Schiaparelli, Ernesto

Ernesto Schiaparelli (1856-1928) was one of 20th century Egypt’s most famous and productive archaeologists. Son of an academic family, he studied in Turin and Paris and rose to become director of two of Italy’s most important Egyptian museums, in Florence and Turin. Schiaparelli worked at several Egyptian sites between 1903-1920, including Giza, Heliopolis, Aswan (he cleared the tomb of  Harkhuf), Dayr al-Madinah (the tomb of Kha), and, most importantly, the Valley of the Queens, where he uncovered nearly all the QV tombs known today, including QV 66, the tomb of Nefertari. Much of the material he found now forms a major part of the Turin museum’s world-class Egyptian collection. He also worked with Gustave Lefébure recording royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings.