Gardiner, Sir Alan

Definition: Sir Alan Gardiner, a British Egyptologist, known for his work on the grammar of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs (Egyptian Grammar. Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs, London 1927). Gardiner classified around 800 hieroglyphic signs by subject matter or shape into groups such as 'Man and his occupations', 'Mammals', and 'Warfare, Hunting, Butchery'. Gardiner also introduced a transliteration scheme, which uses characters not normally found in the English alphabet.