Persona

Caminos, Ricardo Augusto

1915-1992

Argentinian-American Egyptologist; he was born in Buenos Aires, 11 July 1915, son of Carlos Norberto C., a lawyer, and Maria Etelvina Crottogini; he was educated at the Institute Nacional del Profesorado Secundario and the University of Buenos Aires; BA, 1932; MA, 1938; he worked briefly for the Railway Pension Fund but decided to pursue a career in Egyptology in which he was largely self-taught; he then studied at the Oriental Institute Chicago, research assistant, 1944, research fellow, 1946-7; PhD, 1947; and at The Queen's College, Oxford with Gunn, 1945-6; he was a member of the Epigraphic Survey of the Oriental Institute Chicago at Luxor, 1947-50; he then returned to Oxford to work with Sir Alan Gardiner; DPhil, 1952; he was appointed Assistant Professor at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, 1952, Associate Professor, 1957, Professor, 1964, and Wilbour Professor, 1972-9; Visiting Professor at the University of Leningrad and the USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 1973-4; his chosen fields of specialization were hieratic palaeography and epigraphy; he undertook the copying of the texts and scenes at Gebel es-Silsila in 1955 and 1959-60, but his work was interrupted by the needs of the Nubian Rescue campaign; he worked at Qasr Ibrim, Buhen, and Semna-Kumma 1960-65; he returned to Gebel es-Silsila, 1975-6, 1978-82 and then copied the inscriptions at Wadi el-Shatt el-Rigal, 1983, all on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Society in London where he settled on his retirement; apart from articles and reviews, he published Late-Egyptian Miscellanies, 1954; Literary Fragments in the Hieratic Script, 1956; The Chronicle of Prince Osorkon, 1958; Gebel es-Silsilah I. The Shrines, 1963 with T.G.H. James; The Shrines and Rock-Inscriptions of Ibrim, 1968; The New Kingdom Temples of Buhen, 1974; and with H.G. Fischer, Ancient Egyptian Epigraphy and Palaeography, 1976; A Tale of Woe, 1977; his work at Semna-Kumma was in press at his death and his copies of Gebel es-Silsilah and Wadi el-Shaft el-Rigal were being prepared for publication; he died in London, 26 May 1992 and his ashes were buried in Holywell cemetery, Oxford; his house was purchased by the Egypt Exploration Society and now houses the Ricardo A. Caminos Memorial Library.

• Who Was Who in Egyptology (5th ed. 2019), 87 fig. (portrait).