Symposium 2022 Abstracts of Papers
SSEA 2022 SCHOLARS’ COLLOQUIUM: ABSTRACTS
1. Marie Saito, Japan
Architectural and Strategic Features of Egyptian Military Bases: Northern Sinai and Syria-Palestine in Dynasties 19-20
Military bases were maintained to monitor the enemy in the fringe and to control the vassal states in Syria-Palestine from the Old Kingdom until the Late Period. Kings initiated campaigns from these bases, using them as a starting point. Fortresses in Northern Sinai and Syria-Palestine have been mainly researched by Morris, al-Ayedi and Wernick. Morris and al-Ayedi mainly focused on the function of military bases in Northern Sinai and Syria-Palestine during the New Kingdom. Wernick studied military bases in Sinai and Syria-Palestine in the New Kingdom, but his main research was an analysis of the logistics of the Egyptian military in Sinai and Syria-Palestine in the New Kingdom. Therefore, military bases in northern Sinai and Syria-Palestine have been studied from various viewpoints, but the common and unique features of military bases in Northern Sinai and Syria-Palestine during Dynasties 19-20 have not been clearly
delineated.
The aim of this paper is to clarify the architectural and strategic features of military bases in northern Sinai and Syria-Palestine during Dynasties 19-20. This research focuses on four military bases: Tell el-Retabah (eastern Delta/western Sinai), Tell el-Borg (northern Sinai), Tell el-Far’ah (South, Syria-Palestine) and Jaffa (Syria-Palestine). The purpose is to compare architectural and strategic features of fortresses with different locations in Sinai and Syria-Palestine during Dynasties 19-20. The common features of forts show the main function of them at that time, while the unique features of them indicate their specific role. This research shows Egyptian imperial policy and historical background based on Egyptian military bases in Northern Sinai and Syria-Palestine during Dynasties 19-20.
2. Alessandro Piccolo, La Sapienza-Università di Roma
Pedon, Son of Amphinnes: A Game of Donors?
The Pedon Statuette is a VII cen. BCE Egyptian piece of sculpture from Priene (?) bearing a late VII or early VI cen. BCE Ionic inscription by an individual named Pedon, son of Amphinnes.
Through a textual, historical, and linguistic analysis, it will be argued that Pedon was not a successful Greek mercenary in Saite Egypt (XXVI Dynasty; VII-VI cen. BCE), as previous scholarship stated, but rather a Hellenized Egyptian native.
3. Ghada Mohamed, Cairo University
Remarks on Some Aspects of the Anthropomorphized Djed-pillar in Ancient Egyptian Ritual Scenes
Although various hieroglyphic signs in Ancient Egypt have been extensively investigated, little attention has been paid to the anthropomorphized form of many signs. This distinctive form is a fundamental component in the ancient Egyptian writing system and plays a key role, both iconographically and textually in both ancient and modern cultures. Through anthropomorphism, inanimate signs acquire not only human limbs/characteristics, life, and vital power, but also the ability to move, perform various tasks independently and consciously, and replace/represent different persons. Such representations of the anthropomorphized signs refer clearly to the indirect usage of hieroglyphs as a component in ancient Egyptian representations, in which the objects are anthropomorphized in order to represent their essential appearance and at the same time to correspond to the symbolic meaning of the context. Studying and analyzing this form of hieroglyphs and the accompanying texts in various sources demonstrate that they can replace deities, kings and common people in different, mostly religious contexts, and imitate their attitude. The anthropomorphized signs stand therefore at the point of intersection between image, text and metaphor.
One of the most important humanized signs in ancient Egypt is the Djed-pillar, which serves as a symbol of stability and duration as well as of Osiris. It is documented in this form from the beginning of the Old Kingdom and frequently represented either as an independent sign or as an element in a group of signs with anx and/or wAs. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the concept of anthropomorphizing the inanimate hieroglyphs not only through investigating the form, context and function of the anthropomorphized Djed-pillar in various textual and iconographical evidence as a case study of this kind of sign, but also through studying and analyzing its significance and development until the end of the Late Period.
4. Susannah Marshall, Liverpool
Poster - Brooklyn 52.127a-b: Considerations on the Eleventh-Dynasty Box-Coffin and Cover of Mayet
Brooklyn Museum 52.127a-b [1] is a badly faded but intact, Eleventh-Dynasty inner box-coffin with cover. It belonged to Mayet, a girl who died around the age of five, who was
probably a wife or daughter of Mentuhotep II. This coffin, along with her mummy, an outer coffin and stone sarcophagus, and five beautiful necklaces were discovered in her pit-tomb toward the rear of Mentuhotep II’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari, one of six pit-tombs belonging to subsidiary female members of his family. Herbert Winlock discovered Mayet’s tomb in 1921 as part of wider excavations of the temple complex.
In July 2019, members of The Egyptian Sculpture Digitization Project at Indiana University Bloomington took high-definition photographs of this coffin, and in late 2019, I used those photographs to create both a 3-D state model [2] and a 3-D restoration model [3] of 52.127a-b using MetaShape, ZBrush, Photoshop, XNormal, DStretch, and 3D Studio Max. These high-definition models are now posted on SketchFab and are widely accessible, even to smartphone users. My project goal in creating the restoration model was to visualize how Mayet’s inner coffin might have appeared in antiquity when she was buried and also to reconstruct its inscriptions (three Htp-di-nsw offering formulae), which in some places are badly faded or barely legible, especially on the lid.
Using advanced imaging technology and three-dimensional computer graphics enabled me to discover many small details about Mayet’s coffin, including its construction method and painting techniques, and about its inscriptions, including peculiar grammar and unusual writings, that might otherwise have gone undiscovered.
The impact of my model for the scholarly community is three-fold. First, my restoration model provides a fully reconstructed, easily readable version of the coffin’s offering formulae, sections of which were difficult to read or nearly unintelligible. Second, it provides a basis for future discussion within the Egyptological community about the peculiar characteristics of the coffin discovered during the restoration process. Third, it provides a better understanding of painters and painting techniques, and perhaps even construction techniques, of this mass-produced royal box-coffin.
1 https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/3575.
2 https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/coffin-and-cover-for-princess-mayet-3f123777976f4665b575351bb252a57b.
3 https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/coffin-and-cover-of-princess-mayet-3d-restored-2bf5f041a5ab4764a720219c3839f0fb
5. Anna Charlotte Dietrich, Austrian Academy of Sciences
Out for a Jaunt to Giza: The King’s Son Amenmose and His Monuments Revisited
The doubts about the authenticity of the inscription on the naos fragment Louvre E 8074 (most recently, Hohneck 2006) impact our views on chronology and prosopography – especially of the royal family – of early Thutmoside Egypt. The fragment contains not only one of the highest attested regnal years of the reign of Thutmose I, but also provides valuable information on the otherwise rather enigmatic King’s Son Amenmose. It is his only dated attestation and provides his most elaborate and unique titulary (zȝ-nswt sms.w ỉm.j-rʾ-mšʿ wr n(.j) ỉt=f).
Inscriptional evidence discovered and published in recent years presents additional information on the King’s Son, but also allows for a new take on the discussion concerning the authenticity of the Louvre fragment (and perhaps even closure). Therefore, this presentation will re-investigate the points of the forgery debate of the Louvre fragment, contextualise the results from a chronological and a prosopographical point of view, and re-evaluate the now available source material on the King’s Son Amenmose, his parentage, offices, and career.
6. Charlotte Beryl Rose, Independent Scholar
Birth-Bed and Beyond
The birth-bed motif is a designated space decorated with plants and birth deities where mother and child resided during childbirth and the first weeks postpartum. It was characteristic of New Kingdom domestic material culture and iconography.
Previous scholarship focused on individual birth materials or concentrated on the more abundant New Kingdom evidence of birth and fertility practices. Such approaches, however, are static. This paper examines the development of birth-bed iconography over time, from the Old Kingdom through the New Kingdom, within the context of larger cultural trends during these periods. Iconographic and material evidence suggests that the birth-bed iconography originated in the bed canopy depictions of the Old Kingdom, then developed in bedroom scenes and apotropaic iconography of the Middle Kingdom before birth materials standardized in the New Kingdom to focus on the birth arbor.
7. Jordan Furutani, University of Toronto
Two Words for Word? The Difference Between mdw and mdwt: A Study in Egyptian Lexicography
The pair of words mdw and mdwt are often confused for one another, as both are often translated “word.” Despite being listed in distinct entries for every major lexicon, the difference between the two words is poorly understood. Through a careful analysis of the phonological and morphological characteristics of these two words, we can strongly suggest that they represent two different root formations. On the basis of Afroasiatic etymologies, it is possible to argue that this distinction is, in fact, older than Egyptian. From this basis, the paper proceeds to a discussion of the semantics of the two words in Egyptian, focusing on the development and distinct senses of mdw in particular. Close analysis of the Old Kingdom evidence shows that the meaning of the two words is different, and this difference is preserved through the Later New Kingdom. The Egyptian awareness of both the similarity between the two words, and their significant differences, is demonstrated through the reading and analysis of a passage from the Tale of the Eloquent Peasant.
8. Alisée Devillers, University of California at Los Angeles
Show Me Your Palette and I Will Tell You Who You Are – or Pretend to Be
In Egyptology, it has long been stated that artists (Hmw.w) responsible for the ancient Egyptian masterpieces we admire in museums were mainly undetectable. Past publications often suggested that they were only mere craftsmen without any kind of individuality.
Nevertheless, recent studies has tended to reaffirm their very existence and detectable presence in the documentation at hand. This paper will focus on one specific socio-professional group among the Hmw.w, the sS.w-qdw.t, and aims to take part in the reassessment of artists in present Egyptological studies. The ancient Egyptian draftsmen were indeed crucial protagonists in the art production process. Their role could vary from a “simple” executant to a real concept-maker. Some of them even shared closed relationship with their patron and turned out to be the masterminds of some of the more stunning funerary monuments of ancient Egypt.
Far from past Egyptological assumptions, about 700 artists are actually detectable in the documentation and, among them, more than 120 sS.w-qdw.t stand out, sometimes in a very striking way. Draftsmen are indeed highly interesting subjects to observe when it comes to negotiate their socio-professional identity on commemoration monuments, like stelae or funerary chapels. In this context, some chose to represent themselves with a palette at hand. But that’s not always the palette we would expect, as modern observers. Scribe or artists? Or both? As we will see, the borders are rather blurred.
The paper will go over the more common or usual ways for artists to represent themselves to the exceptional cases where sS.w-qdw.t pinpointed more assertively the specificity of their profession. This insight into draftsmen’s visual strategies will shed new lights not only on the specificity of their visual depiction in ancient Egyptian art, but also their socio-professional representation in this society.
9. Thomas Greiner, University of Toronto
Re-examining the Implications of Lapis-Lazuli in Egypt’s Predynastic Period
In the early fourth millennium BC, contacts between Egypt and the southern Levant were confined mostly to the Nile Delta with imported finds in the Valley being very limited or virtually non-existent (Hartung 2014). Beginning in the Naqada IIC period, however, the number of foreign objects found in Upper Egyptian contexts increases dramatically, demonstrated by the abundant finds of lapis-lazuli that are first attested around this time (Hendrickx and Bavay 2002, table 3.3). Since the ancient sources of lapis-lazuli (Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan) are over 3,000 km to the east of Egypt, the stone is a major component for analysing Egypt’s contacts with the southern Levant as stated above. Thus, when exactly did lapis-lazuli occur first in Egypt? What does its distribution in Egypt reveal about contacts to the southern Levant and beyond?
A recent re-examination of archaeological contexts with lapis-lazuli discoveries produced several new insights which likely pushes its arrival in Egypt to several centuries prior to the Naqada IIC period. At Matmar, for example, grave 3094 may date to the Badarian period (e.g., its place in the cemetery) and contains a string of beads including lapis-lazuli. Another tomb in the same region (grave 1218 at Mostagedda) stems from the same period and contains a lapis-lazuli disc bead. These contexts also contain material (e.g., shells from the Red Sea as well as turquoise) that corroborates their place in the Badarian period.
Thus, in light of these finds of lapis-lazuli at Matmar and Mostagedda, our understanding of Egypt’s foreign relations appears to be more complex, particularly with an eye to Upper Egypt, than previously thought.
Works Cited
Hartung, U. 2014. ‘Interconnections between the Nile Valley and the Southern Levant in the 4th Millennium BC’. In Egypt and the Southern Levant in the Early Bronze Age, edited by F. Höflmayer and R. Eichmann, 107–33. Orient-Archäologie 31. Rahden: Verlag Marie
Leidorf. Hendrickx, S., and L. Bavay. 2002. ‘The Relative Chronological Position of Egyptian Predynastic and Early Dynastic Tombs with Objects Imported from the Near East and the Nature of Interregional Contacts’. In Egypt and the Levant. Interrelations from the 4th through the Early 3rd Millennium BCE, edited by E.C.M. van den Brink and T.E. Levy, 58–80. London and New York: Leicester University Press.
10. Marla Szwec, University of Toronto
The Saharan Exodus of the Original Celestial Cow: an Examination of Royal and Bovine Imagery at the Dawn of State Formation
Meskhetyu (Ursa Major) is possibly the most prominently referenced circumpolar constellation in Egyptian funerary literature. Commonly represented as a bull’s thigh or foreleg, this asterism maintained visibility every night around the northern pole and quickly became emblematic of immortality in the royal cult. In this paper, I discuss the emergence of stellar eschatology during ancient Egypt’s archaic age and explore how the sensory experience of observing luminary rhythms in skyscapes is reflected in the imagery of ruling elites, the development of timekeeping practices, and the evolution of stellar and bovine symbolic vocabularies. In particular, the nucleation of beliefs and practices around cattle pastoralism and the preservation of pastoral power structures following the desiccation of the Eastern Saharan will be examined as a catalyst for increased social complexity and ideological transference in Nilotic regions.
Evidence supporting heightened intraregional interaction and altered cultural trajectories play a key role when evaluating the cognitive processes behind the selection of elite imagery in Predynastic and Early Dynastic times. By utilizing a chronological approach to gain more insight into the processes behind change and stability in the material and spiritual worlds, an underrepresented piece of royal regalia has come to light which, in extension, has clarified why bovine imagery is referenced in one of ancient Egypt’s most important constellation at the start of Pharaonic society.
Animals in ancient Near Eastern societies were invaluable for their contribution to diet, religion, and economy. This paper examines one of the most important domesticates in ancient Near Eastern societies – cattle. The importance of cattle in ancient Near Eastern societies goes beyond the Egyptian border and evidence of interconnections with neighbouring societies such as the southern Levant suggest that cattle may have been involved in interregional trade. This paper explores the importance of cattle in Near Eastern societies in the 3rd millennium BCE and the possibility of cattle transport beyond the Egyptian border during the Old Kingdom.
12. Harry Lillington, University of Aukland
A Repositioning of Theban Tombs in Ancient Egyptian Art History
This case study aims to reposition our understanding of New Kingdom Theban tombs in the tradition of ancient Egyptian art scholarship. By crafting a more culturally precise and interdisciplinary definition of Egyptian art, the applied methodology enables a more holistic understanding of Egyptian art by considering the entirety of a Theban tomb as an artwork. Shifting our perspective away from the traditional iconographical approach, this methodology advocates for a novel consideration of New Kingdom Theban tombs by altering the traditional parameters of what can be classified as Egyptian art. Indeed, art historical methodologies in Egyptology are inherently Eurocentric, as are the ideas, categories, and definitions that develop them. Often established from the classical tradition, our understanding of what constitutes art is grounded in a Western lens. When we apply this lens to a non-Western culture, that has temporal and spatial-cultural differences certain aspects can be lost in translation. In response to this limitation, I aim to explore the use of an ancient Egyptian viewpoint. The theoretical framework created to accomplish this incorporates assemblage theory, material culture theory, and an ontological focus with ancient Egyptian terms and concepts at the forefront of the analysis.
13. Sue Thorpe, U. of Aukland, NZ
Letters to the Living Not the Dead: Insight from some personal correspondence into ancient Egyptian life and personalities
The title is a reference to the ancient Egyptians’ belief in an afterlife which prompted personal communication with the deceased, in most cases relatives, not only just as a greeting but to ask assistance in unfortunate situations caused either by the dead recipient or by some other deceased person. In- depth studies have been made of these Letters to the Dead which tended to have a legalistic style and the majority were inscribed on bowls in the form of a votive offering and put in an individual’s tomb where the deceased person would be sure to read it. While in certain instances letters were also written to the dead, there exists, not surprisingly, a considerable number of personal correspondence written by the living to the living. This paper looks at a selection of such letters from varying periods of ancient Egyptian history (ca 1570-1070 BC).
Analysis of the content shows how they can extend our understanding of daily life, personal issues, complaints, social hierarchy, military matters, religious customs, and the way in which they also provide knowledge of the people themselves – the personalities and background of the writers and recipients together with that of other people mentioned in the letter. In addition, such letters can contain references which enable insight into historical background and context. By the discussion and analysis of the above aspects this paper will evidence the important contribution private letters make as primary sources of social information in ancient Egypt.
14. Marta Kaczanowicz, University of Warsaw
Dorothy Mackay in Thebes
In March 1913, Ernest Mackay arrived in Luxor to supervise work in Theban tombs sponsored by Robert Mond. His responsibilities were vast: during his stay, which lasted until late 1916 when he was sent to fight, he worked in or at least visited more than 160 tombs. A little-known fact is that for a large part of his time there, Ernest was accompanied by his wife, Dorothy, who actively participated in archaeological fieldwork. After the war, she became a professional in the field, participated in a number of excavations, and became a renowned author in her own right. This presentation aims to give some details of the beginnings of her career and her activities in the Theban necropolis.
15. Amgad Joseph, Helwan University, Egypt
The Gazelle of Anukis and the Theban Western Mountain
This article examines a non-traditional scene on the Ramesside Ostracon of Hay, the royal scribe in the Place of Truth (Egyptian Museum, Cairo, JE 43660). It shows Hay kneeling and raising both arms in adoration before a gazelle emerging from the Theban western mountain. It is reminiscent of Hathor striding forth from the western mountains, in her role as the lady of the west and the protector of the deceased.
It is also reminiscent of the vignette of Chapter 186 in the Book of the Dead, which depicts the cow goddess Hathor emerging from the Theban western mountain. The article thoroughly discusses all the attested occurrences of the association between Hathor and the gazelle of Anukis in Philae temples, 1 Papyrus Chester Beatty I, 2 and a scene on the naos of Kasa in Museo Egizio, Turin showing Anukis sailing in a Hathorian bark in allusion to the vignette of Chapter 110 in the Book of the Dead. 3 This association is also attested through two sistra of Hathor displayed in the Louvre Museum, Paris. 4 The epithets of Anukis as the “eye of Re which is on his forehead” and “beautiful of face in the bark of millions” are those of Hathor in Chapter 186 of the Book of the Dead. 5.
The article examines the assimilation between Anukis and Hathor in specific New Kingdom tombs. 6 It particularly examines their identification at Deir el-Medina.
16. Antje Zygalski, Independent Conservator
Poster - Preventive Conservation on Egyptian Excavations – Agent of deterioration 5 “Pests”: The case of active termite infestation
The field of conservation is composed of three consecutive parts, which are “preventive conservation”, “remedial conservation” and “restoration” (terms according to EN 15898:2019). “Preventive conservation” is defined (within the European Standard mentioned) as indirect measures that are not carried out directly at the object but within the immediate environment of it. The topics of this sub-field have first been defined (and sorted) by the Canadian Conservation Institute and are named as “agents of deterioration” (AoD). These include among others:
• AoD 1: physical forces (e.g., caused by tomb collapse),
• AoD 4: water (e.g., caused by flash floods) and
• AoD 5: pests (e.g., fungi, bacteria, insects, rodents etc.).
With regard to these areas of activity, the author is regularly consulted for questions on preventive conservation treatments applied to on-site storages that are housing objects / finds and excavation equipment. One of the most crucial topics relates to active insect infestation and is usually expected as an infestation of termites.
In a first step of an effective treatment strategy, the reported infestation of termites at Luxor’s west bank was examined. In addition, certain characteristics were described in order to differentiate this pest occurrence from other wood-boring insect infestations. In a second step, two termite infestations of on-site excavation storages were evaluated. In both cases, it turned out that the infestation was still active. However, none was related to termites but to the palm wood-boring beetle Bostrychoplites zickeli.
The poster gives detailed information and photographs upon identification markers and possible treatments for an infestation of termites and Bostrichoplites zickeli.
17. Matthieu Hagenmuller, The Sorbonne
Poster - L’iconographie du combat dans les sources funéraires égyptiennes
Alors que les reliefs de guerre royaux du Nouvel Empire ont depuis longtemps concentré une grande attention universitaire, les travaux sur les sources funéraires se sont jusqu’à aujourd’hui principalement attachés à les resituer dans leur contexte géopolitique et à reconstituer les techniques en usage. Dans le cadre de cette affiche, il s’agirait pour moi de présenter succinctement certaines conclusions de mon travail en cours sur l’iconographie de la violence.
Entre l’Ancien et le Moyen Empire, onze scènes funéraires de bataille sont connues, ce qui constitue de loin le corpus le plus abondant sur la question pour ces époques. Grâce à un corpus restreint mais réparti de la Ve à la XIIe dynastie, nous pouvons reconstruire des constances et des évolutions dans la mise en scène des affrontements guerriers. Le premier axe de mon affiche serait consacré à la construction graphique de l’espace et aux implications de la représentation du siège de place-fortes.
Je m’appuierai particulièrement sur la scène de la tombe d’Inti (Deshashah, Ve dynastie) où sont associées vues de profil et en plan. Le deuxième axe sera la question de l’identité des combattants et de la construction de l’altérité parmi les combattants. En effet, les scènes de l’Ancien Empire opposent de façon binaire une armée égyptienne et des adversaires asiatiques; le corpus de Beni Hassan, contemporain des guerres d’unification menées par Montouhotep II, met au contraire en scène des armées composées de différents régiments, d’origine égyptienne, nubienne et asiatique.
Il s’agira enfin de s’intéresser aux armes employées et à leur emploi dans l’iconographie des coups portés: si de façon générale l’instant où le soldat lève son arme en menace est préféré, le moment où l’arme touche l’ennemi apparait dans certaines scènes, ce qui induit des rapports différents à la violence guerrière. Cette dernière question sera mise en relation avec l’iconographie royale du Nouvel Empire et avec le motif du roi massacreur, matrice des images de violence depuis l’époque prédynastique.
18. Virginia Martos Armenteros, University of Toronto
Poster - Solar Transformative Processes in Hatshepsut’s Coronation Scenes in the Red Chapel
Placed at the temple of Karnak in the sanctuary of Amun-Ra, the Red Chapel was one of the latest additions that Queen Hatshepsut made to her “palace of Maat”. The main purpose of the Red Chapel was to host the sacred bark of Amun-Ra, a portable boat that was used during religious ceremonies such as the Opet festival. The following reasons mark the Red Chapel as a unique monument: the bright red quartzite with which most of the shrine was built; the destruction it suffered during the reign of King Thutmose III; the arduous reconstruction of the chapel that was undertaken from 1950 to 1997; and, most importantly, the scenes that decorate its walls.
Within the walls of the Red Chapel, different themes, like the Feast of the Beautiful Valley or the installation of Hatshepsut’s two obelisks in the Temple of Karnak, are portrayed. This poster will focus on the so-called “coronation sequence”, which can be found on some blocks of the 3 rd , 4 th, and 7 th registers of all the exterior walls. The sequence was reproduced at the Temple of Speos Artemidos at Beni Hasan and Hatshepsut’s funerary temple at Deir el-Bahari. However, I argue that although the same ceremony is represented in each context, the iconographic program of the Red Chapel differs from the other two in its perspective. That is, rather than presenting a recreation of the steps and rituals of the ceremony, as is the case in the other structures, the scenes in the Red Chapel highlight the religious and cosmological significance of the coronation.
To support this argument, I examine different characteristics of the crowns that Queen Hatshepsut wears throughout the iconographic program: their color palette, the different symbols that compose these crowns (i.e. uraei, feathers, horns), their cosmological and terrestrial attributes, the order in which they appear, and what effect this sequence would have had on the ancient viewers. These features are then analyzed using an innovative methodology, combining the iconography of these scenes with diverse religious and funerary texts related to the coronation ceremony, to provide new perspectives on the coronation ceremony in ancient Egypt.
19. Daniel Potter (National Museums Scotland)
The Business of Egyptian Archaeology: Charles Trick Currelly and National Museums Scotland
The acquisitions of Charles Trick Currelly (1876 -1957), fill the galleries of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), where he was also the first Director. While developing his archaeological skills working for the Egypt Exploration Fund (EEF) in the first decade of the 20th century, Currelly cultivated an Egyptological network and began collecting objects for a potential museum in Victoria College, Toronto. His “talent for collecting…nose for bargains and … ability to distinguish the genuine article from the fake” helped him form the core of the ROM collections. However, his activities at that time as a collector-for-hire for both the ROM and several UK museums have not been explored. Between1906-07, Currelly sold around a hundred objects he had acquired in Egypt to the Royal Scottish Museum [later National Museums Scotland].
This paper considers these objects, their provenance, the transactions that brought them to Edinburgh and the collecting aims of the Royal Scottish Museum as a means of assessing the entanglement of archaeology and the antiquities market during the early 20th century. It will examine Currelly’s ethical views of the antiquities market in the context of other excavator-collectors and will began to reconstruct a more reliable account of his work beyond his own autobiography.
20. Margaret Maitland, National Museums Scotland
Excavation Permissions and Export Permits: Examining collecting in mid-19th century Egypt through the archives of Alexander Henry Rhind
Although overlooked in the history of Egyptology, Alexander Henry Rhind (1833–1863) was a forerunner in archaeological and museological practice. He conducted innovative excavations of Scottish prehistoric sites and went on to become the first experienced archaeologist to work in Egypt before his early death. The Rhind archives at National Museums Scotland are the focus of an ongoing project, supported by a Headley Fellowship with Art Fund, using Rhind’s work as a case study to understand the changing landscape of excavating and collecting in mid-19th century Egypt. This paper will present one aspect of this research.
The early years of Egyptology have often been characterized as largely unregulated with Europeans serving as the only defenders of Egypt’s antiquities in the face of an indifferent ruler. To date, there has been limited research into the circumstances in which excavators and collectors operated in mid-19th century Egypt, following the ban on the export of antiquities that was introduced in 1835. What can the archival study of actual excavation and export permits tell us about the realities of heritage management in this era? This paper will explore how the ad hoc issuing of khedival permissions in the early 19th century developed into a more formal system of excavation and export permits, as well as what evidence there is for the enforcement of this system. This research has implications for how we understand early Egyptological collections and Egypt’s role in the management of its own heritage.
21. Guillaume Sellier, SC Laval
The Earliest Egyptian Artefacts in Canada: The Quebec Intendant’s Palace Amulets
In 2009, a team of archeologists and students from Laval University excavated the historic site of the Intendant’s Palace in the lower town of Quebec City, capital of today’s Province of Quebec, Canada. Amidst the burnt-out ruins of the early 18th century, they discovered four Egyptian amulets under the pavement, at the foot of a monumental staircase, archaeological layer dated around 1714-1726. How is it that these pieces, likely the first Egyptian artefacts brought to Canada, came to be here?
The Intendants’ Palace was one of the most important centers of power of New France, from the late 17th to the mid-18th century. Its existence turned out to be quite eventful: the building was destroyed three times by fire (1713, 1725, 1775), leaving different layers of destruction on the site. The four amulets were discovered in one of these layers, unusual for a time when travel across the Atlantic was truly exceptional, reserved for either the richest civil servants and nobles or the most daring, the settlers of the 'New World'. It directly speaks to the specific and interest in Ancient Egypt among the French elites ruling the colony.
Our research shows that only two people living in this Palace could logically have brought these pieces from Europe around 1710-1730: Michel Bégon VI de la Picardière, Intendant from 1712 – 1726, and Claude-Thomas Dupuy, Intendant from 1726 - 1728. Both men were great scholars of their time, the glorious 18th century of the Enlightenment. The amulets suggest that a first cabinet of curiosities was created in Quebec City early in the 18th century, probably one of the first in North America. Research around these two characters also shows specific links between these important officials of New France, and others in the French Kingdom such Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis Phélypeaux, Comte de Pontchartrain and Minister of Colonies, and the French Consul to Egypt, Benoit de Maillet.
The discovery demonstrates that the beginnings of the great Egyptomania period beginning from the 16th century quickly reached distant parts of the European Empires as early as the 18th century, spreading curiosities from the Old World in general and particularly ancient Egypt all the way to the shores of the St. Lawrence River.
22. Prof. Jean Revez, département d’histoire, Université du Québec à Montréal
Lepsius’s Work Inside the Hypostyle Hall at Karnak and the Quality of the Drawings Published in the “Denkmäler”
Between 1842 and 1845, Karl Richard Lepsius, the founding father of German Egyptology, led a Prussian expedition through Egypt and Sudan. Two stopovers were organized along the way in Karnak (a short one in October 1843 and a longer one in the winter of 1845, on the return trip from Sudan). No fewer than 18 drawings of scenes carved on the columns inside the Hypostyle Hall were made on site and later published in the monumental Denkmäler. While the historiography on Karl Richard Lepsius is rich, few studies have dealt in detail with the degree of accuracy of the plates produced for his 12-volume work. These illustrations are undeniably of great value to the Egyptologist, but how to assess them in terms of their trustworthiness and completeness? How do they differ from what had been published before Lepsius’s time? These are some of the questions that will be dealt with in this paper.
23. Gayle Gibson, Royal Ontario Museum
Luxor Then and Now
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, SSEA founder Geoffrey Freeman travelled to Egypt with a good camera, lots of slide film, and some very fine companions, including SSEA Member #1, Faith Stanley, and Egyptologists Gerry Kadish, Don Redford, and Kenneth Kitchen. Egyptian boat captains, guides and excavators welcomed the group and shared their knowledge. Everyone looks very young. Luxor itself, with feluccas and rowboats on the Nile, appears quiet and gracious.
Geoff Freeman saw a Gurna that was sparsely populated, and a KV 17 that was a ruin, dangerous to enter. Luxor Temple’s pylon looks bare, lacking the recently-restored colossi. Hundreds of decorated blocks were still piled on the ground, leaving the walls shorter, their stories less complete. Many of the sites Freeman and his party visited have changed almost beyond recognition. By juxtaposing some of his beautiful pictures with a few more recent images, this presentation hopes to honour our founder, and acknowledge some of the last fifty years’ work of many expeditions and the Egyptian Antiquities Ministry (in its various incarnations) to excavate, study, and restore