Joseph Hekekyan

[3] His father, Michirdiz H., was an interpreter for Mohamed Ali Pasha, and in 1817 was able to get him a state-sponsored scholarship to Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, England where he did various technical trades.

[15] Hekekyan imported the concept of model villages from Britain where he was educated, to Egypt, and it became widely established by the late nineteenth century.

[15] When Muhammad Ali's reign in Egypt ended, he was concerned for his family's safety as well as having problems from severe ophthalmia which led him to retire in 1850.

[18] Although this was the primary focus, Hekekyan was very ambitious and this led to him discovering parts of at least thirteen colossal statues and segments of in-situ buildings.

[18] He composed all of his findings and observations at these sites into letters, reports, sketches, and maps which he sent to his colleague Leonard Horner, the president of the Geological Society of London and a pioneer of the study of soil stratification.

[19][2] In these objects sent to Horner, Hekekyan included his daily observations, work progress, soil information, and water levels of the Nile river.

[28] His book introduced geo-astronomy and suggested that Ancient Egyptian monuments were built with measurements related to the movement of the star Sirius.