Rogerio Sousa

Gabriele Pieke

Tine Bagh

First scholarly, multi-disciplinary re-assessment of Howard Carter’s discovery and excavation of Tutenkhamun’s tomb and the impact of the find on our understanding of the material culture of Ancient Egypt. The discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922 stands out as one of the most important finds of modern archaeology, revealing an enormous wealth of objects encapsulating techniques, vestiges of uses and re-uses of materials, as well as unrivalled clues regarding the complex set of beliefs associated with the pharaonic funerary material culture. Once cleared from the tomb, these objects have captivated the world with their irresistible charm and beauty ending up playing a role in contemporary popular culture. However, it seems that such magnetism rather hindered than facilitated the scholarly study of the find. One hundred years after the discovery of this magnificent tomb, most of its objects remain insufficiently studied to this day. This volume aims to show how it remains challenging to study Tutankhamun’s objects, gathering a collection of studies authored by leading scholars on conservation, materials, funerary beliefs as well as the reception of motifs and the impact of the discovery. Through these studies it becomes clear how ancient objects can help us reconstruct the complex fabric of the ancient Egyptian society and how they keep interacting with modern audiences.

Assessing the Impact of a Major Archaeological Find

Tutankhamun and Carter

Egyptian coffins stand out in museum collections for their lively and radiant appearance. As a container of the mummy, coffins played a key role by protecting the body and, at the same time, integrating the deceased in the afterlife. The paramount importance of these objects and their purpose is detected in the ways they changed through time. For more than three thousand years, coffins and tombs had been designed to assure in the most efficient way possible a successful outcome for the difficult transition to the afterlife. This book examines eight non-royal tombs found relatively intact, from the plains of Saqqara to the sacred hills of Thebes. These almost undisturbed burial sites managed to escape ancient looters and so their discoveries, from Mariette’s exploration of the Mastaba of Ti in Saqqara to Schiaparelli’s discovery of the Tomb of Kha and Merit in Deir el-Medina, were sensational events in Egyptian archaeology. Each one of these sites unveils before our eyes a time capsule, where coffins and tombs were designed together as part of a social, political and religious order. From Predynastic times to the decline of the New Kingdom, this book explores each site revealing the interconnection between mummification practices, coffin decoration, burial equipment, tomb decoration and ritual landscapes. Through this analysis, the author aims to point out how the design of coffins changed through time in order to empower the deceased with different visions of immortality. By doing so, the study of coffins reveals a silent revolution which managed to open to ordinary men and women horizons of divinity previously reserved for the royal sphere. Coffins thus show us how identity was forged to create an immortal and divine self.

Coffins and Afterlife in Ancient Egypt

Gilded Flesh

Kathlyn M. Cooney

This book gathers a collection of studies by leading scholars on the Tomb of the Priests of Amun (Bab el-Gasus), where the burials of 153 individuals who lived under the 21st Dynasty have been unearthed, revealing the largest undisturbed tomb ever found in Egypt. This is the first publication to present a coherent vision of this find, with papers addressing a variety of topics including: the reorganization of the Theban necropolis under the 21st Dynasty; the sociological significance of the burials, as well as the funerary goods associated with them; the history of the collections that had been given away to foreign countries in 1893, including their reception and subsequent treatment in museums around the world and in Egypt; carpentry and decoration of anthropoid coffins, using non-invasive analysis of materials; and finally, diversity and meaning of coffin decoration. The volume releases the papers first presented at the international conference held at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon to celebrate the 125th Anniversary of the discovery of the Tomb.

Rogerio Sousa

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