James Burton (Egyptologist)

James Burton (22 September 1786 – 22 February 1862) (formerly Haliburton and latterly Haliburton) was an early British Egyptologist, known for his pioneering exploration and mapping of the Valley of the Kings, during which he became the first individual of the modern age to enter KV5; his pioneering excavations at Karnak, during which he discovered the Karnak king list; and his excavations at Medinet Habu, during which he was part of the team that discovered TT391.

Between 1815 and 1822, Burton worked for the architect Sir John Soane, and travelled in Italy with Soane's secretary, Charles Humphreys, where he met Egyptologists Sir John Gardner Wilkinson, Edward William Lane, and Sir William Gell. In 1822, despite having no mineralogical knowledge, he was invited by Pasha Mohammed Ali to work as a mineralogist in the Geological Survey of Egypt. He left in 1824 and started to investigate the ancient monuments of Egypt. In 1825, he travelled south on the Nile journeying to Abu Simbel. He spent several months in Thebes, excavating at Medinet Habu, Karnak and in several of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. In 1824, he made the first attempt to excavate KV20 and cleared the tomb's first chamber. In 1825, he mapped KV21. He explored also KV26, KV9, KV19,

Little is known of Burton's activities between 1825 and 1834: he disappeared into the Egyptian desert for nine years until his father stopped his allowance and he was compelled to return to London in 1834. None of his explorations from this period have been published,