Janet Gourlay

British egyptologist
the British physiologist Janet Vaughan (1899–1993), sometimes known by her married name of Gourlay

Janet A. Gourlay (1863–1912) was a Scottish Egyptologist, that is most well known for her excavation of and publication on the Mut Complex in Egypt. Janet was born on 30 January 1863 in Dundee, Scotland, to Henry G. Gourlay and Agnes Christine Burell.

Janet would meet her lifelong partner Margaret Benson in 1896 during the second excavation of the Mut Complex. The pair were introduced by Lady Jane Lindsay. In conjunction with their social relationship, they formed a scientific partnership that benefitted the pair and allowed them to continue their work in Egypt. This partnership ensured their ability to complete their work without a man and receive the funding they needed complete said work. In these, they expressed their devotion, emotions, and happenings to one another. Margaret’s health never made a recovery so plans made by the pair to return to Egypt for more excavations were never continued. She joined Margaret Benson in 1896 in the second season of excavation at the Mut Complex in Karnak, Thebes, in Egypt. The pair stayed at the Luxor Hotel for the duration of these digging seasons. Janet and Margaret are credited with this excavation of the Temple of Mut, which they would later publish an account of in 1899. It was published as an incomplete work, so that the information could be available to others and it would not be forgotten as it previously had been, which they explained in the preface. One of the most well known figures recovered by Janet and Margaret was the head of a figure, commonly referred to as The Benson Head. The two would publish a journal describing the excavation of Mentu Em Hat.

Benson, Margaret and Gourlay, Janet. The Temple of Mut in Asher: An account of the excavation of the temple and of the religious representations and objects found therein, as illustrating the history of Egypt and the main religious ideas of the Egyptians, London, John Murray, 1899