Petrie, Sir (William Matthew) Flinders

(born June 3, 1853, Charlton, near Greenwich, London, Eng.—died July 28, 1942, Jerusalem) British archaeologist who made valuable contributions to the techniques of excavation and dating. During excavations in Egypt in the mid 1880s Petrie developed a sequence dating method, based on a comparison of potsherds at various levels, that made possible the reconstruction of ancient history from material remains. His excavations, together with those of Heinrich Schliemann at Troy, marked the beginning of the examination of successive levels of a site, rather than the previously haphazard digging. Petrie made many important discoveries in Egypt and Palestine. His Methods and Aims in Archaeology (1904) was the definitive work of its time. He taught at the University of London (1892–1933).