24 Mar 2012 - 11:00
London WC1N 2PG
London Seminar: Unwrapping Ancient Egypt: The Shroud, the Secret, and the Sacred
Event Info
Host: EES
Type: Education – Workshop
Time and Place
Start Time: Saturday, 24th March 2012, 11:00 am
End Time: Saturday, 24th March 2012, 4:00 pm
Location: The Egypt Exploration Society
Street: 3 Doughty Mews
City/Town: London WC1N 2PG
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Contact Details
Email: contact@ees.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7242 1880
Link: http://www.ees.ac.uk/events/index/115.html
Description
Why did the ancient Egyptians wrap sacred objects up in linen – and why has western scholarship spent two centuries unwrapping them, with little or no concern for the wrappings themselves? What might seem like a deceptively simple question leads us to consider the importance of textiles, wrapping, and shrouding in ancient Egypt, as well as the history of Egyptology’s development as an academic field of study – with a focus on the use of mummy unwrappings to define what Egyptology was, and who practiced it. Next, we’ll look at the role of secret knowledge in societies, and how the idea of secrecy in Egypt has been interpreted over time. Together, the combination of shrouds and secrets helped define what the ancient Egyptians held sacred – and might help us reflect on the presentation of ancient Egypt in museums, archaeology, and popular culture today. Based on a forthcoming book and series of Evans-Pritchard Lectures (All Souls College, Oxford), this seminar will conclude with a discussion of some of the issues raised, for instance about the ethics of researching and displaying sacred objects from the ancient past, including human remains. The seminar will be led by:
Dr Christina Riggs, a lecturer in the School of World Art Studies and Museology at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, and who has worked as a curator in the Egyptian collections of the Manchester Museum and the Ashmolean Museum.
All proceeds from ticket sales go towards the continuation of the Society’s work in Egypt and the UK.