Edition - May, 2012
Colloquium Overview: Recent Archaeological Fieldwork in Sudan
By Patricia Spencer. The 2012 all-day colloquium of the Sudan Archaeological Research Society (http://www.sudarchrs.org.uk/) was held in the Stevenson Auditorium of the British Museum on Monday 14 May. This annual event concentrates on presenting up-to-the-minute reports of archaeological fieldwork, both that carried out by SARS itself and by other expeditions, British, Sudanese and from elsewhere, working in Sudan. [more…]
Edition - April, 2012
Editorial: Egyptological Magazine Edition 5
We aim to bring you a new edition of the Magazine every two or three months but Edition 5 is published less than 6 weeks after Edition 4 as Egyptological goes from strength to strength. Headlining this edition, experienced writer Barbara O’Neill demonstrates a new talent as a journalist. Her interview of Dr Joyce Tyldesley [more…]
Egyptologically Speaking: An Interview with Joyce Tyldesley
In February 2012, Dr. Joyce Tyldesley announced the latest in the University’s impressive portfolio of online courses. The Diploma in Egyptology is set to receive its first intake of students in October; some (not all) will be tech-savvy graduates of previous Tyldesley-designed distance Egyptology. Recently, this busy academic took some time out to discuss Manchester’s pioneering online Egyptology programmes [more…]
Ancient Egyptian Religion, Part 5 — The Mansion of Millions of Years
A series of articles like this, or a book, lecture or Egyptology course, could be focused on Egyptian art, architecture, history, culture, politics, sociology, medicine or virtually anything, and still be about Egyptian religion. Conversely, this series on religion is likewise about everything else. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and in ancient Egypt, the tree is religion. In this installment, we will follow the deceased king into his his eternal home, the “Mansion of Millions of Years,” and begin to explore the meanings there — the ideas expressed in architecture. In Part 6, we will continue with a look at the grave goods, art and words that perpetuate life in the world beyond. The immediate purpose is to see the correspondences between Old Kingdom and New Kingdom tombs as they reflect religious ideology. [more…]
By Brian Alm
Life on Mars: The Gilf Kebir, Zerzura and the Cave of Swimmers
Rising 300m above the desert floor, and covering an area the size of Switzerland, the Gilf Kebir is one of the most arid and inhospitable places in the Sahara. Located in the Egyptian desert, near the Libyan border a 100km north of Sudan, it shares a latitude with Abu Simbel. For over 100,000 years the Gilf Kebir was home to generations of hunters, followed by two thousand years of use by nomadic herders. It was only re-discovered in 1926, and since then it has been the subject of numerous expeditions for exploration, archaeological and geological investigation and, more recently, tourism. Very remote and arid it remained an almost pristine landscape until recent decades, perfect for field research. Even NASA researchers have studied the Gilf Kebir to evaluate conditions that might prevail on Mars. [more…]
Arthur Weigall: A Man Out of Time – Part 2
As we saw in Part 1, in spite of his lack of a formal education Arthur Weigall pursued the role of archaeological excavator, achieving his dream of working in Egypt. Although his initial achievements were minimal, he was promoted to the position of an Inspector in Egypt, a role he took on with energy and dedication. He was fiercely protective of monuments from Luxor to Nubia, often falling into dispute with the authorities and wealthy patrons over the importance of preservation through proper archaeological technique. [more…]
By Garry Beuk
Sleep and the Sleeping in Ancient Egypt
A recent exhibition on East African headrests indicates that their use represents different levels of symbolic meaning, from marking the significant transition from youth to adulthood, to the more practical function of protecting elaborate hairstyles during sleep; still a factor in the use of headrests in some African tribes today (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; ‘Triumph, protection and dreams: The East African headrest in context’). Headrests have an iconographical status throughout the African continent and are a recognisable feature of ancient Egyptian culture. The act of sleeping itself is the subject of myth, ritual and superstition interwoven within the religion which permeated all aspects of this complex civilization. Headrests, sleep and dreams are interrelated within Egyptian ideology. Was the Egyptian headrest a purely symbolic object; a funerary essential; an everyday domestic object or an item which fits all of those descriptions? In the following article I will explore aspects of sleep in ancient Egypt, from the headrests used in the act of sleeping, to complex meaning surrounding dreams. [more…]
Book Review: A Companion to Ancient Egypt
It is not within the scope of this short article to review the entire two-volume edited collection of papers in A Companion to Ancient Egypt edited by Alan B. Lloyd, particularly as I have only read around 45% of the papers published within it. On the other hand, I have been using the two volumes quite extensively recently and thought that it might be useful to any readers who are considering splashing out the eye-watering sum for this encyclopaedic work if I offered some thoughts on the subject as a whole, rather than looking at individual articles. I have read at least one article in every section. [more…]
By Andie
The Birth Bower and Mamissi-Chapels in Ancient Egypt
Kate Phizackerley introduces womens’ experience of child birth in Ancient Egypt and the special birth bowers assigned to this important event. She traces how this involved into a special type of chapel, called a mammis and considers what implications might be drawn from one scene depicting Akhenaten and his queen, Nefertiti. Along the way she covers who might attend a birth and touches on some of the medical texts. [more…]
Documentary Review: The Man Who Discovered Egypt
Review by Andrea Byrnes. In Magazine Articles on Egyptological. april 3rd 2012. The Man Who Discovered Egypt 28th March 2012, BBC4 Cast: Presenter – Chris Naunton Director – Deborah Perkin Executive Producer – Christina Macaulay Producer – Deborah Perkin Introduction The man in ‘The Man Who Discovered Egypt’ was Sir William Flinders Petrie, [more…]
Edition - February, 2012
Editorial – Journal Edition 3 and Magazine Edition 4
Welcome to our latest editions of the Journal and Magazine sections. There is a great mixture of topics, which we hope will provide something for everyone. In the Journal section Kate Phizackerley has brought together the results of two excavations in the tomb of Horemheb in the Valley of the Kings, separated by nearly a century, [more…]
By Andie
Introduction to the Contents of Tomb KV57 (Horemheb)
KV57, Horemheb’s royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings is famous for its bright decoration but it has yielded a large number of artefacts. The tomb has been excavated twice by Theodore Davis after he discovered the tomb in 1908 and a century later by Geoffrey Martin. This paper brings together findings of both excavations to show that the tomb originall contained an assemblage matching or surpassing that found in KV62, the tomb of Tutankhamun [more…]
Notes in the margins of the scene termed “rendering accounts” in the mastaba of Mereruka
The mastaba of Mereruka, called Meri, is located at Saqqara, near the pyramid of Teti, next to the pre-existing tomb of his colleague, Kagemni. Both acceded to the post of vizier during the reign of Teti, at the beginning of the 6th Dynasty. The vast building is divided into three parts, sheltering, besides the deceased, his wife Seshseshet (daughter of Teti) and their daughter Meryteti. Those who visit the tomb cannot fail to notice, at the beginning of the circuit, a scene decorating the lower part of the left wall of the long passage that leads to section A reserved for Mereruka. [more…]
Notes en marge de la scène dite «de reddition des comptes» dans le mastaba de Mererouka
Le mastaba du Mererouka, dit Meri, se situe à Saqqara, à proximité de la pyramide de Teti, jouxtant la tombe préexistante de son collègue Kagemni. Tous deux ont accédé au vizirat sous le règne de Teti, au début de la VIe dynastie. Le vaste bâtiment se divise en trois parties, hébergeant outre le défunt, son épouse Seshseshet (fille de Teti) et leur fille Meryteti. Ceux qui ont visité la tombe n’auront pas manqué de remarquer, en début de parcours, une scène décorant la paroi gauche, dans sa partie inférieure, du long passage menant à la section A réservée à Mererouka. [more…]
Ancient Egyptian Religion, Part 4 — Preparing for Eternity
Ultimately everybody has to deal with the final fact of life: death. How the Egyptians dealt with it was so profound in its cultural breadth and depth that it gives rise to the biggest misconception about them: that they were fixated on death. It was just the opposite: they were fixated on life. But we have to understand that for them, death was neither final nor fact. [more…]
By Brian Alm
Arthur Weigall: A Man Out Of Time – Part 1
In this article, I will explore the contributions that Arthur Weigall (figure 1) made to the field of Egyptology. I knew of Weigall’s involvement as a reporter during the excavation of Tutankhamen’s tomb by Howard Carter, and his open criticism of Carter and Carnarvon’s exclusive reporting agreement with the Times, but later discovered that he had already had an impressive career in Egypt. That in fact by the time he came to cover Carter’s discovery his career in Egyptology was already over and he had not returned to Egypt in over nine years. [more…]
By Garry Beuk
Early Coptic Church and Monastic Architecture. The Link with the Pharaonic and Greco-Roman Past.
Although the religions of ancient Egypt and Coptic Christianity are fundamentally different, there are a number of parallels and similarities between the internal arrangements and layouts of the Pharaonic temples, and those of the later Coptic churches. Both Ancient Egyptian temples and Coptic churches were places of worship, each containing space designed to incorporate symbolic elements and to allow for the performance of specific activities. They were built according to certain formulaic conventions that dictated how that space should be employed by different levels of the clergy and the public. [more…]
An Egyptian Tale of Distance learning and Future Dreams
Like many of Egyptological’s readers, I spend most of my free time, researching, studying and reading on the subject of ancient Egypt. This ancient culture has always interested me but until 2008, I had found no way of pursuing the subject academically. It was around then that I came across the University of Manchester’s Certificate in Egyptology course. Other universities including Glasgow and Birkbeck College, London run their own versions of this academically accredited course, but Manchester remains the only university delivering the entire 3 year Egyptology syllabus online. [more…]
The Egyptian Collection of the Archaeological Museum of Zagreb and its Mummies
The Egyptian collection in the Archaeological museum in Zagreb currently has over 2,300 artifacts of Ancient Egypt, and is the largest and most complete collection of its kind in Croatia. The first acquisition, the Zagreb mummy, is still its most famous artifact today. It came to the museum in 1862, and remains the core of the collection. Another part of the collection was bought from a famous Roman junkman in Naples called Lancia (Tomorad 2003). Studies revealed that most items came from Luxor and the surrounding areas. [more…]
Deities of the underworld in the New Kingdom
This article looks at the most important scene in a funerary text that the Egyptians called the Book of Going Forth by Day, better known today as the Book of the Dead. It consists of a series of spells to help the deceased tackle the challenges of the Afterlife. The subject of this article is the vignette (illustration) accompanying Spell 125, the scene in the Court of Judgment [more…]
By Brian Alm