenia is the period of Armenia's history under Russian rule beginning from 1829, when Eastern Armenia became part of the Russian Empire to the declaration of the Democratic Republic of Armenia in 1918...
, as manager of a copper mine at Akhtala
Akhtala
Akhtala a town in Lori Province, Armenia with 2800 inhabitants according to 2009 estimate. It is situated on the left bank of Debed river at adistance of 186 km north of Yerevan and 62 km north of provincial centre Vanadzor on the slopes of Lalvar mountain. Akhtala was a village until 1939 when it...
. "The Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
is of special interest in the study of the origins of metals; it is the easternmost point from which prehistoric remains are known; older than Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, it still retains the traces of those civilizations that were the cradle of our own."
In 1887-89 he unearthed 576 graves around Alaverdi
Alaverdi
Alaverdi formerly Manes, is a city situated in the northeast of the Armenian province of Lori, not far from the border with Georgia. This mining and industrial city with approximately 16,500 inhabitants -down from 26,300 of the 1989- situated at the bottom of the Debed river gorge, is one of the...
and Akhatala, near the Tiflis-Alexandropol railway line.
Background
His father Eugeàne, also called "Baron" de Morgan, was an engineer in mineral findings, his interests were in entomology and prehistory. He named his two sons, Henry, the older one, and Jacques, they later got into fieldwork, excavating with them the Campigny faults near Rouen, which had lent its name to the first phase of the EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an neolithic. With his father Jacques became acquainted with Gabriel de Mortillet, who was connected with the museum of national antiquities in Saint-Germain during investigations of Merovingian cemeteries, showed him how to catalogue excavated objects. De Morgan goal was to be a professional geologist like his father, and his personal lifestyle had given him a way to travel and study since his early youth. In 1879 he started to publish the results of his research, illustrated with drawings that were notable for their finesse and documentary precision.
Malaya
As a young man, de Morgan travelled to PerakPerak
Perak , one of the 13 states of Malaysia, is the second largest state in the Peninsular Malaysia bordering Kedah and Yala Province of Thailand to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, Selangor the Strait of Malacca to the south and west.Perak means silver in Malay...
, then a new British protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...
in Malaya
Malaya
-Geographic/former political entities:* The Malay Peninsula* Malay Archipelago, the broader macroregion.-Malaya including Singapore:* British Malaya , a loose collection of British-controlled states...
. In 1884, he was commissioned by Hugh Low
Hugh Low
Sir Hugh Low, GCMG was a British colonial administrator and naturalist. After a long residence in various colonial roles in Labuan, he became the first successful British administrator in the Malay Peninsula. His methods became models for future administrators. He made the first documented ascent...
, the Resident of Perak, to produce the first geological and mining map of the district of Kinta in exchange for a tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
concession at Kliang Lallang near Gopeng
Gopeng
Gopeng is a town located in Mukim Teja, District of Kampar, Perak, Malaysia. It is situated approximately 20 km south of Ipoh, the state capital. The town is located on the west side of the North-South Expressway stretch of Tapah-Simpang Pulai...
. De Morgan studied the tin mines around Lahat
LAHAT
The LAHAT is a third generation semi-active laser homing low-weight anti-tank guided missile developed since 1992 and manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries...
, Papan, Pusing
Pusing
Pusing is a small town in Perak state, Malaysia. It is located near Batu Gajah, Perak's capital-Ipoh, Papan, Siputeh and Lahat.Pusing located about 5 km from Batu Gajah town, 14 km from Ipoh city. The Sunway Group's Founder and Chairman, YBhg Tan Sri Dato' Seri Dr...
and Gopeng
Gopeng
Gopeng is a town located in Mukim Teja, District of Kampar, Perak, Malaysia. It is situated approximately 20 km south of Ipoh, the state capital. The town is located on the west side of the North-South Expressway stretch of Tapah-Simpang Pulai...
. A photogravure
Photogravure
Photogravure is an intaglio printmaking or photo-mechanical process whereby a copper plate is coated with a light-sensitive gelatin tissue which had been exposed to a film positive, and then etched, resulting in a high quality intaglio print that can reproduce the detail and continuous tones of a...
of the map, which also showed the topography and drainage system of the Kinta Valley, was enclosed in the Perak annual report of 1884.
While in Kinta, de Morgan was guided by a Mandailing
Mandailing
The Mandailing is a traditional cultural group in Southeast Asia. They are found mainly in the northern section of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. They came under the influence of the Kaum Padri who ruled the Minangkabau of Tanah Datar. As a result, the Mandailing were influenced by Muslim...
prospector named Kulop Riau, using Orang Asli
Orang Asli
Orang Asli , is a generic Malaysian term used for people indigenous to Peninsular Malaysia...
guides and porters. De Morgan stayed with the Orang Asli and made ethnological observations and drawings in his travel journal. De Morgan also met Raja Bilah, the headman of the Mandailing in Papan and the doyen of the Perak Mandailing. De Morgan observed Chinese, Mandailing and European mines in Papan, and remarked that the most important mine belonged to Raja Bilah.
Upon his return to France, he formed a tin-mining company, but appears to have lost out on his financial interest when this was merged with the Société des Mines de'Etain de Pérak in 1886 to form the Société des Etains de Kinta, better known as SEK, which became the longest-running mines in Malaysia.
Travels
De Morgan travelled to SusianaElam
Elam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
as he attempted to retrace the routes of the Assyrian
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
campaigns in Elam
Elam
Elam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
. He arrived in Susa
Susa
Susa was an ancient city of the Elamite, Persian and Parthian empires of Iran. It is located in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris River, between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers....
, former capital of Elam
Elam
Elam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...
, which had been explored six years previously by an expedition led by Marcel Dieulafoy. As he explored the ruins outside the small village of Shush, his curiosity was aroused by the high mound known as "the Citadel", at the foot of which he recovered some flints and old potsherds.
These finds led him to reopen excavations at the site. In Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
he confided his plans to the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
minister, René de Balloy, who was eager to obtain for France a monopoly of archaeological research in Persia. It took time, however, before these efforts, under de Morgan's guidance, were successful. In the meantime he published his Mission scientifique en Perse, with four volumes of geological studies; two volumes of archaeological studies on tombs and other monuments that were still seen; one volume dedicated to Kurdish
Kurdish language
Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....
dialects and the languages of northern Persia; one volume of Mandaean texts; and two volumes of geographical studies.
The most important find, however, was the famous Hammurabi Stele
Code of Hammurabi
The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonian law code, dating to ca. 1780 BC . It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code, and partial copies exist on a human-sized stone stele and various clay...
, brought to Susa as war booty by the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte.