Georg Gustav Erbkam was an architect on Richard Lepsius's expedition team from 1842 to 1845 in Egypt and Nubia, and he became a pioneer in the precise documentation of architecture in its surroundings. The detailed floor plans and sections of tombs and temples, as well as their location in the landscape, were new in the young science of Egyptology and remained unique for a long time. The keen eye of the surveyor and the discipline of the master builder were the result of a long education in Berlin, where he grew up as the son of a Prussian senior civil servant and a mother from a theological background, studied, and later worked and lived. He was not only an architect but also Lepsius's deputy during times of crisis when Lepsius was ill or occupied with organizing the next leg of the journey in Cairo or was on excursions.