Photographs by T. E. Lawrence (1911-13)

In 1911 Lawrence took a series of portrait photographs of men at Carchemish. Two of his subjects, shown here, were later to become headmen at the dig.

(i) Sheikh Hamoudi (1911)

Hamoudi (c.1880-c.1950) joined the excavations as a labourer, but his qualities as a leader were quickly recognised. He was trained to take charge of the labour gangs by Gregori, an experienced foreman who had worked with Hogarth on previous excavations. When Leonard Woolley took over from Hogarth in 1912 he retained Hamoudi, and the two later became close friends. Their partnership continued after the First World War at Ur, Woolley’s most famous excavation.

(ii) Dahoum (1911)

Dahoum (c.1896-c.1917) joined the excavations as a water boy and came to Lawrence’s notice because he showed a higher level of intelligence than most of the workmen. At the end of the 1911 season Lawrence sent his parents the ten or twelve portrait photographs he had taken, commenting: 'the young boy who is turning up his eyes horribly is Dahoum, the boy with whose father I may stay this winter: the boy can read and write, and so would be the best teacher of Arabic in the district.'¹

Shortly afterwards Lawrence set off on a tramp to visit Crusader castles, and when he returned to Carchemish in late July he was extremely ill. Hamoudi took him in and nursed him, with Dahoum’s help. Lawrence was soon well enough to return to England, but it was several months before he recovered fully. When the dig resumed in 1912 Dahoum again worked as water boy, and at the end of that season Lawrence took him as an assistant to help with the growing photographic workload.

Front row, left to right: Abd-es-Salaam, Gregori, Lawrence, Woolley, Fuad Boy (site observer for the Imperial Ottoman Museum), Hamoudi, Dahoum.

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