CAIRO: George T. Scanlon, a pivotal figure in the excavation of Egypt’s early Islamic settlements, was honored in a Tuesday night ceremony at the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) headquarters in Zamalek.
Scanlon, who now teaches Islamic Art and Archaeology at the American University in Cairo, has also had the fourth volume of Mishkah: The Egyptian Journal of Islamic Archaelogy dedicated to him.
Scanlon is the first non-Egyptian archaeologist of Islamic settlements to be honored in this manner by the SCA.
“I’m really happy tonight to honor Dr. Scanlon,” said Zahi Hawass, the SCA’s secretary-general. “It’s very rare to find a scholar you can honor from the Islamic sector… It makes me very happy that the Supreme Council can honor all of Dr. Scanlon’s work.”
Scanlon is best known for his excavation work at the settlement of Fustat, Egypt’s first capital during the Islamic period. Though occupied since antiquity – Hapi, the Ancient Egyptian god of the Nile, had a temple there – Fustat later fell into disrepair.
“Fustat was at risk of being urbanized… buried under modern buildings,” said Ibrahim Abdul-Rahman, the current director of the Fustat dig site. “Scanlon took an interest in the finds of Fustat.”
Scanlon commenced digs before the ruins were absorbed by modern Cairo, saving the site’s antiquities.
“Dr Scanlon – archaeologists all over the world have benefited from your knowledge,” Abdul-Rahman said. “We meet here to honor one of the pioneers of Islamic archaeology in Egypt.”
Abdul-Rahman then asked Hawass to order the construction of a new museum at the Fustat dig site. Hawass said he would consider it, but that many of Scanlon’s discoveries will also be exhibited at the new Islamic Museum in Cairo. That museum, currently closed, will open in two weeks, according to Hawass.
Others present recalled Scanlon’s excellent teaching skills.
“If someone asked me to describe George in one word, I would say ‘demanding,’” said Jere Bacharach, a history professor at the University of Washington. “Demanding of his scholars, demanding of his students, and demanding of himself.”
Scanlon has “more faculty, student, and administration admirers [at AUC] than we’ve ever seen,” Bacharach told Daily News Egypt.
Bacharach recalled his own first encounters with Scanlon’s demanding academic standards. A graduate student studying in Egypt, Bacharach remembered Scanlon took the new arrivals on a walking tour of Islamic Cairo.
“Being grad students, we thought we knew everything,” Bacharach said. He then recounted how Scanlon disproved this through a series of intense questioning during the tour.
Bacharach also remembered auditing one of Scanlon’s courses. Normally, an auditing student simply attends lectures, and is not responsible for completing any readings, papers, or exams. Scanlon required Bacharach to do all of the class readings and presentations anyway.
“He did let me not take the final exam – because there wasn’t one for the course,” Bacharach said.
Nelly Hanna, chair of the Arab Studies Department at AUC, praised Scanlon’s enthusiasm as a professor.
“George taught us that [seeing Islamic sites in Cairo] could be more than an enjoyable thing – it could be a field of study,” she said.
John Semple, a friend of Scanlon’s for over 50 years, also complimented Scanlon’s university work.
“George believes very, very sincerely in the purpose of a university,” Semple said. “George never dumbs down things, he believes in academic excellence…. he would never sacrifice candor for political correctness.”
Reading aloud a letter from his wife, another of Scanlon’s students, Semple recalled some of Scanlon’s humorous attributes.
Scanlon was apparently notorious for his colorful work shirts during digs, which students competed for once he grew tired of them. He was also known for randomly singing famous opera arias during the work day.
Students would continually test Scanlon’s knowledge. They would often buy a modern piece of Islamic pottery, dirty it up, and mix it in with the finds from Fustat. Then they would wait to see if Scanlon, who has published a half-dozen scholarly works on Islamic ceramics alone, would be tricked.
He never was.
Elena Chardakliyska, one of Scanlon’s current students at AUC, told Daily News Egypt he continues to be one of the school’s best professors.
“He’s a real scholar and doesn’t dumb things down.” she said. “He’s demanding in an old-school way – I really appreciate that.”
Chardakliyska said Scanlon will spontaneously cite Persian texts in his lectures, without notes, and in the original Persian.
“He’s that kind of professor,” she said. “He’s very unstructured in that brilliant sort of way.”
Scanlon himself told Daily News Egypt he was “definitely honored” by the commendations. However, he tried to underplay his achievements.
Scanlon, an American, said he was only originally made site director at Fustat over other candidates because the dig was funded by American grant money.
“Someone had to sign the checks,” he laughed. He said the achievements at Fustat were a collective achievement.
However, Scanlon did praise the renewed spotlight on Islamic Art and Archaeology work in Egypt – an antiquities area neglected until recently.
“It’s like a Cinderella story,” he said. “Now we’re with the best of them.”
Scanlon did have one more confession to make at the reception.
“I never really, truly enjoyed old-fashioned pottery,” he said. “But I loved glazed pottery.”
