News by Gianluca Miniaci
Papers by Gianluca Miniaci
Open Archaeology 11, 2025
Research on how forms of religiosity are produced through the interaction of local, exogenous, an... more Research on how forms of religiosity are produced through the interaction of local, exogenous, and hybrid elements is fundamental for the improvement of religious studies. This becomes particularly noteworthy in the context of the Levant during the Second Millennium BCE when cultural hybridization phenomena played a pivotal role in shaping novel religious beliefs. Such an exploration, in fact, opens up avenues in the process that ultimately led to the emergence of the Israelite monolatry in the First Millennium BCE. To reach this target, the Godscapes project combines a material culture perspective with the Semantic Web, an innovative application of artificial intelligence that will aid researchers in understanding religious phenomena by not only reconstructing inherent missing information within the data but also furnishing a powerful tool to search, query, and visualize them. Hence, the project aims to build “The Godscapes Ontology” (TGO) through a deconstruction process of the elements recognizable in four aspects associated with material religiosity: religious architecture, religious iconography, funerary rituals/beliefs, and religious texts. After introducing the project’s scope and methodology, the article will present the conceptual model for TGO, showing how the aforementioned aspects are related to each other in the construction of religious beliefs and practices. It will further detail the semantic ontology elaborated to model the religious architecture of the Second Millennium BCE Levant. Finally, the interrogation of the dataset through pilot queries in the Semantic Web language (SPARQL) will provide validation of the designed model, and assess the potential applications of the approach.
Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 110, 2024
The material culture of the late Middle Kingdom is marked by an increased presence of figurines i... more The material culture of the late Middle Kingdom is marked by an increased presence of figurines in different materials, pooled together by a common range of forms, types, and iconographic or stylistic motifs. The subjects and variety of these figurines do not find any precedent in the recent past, while-unexpectedly-the closest comparanda go back to the early/mid-third millennium BC, in the votive material of the so-called Early Dynastic temples with a gap of over half a millennium. The figurines from the Early Dynastic Period overlap with the corpus of the Middle Kingdom to a considerable and unexpected extent, so much that they could be possibly considered their forerunners or, indeed, their prototypes. During the late Middle Kingdom, royal initiatives to preserve and restore Early Dynastic sites and structures are well documented. This practice may have led to the rediscovery and absorption (by copying and reinventing) of earlier images and motifs into contemporary material production, as might be the case of the late Middle Kingdom figurines.
This paper considers some peculiar types of figurines found in Byblos, which are cut from a tiny,... more This paper considers some peculiar types of figurines found in Byblos, which are cut from a tiny, thin sheet of metal (copper alloy, silver, or gold). They represent human figures, mainly male, in a standing position. These figurines have been documented in various deposits in the acropolis of Byblos and their chronological range spans from 2100 to 1650 BC. Usually presented as a Gublite product, these figurines may actually be part of an Egyptian tradition, directly imported to Byblos and then developed and readapted locally. The evidence for an Egyptian import is provided by a foundation deposit discovered at Deir el-Bahri, in the mortuary complex of Montuhotep II (c. 2020 BC), which presents similar sheet metal figurines, but of clear Egyptian manufacture and conception.
The paper aims at analysing the context, dating and assemblage of more than hundred clay figurine... more The paper aims at analysing the context, dating and assemblage of more than hundred clay figurines coming from the site of Lahun and now preserved in the Petrie and Manchester Museums. Usually dated to the late Middle Kingdom, unfortunately the archaeological context of these figurines has not been accurately documented by Petrie and some of them could also belong to the New Kingdom. The figurines have been arranged into three macro categories: I. Anthropomorphic; II. Zoomorphic; and III. Inanimate/Undetermined. Relevance has been given to some groups which show a certain homogeneity, such as the female plaque figurines, crocodile (Reptilia), hippopotami and pigs (Artiodactyl mammals), boats, and enigmatic discoid shapes with one hole or depression in the center and around a circular contour of small dots. The paper gathers together other comparable contexts (Lisht, Amarna, Abydos, Deir el-Ballas, Deir el-Medina, Edfu, Elephantine, Sai, Qubban, Buhen, Askut, Shalfak, Uronarti, and Semna) in order to provide better source of information for Lahun figurines. As result, it appears evident that figurines of Lahun might not all belong together in terms of chronology, use, assemblage, and context.
The Ancient World Revisited: Material Dimensions of Written Artefacts, 2024
The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing is an extremely permeable field (given its materiality ... more The ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing is an extremely permeable field (given its materiality and performative character), more prone to introducing material variations in the sign during the 'performance' of its (re)production: some targeted hieroglyphs were deliberately manipulated, modified, and altered. The custom first appeared in the royal sphere (c. 2345 BCE) and then slowly moved into the private domain (till c. 2000 BCE), being continuously transformed and adapted, becoming increasingly inconsistent, unsystematic, and confused, till complete abandonment (c. 1500 BCE). This path can be read in the light of the socio-linguistic ideas of Mikhail Bakhtin and Antonio Gramsci, which see a deep connection between language and society. In its diachronic evolution, the patchy and inconsistent absorption and transformation of mutilation hieroglyph practice from the lower levels of society can be imagined as the 'leak of fragments of hegemonic culture into a folk domain'.
Ancient Egyptian gold: Archaeology and science in jewellery (3500–1000 BC), 2023
This chapter (whole Chapter 9) presents the technological study of the jewellery excavated at Qur... more This chapter (whole Chapter 9) presents the technological study of the jewellery excavated at Qurna, together with a few additional examples of gold pieces that are either well contextualized, or that can be attributed to the Second Intermediate Period and early 18th Dynasty based on their inscriptions. These parallels include objects that are in some way related to king Nubkheperra Intef, notably the first heart-scarab recorded for a king, several pieces bearing the name of Ahhotep, the three gold components of an armband found in the burial of king Kamose, and several pieces from excavations at Qau by G. Brunton.
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 72, 2023
Clay figurines represent one of the ideal object categories for tracing the profile of their make... more Clay figurines represent one of the ideal object categories for tracing the profile of their makers since they preserve traces of the maker’s gestures. The scope of the article is to reconstruct the different manufacturing steps
of clay figurines, assess the complexity of the shaping sequences and study fingerprints to trace the profile of people who produced such artefacts in the ancient village of Lahun (Egypt, MBA II, c. 1800–1700 BC). The high number of production chains revealed that, despite an apparent roughness, clay figurine production was characterised by high stylistic and technological variability, indicating several levels of skill possessed by their producers. On this basis, Lahun clay figurines were not an extemporary or standardised product. A neat division can be established between anthropomorphic figurines and those representing animals, which show a lower degree of complexity and an attempt not to define clear shapes. Most of the figurines were revealed to be mainly shaped by adults, while children contributed in a marginal way to their production. However, the presence of sub-adult fingerprints on some of the clay figurines indicates that children were active agents producing material culture and integrating part of the adult production process through cooperation and/or playing.
Simonetta Graziani, Gancarlo Lacerenza (des), Egitto e Vicino Oriente antico tra passato e futuro. The Stream of Tradition: la genesi e il perpetuarsi delle tradizioni in Egitto e nel Vicino Oriente antico, 2022
Danielle Candelora, Nadia Ben-Marzouk, Kathlyn M. Cooney (Des), Ancient Egyptian Society Challenging Assumptions, Exploring Approaches, 2022
The traditional reconstruction of Egyptian history has a strong "top down" character, continuousl... more The traditional reconstruction of Egyptian history has a strong "top down" character, continuously reproducing historical accounts fltered through the "memories" and traces left behind by the "hegemonic" groups. 2 The "underprivileged groups," which represent the vast majority of the population, remain mostly invisible. Under this label can also be listed the producers which represent one of the most important-but often unrecorded-sectors of ancient Egypt, as they are the anonymous producers of Egypt's material culture. The abundance of sources (textual, visual, and artefactual) preserved for the "hegemonic" and wealthy groups of the ancient Egypt has created a great imbalance, providing solid information about the ideas and histories of the hegemonic groups (Baines 1990, 2013), but dumping underprivileged people into an undifferentiated mass (Moreno García 2014, 2019a). Paradoxically, while the producers are the main "actors" of the material sectors, representing the economic engine and the backbone of a society (artisans, craftsmen, workmen, peasants, farmers, etc.), they remain largely invisible to our eyes since they cannot aford the signature visibility in history, due to their economic and social constraints. The dynamics and the development of Egyptian archaeology have led to a focus on monumental architecture (temples, palaces, pyramids, royal and rock-cut tombs; Carruthers 2015), with settlement and domestic areas still left largely ignored or underexplored (cf. Moeller 2016; Doyen 1996). The archaeological research carried out in those areas with the most potential for documenting social history (i.e., living areas: houses, towns, villages, cities, workshops, guard posts, etc.) is limited in comparison with the amount of cult and funerary contexts (cf. Kemp 2013, 155-96; Bietak, Czerny, and Forstner-Müller 2010). Therefore, even research into social history is deeply structured around funerary and cult remains, two felds
Breaking Images Damage and Mutilation of Ancient Figurines (ed. by Gianluca Miniaci), 2023
The materiality of the damage in the faience figurine corpus from late Middle Bronze Age Egypt (1... more The materiality of the damage in the faience figurine corpus from late Middle Bronze Age Egypt (1800-1550 BC) Gianluca Miniaci The article aims to analyse the materiality of damage in ancient Egypt, taking as case study the corpus of faience figurines in the late Middle Bronze Age (c. 1800-1550 BC). Starting from a corpus of more than 1100 miniatures and 151 different archaeological contexts, the paper discusses the type of damages or breaks, dividing them in three main types: 1. chipping or erasure/deterioration; 2. loss of a targeted body part through breakage; 3. smashing. A remarkable number of cases shows that damages (chipping and erasure) affected very specific body parts, connected with the most important human/animal senses: mouth (taste/speak/make noise), nose (smell), eyes (sight), and ears (hearing). The breaking mainly involved the head and legs, two points of articulation commonly subject to specific attention in the rituality of ancient Egypt (also mirrored in the practice of mutilating some hieroglyphic signs). A few more figurines present a single break crossing the body, effectively dividing it into two parts or halves. The paper also focuses on the type of fractures, which seem to follow, in the vast majority of the cases, a regular and systematic base. Questions on the recycling of fragmented elements and the missing or refitting parts of the broken figurines are taken into consideration. The examples drawn from the corpus represent significant evidence for suggesting a voluntary anthropic action for their breakage and damage. Since the vast majority of faience figurines were found in funerary contexts, the fragmentation seems to be connected with ritual practices and dialectic between death and life, especially for the protection of the deceased.
Breaking Images Damage and Mutilation of Ancient Figurines (ed. by Gianluca Miniaci), 2023
Starting from the notions of Auguste Rodin in the art world, the article aims at tackling the pro... more Starting from the notions of Auguste Rodin in the art world, the article aims at tackling the problem of fragmentation of figurines from a theoretical point of view. The article discusses the modes of damage, dividing them between accidental, intentional and semi-intentional. In the analysis of figurine breakage, the factors of time, archaeological context, and social dimension must also be taken into consideration. The final part of the article tackles the ‘negative’ notions connected with the idea of destruction of an object, especially a figurine. While usually mutilation and damage are interpreted as signs of destruction, decay, death, annihilation, or dysfunctionality, the fragments can be instead considered part of a transformative, generative, and even communicative and associative process.
The World of Middle Kingdom III: Contributions on Archaeology, Art, Religion, and Written Sources, 2022
The article presents the stela of Jj, which is the only inscribed object found in the older sanct... more The article presents the stela of Jj, which is the only inscribed object found in the older sanctuary (II) of Heqaib in Elephantine. While the find context can be firmly dated to the time of Senwosret I, stylistic and epigraphic features give rise to a discussion about the date of the stela's manufacture, as these initially suggest a date in the late Eleventh Dynasty. Particularly remarkable is the mutilation of the crocodile sign in the hieroglyphic inscription, which is a unique feature. The attestation of a mutilated sign during the early Middle Kingdom at a peripheral site like Elephantine, suggests the phenomenon of the manipulation of hieroglyphic signs, as attested in the Pyramid Texts and late Old Kingdom private funerary contexts, might have continued for a longer time in a cultural level largely invisible in the archaeological record.
Miniaci, Lacovara (eds), The Treasure of the Egyptian Queen Ahhotep and International Relations at the Turn of the Middle Bronze Age (1600–1500 BCE) , 2022
In 1859 some Egyptian workmen digging in the northern sector of the Theban necropolis on behalf o... more In 1859 some Egyptian workmen digging in the northern sector of the Theban necropolis on behalf of Auguste Mariette brought to light the coffin of a queen called Ahhotep (Second Intermediate Period), which contained rare and unparalleled items, forming the largest "treasure" of the goldsmith's art then known from Egypt. The discovery of the burial equipment quickly received international attention, triggering the need for more definite and appropriate contours of its story. Nonetheless, the accounts produced have wrongly been interpreted as archaeological reports, generating an inaccurate understanding of the events and assumptions handed down in the Western Egyptological tradition. The article aims at deconstructing and then reconstructing the history of this discovery through archival research, in order to: a) retrace the most important events in the timeline; b) determine the roles played by the people involved; c) provide the approximate spatial coordinates for location of the burial; d) shed light on the type of burial in which the coffin was found; e) determine the total number and type of recorded objects; f) analyse the consistency of the assemblage. The final objective is to define more realistic contours for the discovery, moving away from the narrative which Egyptological tradition contributed to build.
Miniaci, Lacovara (Des),The Treasure of the Egyptian Queen Ahhotep and International Relations at the Turn of the Middle Bronze Age (1600–1500 BCE) , 2022
The article aims to present two lists (one in French and another in Arabic) containing the first ... more The article aims to present two lists (one in French and another in Arabic) containing the first inventory of the Queen Ahhotep assemblage. The lists are dated to February 25 th 1859 and were presumably drafted at the time of the first opening of the coffin after its discovery (in any case before Mariette came into possession of the treasure). Believed to be lost, these two documents are preserved in the archives of the Bibliothèque de l'Institut de France in Paris in the Fonds Maspero. The content of these lists matches closely with the inventory of the queen's assemblage drafted in the Inventaire de Boulaq/Journal d'Entrée registers in Cairo Museum, with only minor discrepancies. The existence of these two inventory lists constitutes an essential piece of evidence to confirm that the assemblage of Queen Ahhotep as preserved today in the Cairo Museum may faithfully reproduce the original contents of Ahhotep's coffin.
Miniaci, Lacovara (eds), The Treasure of the Egyptian Queen Ahhotep and International Relations at the Turn of the Middle Bronze Age (1600–1500 BCE) , 2022
The present article aims to publish and comment on the information concerning the assemblage of Q... more The present article aims to publish and comment on the information concerning the assemblage of Queen Ahhotep reported in the Journal d'Entrée of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. This register copies from the Inventaire de Boulaq, which was compiled closer to the find-date of Ahhotep's funerary equipment. The information contained in this unpublished document is of extreme importance in the reconstruction of the composition of Ahhotep's funerary equipment. In addition, the Journal d'Entrée provides the only unambiguous numbering system for the assemblage of the queen, because it is the only system that uniformly includes all the objects found in association with the queen's burial and assigns them inventory numbers. The last section of the article provides a correlation of the museum numbers (CG, TR, SR, other inventory numbers) and lost locations.
Egyptian Archaeology 57, 2020
Brief report on a project to develop a social history of Egypt from the perspective of the proces... more Brief report on a project to develop a social history of Egypt from the perspective of the processes through which artefacts were produced and what evidence they can provide of those who made them. The work uses museum collections and modern instruments such as portable XRF scanners to examine the artefacts.
Jiménez-Serrano, Alejandro and Antonio J. Morales (eds), Middle Kingdom palace culture and its echoes in the provinces: regional perspectives and realities, 2021
The author discusses a group of fourteen faience figurines that entered the collection of the Bri... more The author discusses a group of fourteen faience figurines that entered the collection of the British Museum in 1891. Although the figurines were purchased through the antiquities market, they form a homogenous group that can be typologically and stylistically dated to the late Middle Kingdom (1800-1650 BC). Similarities in manufacturing techniques, shape, decoration, raw materials, and other aspects of the technologies employed to create them indicate a common provenance, and by extension, place of production. The site of Lahun is tentatively proposed as that place of production, based on the date the pieces were purchased as well as the comparative studies. The second part of the article takes a more theoretical and methodological approach to establish the degree to which faience figurine production was centralised and/or dispersed to local centres during the Middle Kingdom, taking four key variables. The dissonant evidence provided by the study of these four variables, which yielded some conflicting information, demonstrates that faience production was an "ambiguous" process using a medium that could not be fully controlled during all stages of production. The only degree of control that could be exercised related to the individual craftsmanship of the artisans. Since faience figurines of the late Middle Kingdom were not produced in moulds and thus were not mechanically reproducible, only skilled makers with access to the necessary knowledge of the chemical processes involved could have created such artefacts.
Egitto e Vicino Oriente 43, 2020
The article considers an unusual group of faience miniatures representing very stylized human fig... more The article considers an unusual group of faience miniatures representing very stylized human figures found in the cemeteries of Harageh and datable to the late Middle Kingdom. Labelled by Engelbach as "not clear", their dating, origin and function still remained unexplored. Indeed, although they are rather unmatched in the Middle Kingdom material culture, they may have been inspired by similar miniature figurines found in the Early Dynastic - early Old Kingdom temples at sites such as Abydos and Elephantine. However, the figurines from Harageh differ from their archetypes, having been found in funerary contexts and not in temples. As a working hypothesis, the author suggests that a comparison can be made between the Harageh group and the anthropoid figures in wax and mud found at Deir el-Bahari dating to the early Middle Kingdom. The link between the two groups is a mud figurine discovered at Lahun, which shows anatomical analogies with the miniatures from Harageh and was found within a miniature mud coffin. Although the figurines from Harageh were not preserved within any coffin or sarcophagus, their function could have been similar, as representations of human beings to be dedicated to the deceased, which could have inspired the later development of the first proper shabtis.
Taylor, John H. and Marie Vandenbeusch (eds), Ancient Egyptian coffins: craft traditions and functionality, 2018
This paper aims to cast light on the transitional phase between the late Middle Kingdom and the S... more This paper aims to cast light on the transitional phase between the late Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate Period (1800-1550 BC), when the first anthropoid coffins were introduced in Egypt. Although originally conceived as the innermost element of a set of box-shaped coffins, the anthropoid coffin independently evolved into a new type decorated with stylised feathers, now known as rishi ("feathered"). The passage from rectangular to anthropoid coffins was far from being a linear process. Following an approach used by Ernesto de Martino in anthropology, the topic has been addressed from a more pragmatic angle, isolating ritual and religious aspects in favour of socio-economic and political perspectives. The introduction of a new model of coffins has been considered in the context of questions of the social identity of coffin producers, craftsmanship, types of material employed, and political events.
Together with the appearance of the rishi coffin type during the Second Intermediate Period, the composition of burial equipment and the structure of the tomb underwent a profound transformation. In the majority of the preserved burials of the Late Middle Kingdom, funerary equipment had focused on rebirth themes, stressing an equation between the destiny of the deceased and either the fate of Osiris/king (Osirification regalia) or the condition of the newborn child (faience figurines, ivory tusks). During the Second Intermediate Period - and closely associated with the appearance of rishi coffins - other ranges of objects began to be placed in the burial, including containers, furniture, game/leisure objects, garments and weapons, while objects focused on rebirth seem to have completely disappeared. Nevertheless, the theme of rebirth did not suddenly vanish: rather the iconography of rishi coffins shows how it had simply moved from objects to the coffin itself, a pattern of osmosis between different media.
RISE – Ricerche italiane e scavi in Egitto 8, 2021
In 2015 the joint archaeological mission led by Richard Bussmann of the University of Cologne, an... more In 2015 the joint archaeological mission led by Richard Bussmann of the University of Cologne, and by Gianluca Miniaci of the University of Pisa, with the cooperation of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, began an archaeological project at the site of Zawyet Sultan (ancient Hebenu), located in Middle Egypt, about 8 kilometres south of the modern city of el-Minya. The core of the archaeological area includes the remains of a small early Old Kingdom step pyramid, extensive debris of a Greco-Roman settlement, an enclosure wall, a fragmentary stone ramp dating back to the New Kingdom/Roman Period, and rows of Old and New Kingdom rock-cut tombs belonging to the local and provincial elite. The main aims of the project are to outline the ancient topography of the site in order to better understand its spatial organisation and the interaction between the pyramid, the settlement, and cemeteries throughout a long period of time (ca. 3500 BC-900 AD). This article presents the preliminary results of the fieldwork carried out at the site in 2015, 2017, 2019 and the still ongoing archive and museum investigation related to the material coming from the past excavations at the site of Zawyet Sultan.
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News by Gianluca Miniaci
Papers by Gianluca Miniaci
of clay figurines, assess the complexity of the shaping sequences and study fingerprints to trace the profile of people who produced such artefacts in the ancient village of Lahun (Egypt, MBA II, c. 1800–1700 BC). The high number of production chains revealed that, despite an apparent roughness, clay figurine production was characterised by high stylistic and technological variability, indicating several levels of skill possessed by their producers. On this basis, Lahun clay figurines were not an extemporary or standardised product. A neat division can be established between anthropomorphic figurines and those representing animals, which show a lower degree of complexity and an attempt not to define clear shapes. Most of the figurines were revealed to be mainly shaped by adults, while children contributed in a marginal way to their production. However, the presence of sub-adult fingerprints on some of the clay figurines indicates that children were active agents producing material culture and integrating part of the adult production process through cooperation and/or playing.
Together with the appearance of the rishi coffin type during the Second Intermediate Period, the composition of burial equipment and the structure of the tomb underwent a profound transformation. In the majority of the preserved burials of the Late Middle Kingdom, funerary equipment had focused on rebirth themes, stressing an equation between the destiny of the deceased and either the fate of Osiris/king (Osirification regalia) or the condition of the newborn child (faience figurines, ivory tusks). During the Second Intermediate Period - and closely associated with the appearance of rishi coffins - other ranges of objects began to be placed in the burial, including containers, furniture, game/leisure objects, garments and weapons, while objects focused on rebirth seem to have completely disappeared. Nevertheless, the theme of rebirth did not suddenly vanish: rather the iconography of rishi coffins shows how it had simply moved from objects to the coffin itself, a pattern of osmosis between different media.
of clay figurines, assess the complexity of the shaping sequences and study fingerprints to trace the profile of people who produced such artefacts in the ancient village of Lahun (Egypt, MBA II, c. 1800–1700 BC). The high number of production chains revealed that, despite an apparent roughness, clay figurine production was characterised by high stylistic and technological variability, indicating several levels of skill possessed by their producers. On this basis, Lahun clay figurines were not an extemporary or standardised product. A neat division can be established between anthropomorphic figurines and those representing animals, which show a lower degree of complexity and an attempt not to define clear shapes. Most of the figurines were revealed to be mainly shaped by adults, while children contributed in a marginal way to their production. However, the presence of sub-adult fingerprints on some of the clay figurines indicates that children were active agents producing material culture and integrating part of the adult production process through cooperation and/or playing.
Together with the appearance of the rishi coffin type during the Second Intermediate Period, the composition of burial equipment and the structure of the tomb underwent a profound transformation. In the majority of the preserved burials of the Late Middle Kingdom, funerary equipment had focused on rebirth themes, stressing an equation between the destiny of the deceased and either the fate of Osiris/king (Osirification regalia) or the condition of the newborn child (faience figurines, ivory tusks). During the Second Intermediate Period - and closely associated with the appearance of rishi coffins - other ranges of objects began to be placed in the burial, including containers, furniture, game/leisure objects, garments and weapons, while objects focused on rebirth seem to have completely disappeared. Nevertheless, the theme of rebirth did not suddenly vanish: rather the iconography of rishi coffins shows how it had simply moved from objects to the coffin itself, a pattern of osmosis between different media.
The volume includes a diverse range of case studies – from Neolithic sites in Eastern Europe to ancient Egypt and the Mediterranean, encompassing early modern and present-day Europe – reflecting on the ways in which actions can be used to legitimise appropriation, with a particular focus on ritual actions and practices.
The objective of this book is to stimulate comparative analysis of this topic in both ancient and modern societies, by identifying the actors of appropriation, examining the definition of abandonment, and exploring the ritual aspects intrinsic in actions such as inventorying, dedication and communication to ancestors, and prayers to gods. Ritual actions, in the last instance, were designed to legitimise the reappropriation and resignification of places and goods classified as abandoned or in a state of ruin, and to recreate locality, kinship, and communities.
Contributors
Preface
Appropriating places
1. The biographies of Neolithic burnt houses: Insights from the Trypillia megasites of Ukraine
Bisserka Gaydarska, Brian Buchanan, and John Chapman
2. Roman euocatio, or how to get possession of a deserted city
Chiara Ombretta Tommasi
3. Reclaiming the funerary space: The protection and re-use of tombs in the burial grounds of Hierapolis in Phrygia
Anna Anguissola
Redefining abandonment
4. Relic(t) ecologies. Exploring abandonment in the Apuan Alps
F. Anichini, S. Basile, G. Gattiglia, and C. Sciuto
5. Depopulating landscapes: Methodology and the materiality of archives in Calabria
Joseph J. Viscomi
6. Rehabi(li)tating abandonment. Urban occupations and their regenerative practices
Antonio Stopani
Claiming things
7. After death: Rituality used to legitimise the appropriation of abandoned goods in ancient Egypt
Gianluca Miniaci
8. How to preserve an oikos? The case of Isaeus’s Oration VIII
Angelica Tortorella
9. How to claim things with rites. Care for the dead and inheritance rights in early modern Europe (and beyond)
Alessandro Buono
Afterword
10. Biographies of place and the significance of place-value
John Chapman and Bisserka Gaydarska
The Theban Necropolis is one of Egypt's most captivating archaeological sites. Stretching almost 7 kilometers from north to south on the west bank of the Nile at Luxor, it occupies a broad strip of land between the cultivated fields and the desert mountains and valleys. This extensive site encompasses hundreds of private and royal tombs, monumental temples, smaller chapels and shrines, as well as various settlements. The collected papers, presented to prof. Marilina Betrò, explore diverse aspects of life in the necropolis, including the religious beliefs and rituals of high-ranking officials and priests, the workshops producing funerary objects, and the plundering and reusing of earlier tombs. These studies seek to understand and recreate this intricate ancient landscape.
Introduction
Gianluca Miniaci, Christian Greco, Paolo Del Vesco, Mattia Mancini, Cristina Alù 1
Il paesaggio funerario e rituale della Valle delle Regine durante il Nuovo Regno
Introduction
Gianluca Miniaci, Christian Greco, Paolo Del Vesco, Mattia Mancini, Cristina Alù
– Il paesaggio funerario e rituale della Valle delle Regine durante il Nuovo Regno
Emanuele Casini
– The Opening of the Mouth, Scene 71 in Context
Zoltán Imre Fábián
– Prayers to Columns’: Six text fragments from Theban Tomb 65
Tamás A. Bács
– La liturgia del percorso solare nella tomba di Thutmosi III (KV34)
Emanuele M. Ciampini
– Malédiction sur Osiris. Un entrepôt dans la tombe de Merenptah (KV8) à l’époque byzantine ?
Christophe Barbotin
– A geometric study of the New Kingdom pyramidia
Corinna Rossi
– The Agency of Women in Abnormal Hieratic Legal Documents from the 25th Dynasty
Koenraad Donker van Heel
– Two contemporary queens named Ahhotep at the dawn of the Eighteenth Dynasty: Evidence from the sources and the bracelet Cairo JE 4685
Gianluca Miniaci, Camilla Saler
– Shabti Boxes in Theban Undisturbed Contexts
Paolo Marini
– The Black Coffins and the Earliest Yellow Coffins of the New Kingdom from Thebes. New Insights into this Style Transition During the 18th Dynasty
Lisa Sartini
– Ancient Robbery and Reuse in the Theban Necropolis: A View from Asasif
Julia Budka
– The Island of Amenopet
Nigel Strudwick
– Middle Kingdom tomb MMA 28 and its significance for the construction history of the Hatshepsut temple at Deir el-Bahari. Out of respect for the royal ancestors
Patryk Chudzik
– Funerary settlements of the Third Intermediate Period in the Ramesseum
Hélène Guichard
– Les bois utilisés à la Troisième Période Intermédiaire au Ramesseum
Maria Victoria Asensi Amorós
– Economic Activities in the Theban Necropolis During the New Kingdom. A Case Study of Woodworking at Deir el-Medina
Anna Giulia De Marco
– Il visir Khay e la comunità degli artigiani di Deir el-Medina
Christian Orsenigo
– Documenting Contexts and Contextualizing Objects: Report of the 3D Survey and Modeling Activity at M.I.D.A.N.05
Emanuele Taccola
Religious phenomena can be considered a historical product, mediated by indirect forms, texts, images, objects, and different actors, people, animals, things, and nature. Permeated by a countless panoply of gods, whose identity syncretically merged and divided into different and akin entities, the supernatural seamlessly fuses with daily life matters, and religions are not separable nor meant to be ontologically separated from political, economic, and social questions. The volume of 18 papers, presented to prof. Marilina Betrò, aims to explore the complex dimensions of Egyptian religions, fostering a dialogue between gods, landscapes, animals, and people.
– Introduction
Gianluca Miniaci, Christian Greco, Paolo Del Vesco, Mattia Mancini, Cristina Alù
– Un “Dieu cerné”? I limiti del potere del faraone
Federico Poole
– Animals, Ontology, and Agents of Seth
Willeke Wendrich
– Gender and Divine Identification in Ancient Egyptian Healing Spells
Gabriele Mario Conte
– Ba and emotions: some notes on the lexeme b3 beyond its religious meanings
Stefano Vittori
– Notwendige Bemerkungen zum Namen und Wesen der Göttin Muth
Alexandra von Lieven
– Gehen Götter gerne baden? Zu wAi r, xfty und anderen euphemistisch gebrauchten Ausdrücken
Friedhelm Hoffmann
– Generischer Eigenname versus Götterbegriff, oder: „el“ versus „El“. Vom Zusammenspiel einer älteren semitischen Tradition mit der kanaanäischen Adaption eines ägyptischen Vorbildes im Jh. v. Chr.
Ludwig D. Morenz
– The sed-festival reliefs at Soleb: rhetoric in image and space
Susanne Bickel
– Doorscapes of the Netherworld and their guardians: a humanist geographical and anthropological perspective
Rita Lucarelli
– Reflections on the Ibis Cult at Abydos
Paul Whelan
– Two Amduat Papyri in Liverpool
Silvia Zago
- Interactions between people and territory: the case study of the regionally-specific sacerdotal titles of the Western Harpoon province
Elena Tiribilli
– The holders of the title ‘servant of Neith’ in the Late Period
Marco Zecchi
– De nouvelles incarnations d’Isis aux Époques Tardives
Christiane Zivie-Coche
– Un monument inédit du prêtre Serdjéhouty
Olivier Perdu
– Religion and power at the end of the Ptolemaic Period: Reconstructing the cursushonorum of the mr mSa HAwty Pachom
Giorgia Cafici
– The Legal Claim in The Contest for the Prebend of Amun: ‘It belongs to me, it belongs to my father’
Kim Ryholt
– Statuette in argilla e pratiche magiche nei deipneteria del tempio di Soknopaios: riflessioni preliminari
Paola Davoli
– Introduction
Gianluca Miniaci, Christian Greco, Paolo Del Vesco, Mattia Mancini, Cristina Alù
– Tra ideogrammi e geroglifici: la lingua primigenia nella China Illustrata di Athanasius Kircher e nel dibattito coevo
Chiara Ombretta Tommasi
– “Ne mancagli altro se non che un poco di Naso”: il danneggiamento del volto della
Sfinge di Giza in un manoscritto inedito da Modena (1743)
Mattia Mancini
– Vitaliano Donati e la Iside di Coptos
Beppe Moiso
– “The Discoveries I Had Been Fortunate Enough to Make in This Country”: Six Unpublished Letters from Giovanni B. Belzoni to William J. Bankes (1817-19)
Daniele Salvoldi
– I primi anni di vita del Museo Egizio di Torino: Giulio Cordero di San Quintino
Tommaso Montonati
– Giuseppe Acerbi, Jean François Champollion, and Ippolito Rosellini: A Relationship of Esteem in the Name of Hieroglyphics, Pharaohs, and Dynasties
Daniela Picchi
– A case of identity? Demetrios Papandriopulos and Giovanni d’Athanasi
John H. Taylor
– La figura del Padre barnabita Luigi Maria Ungarelli dallo studio del Fondo Ungarelli conservato a San Carlo ai Catinari
Mario Cappozzo
– La Spedizione Romana in Egitto (1840-1841) alla luce di nuovi documenti di archivio
Alessia Amenta
– The Torlonia Obelisks: Neo-hieroglyphic Rhetoric for Rome’s New Elites
Luigi Prada
– Ernesto Schiaparelli a Tebe. Documenti inediti sul primo viaggio in Egitto (1884-1885) dell’egittologo piemontese
Paolo Del Vesco
– Digging up the Origins: The Predynastic Collection of the Museo Egizio (Turin, Italy)
Federica Ugliano
– Rudolf Dvořák (1860-1920) and his Crucial Role in establishing Czech Egyptology
Ladislav Bareš
– I reperti da el-Hibeh nel Museo Egizio di Firenze: alcuni documenti inediti dagli archivi
Maria Cristina Guidotti
The artifacts housed in museums wield undeniable power, embodying complex and multifaceted histories encompassing their creation, use, modification, reuse, abandonment, rediscovery, analysis, interpretation, display, and reception. The essays collected in this volume, presented to prof. Marilina Betrò, interweave the many stories concealed within museum objects and the archives of the collections that currently safeguard them. This fosters an ongoing conversation between ancient materials, texts, religious beliefs, and modern scholarship and interpretation.
– Introduction
Gianluca Miniaci, Christian Greco, Paolo Del Vesco, Mattia Mancini, Cristina Alù
– La collezione egizia del Marchese Malaspina a Pavia, la visita di J.-F. Champollion, lo ‘Stabilimento’ di Belle Arti
Clelia Mora
– The story of restoration of the Egyptian Department, and few surprise
Elisabeth Delange
– University Museum Systems. Exploring the Historical Evolution and Management Practices in Italy and Pisa
Chiara Tarantino
– Digital Egypt: Technological Advances in Musealization and the Frontier of Metaverses
Nevio Danelon
– Reconstructing the biography of the Predynastic fishtails
Mona Akmal M. Ahmed
– The Palermo Stone: history, digital epigraphy and museology
Massimiliano Nuzzolo
– The tomb of Ipiankhu and the recording of Middle Kingdom coffins in Egyptology
Wolfram Grajetzki
– The diagonal star table fragment P. 4084 at the Museo Egizio
Enrico Ferraris
– Loret, Lortet et les Onguents des Princesses de Dahchour
Laure Pantalacci
– As told by things. A story told by a cosmetic box
Stefania Pignattari
– Stele del sacerdote-wab Djehuti a Torino
Gloria Rosati
– A jar for a woman. A painted pottery vase from Gebelein
Federica Facchetti
– A Ramesside foundation deposit from the Valley of the Kings at the ‘Museo Egizio’ in Florence
Anna Consonni
– Ramesses VIII and X at Pi-Ramesse?
Henning Franzmeier
– L’Enveloppe de Momie en Cartonnage d’Hérib – Musée du Louvre E 13018 (AF 13029)
Patricia Rigault-Déon
– Shabtis of ỉm.y-ḫnt wp-nṯr.wy priests from the collection of Giuseppe Acerbi
Alessandro Galli
– Demotic Papyrus Archives in the Museo Egizio – Past, Present and Future Research(ers)
Susanne Töpfer
– Une stèle hiéroglyphico-démotique du Sérapéum de Memphis (Louvre IM 3345)
Didier Devauchelle
– Retour sur la « tombe de style gréco-égyptien » de Tôd
Christophe Thiers
– The ḳrsw coffin of Tapeny
Christian Greco
Egypt has long captivated the imagination through its literature, tales, and accounts from ancient and modern explorers. In antiquity, it served as the realm of pharaohs, steeped in myths that intertwined gods and humanity. Herodotus marveled at its wonders, while Napoleon’s expedition unearthed its mysteries. The stories passed down to us also offer insights into various facets of everyday life in ancient Egypt–human emotions, connection with nature, and the desire to discover unknown lands. This volume, presented to prof. Marilina Betrò, delves into Egypt’s history, weaving ancient and modern narratives. It explores Egypt not only as a land of wonders but also as a place that resonates with its ancient societies and their perspectives.
– Introduction
Gianluca Miniaci, Christian Greco, Paolo Del Vesco, Mattia Mancini, Cristina Alù
– Shaping life as a journey and displaying it in biographies and tales
John Baines
– A new reading of an Old Kingdom administrative title (Hry-Szp) related to quarry expeditions
Andrés Diego Espinel
– Specialisti di viaggi nel deserto: gli jʿȝ.ww e i nw.w, intermediari e guide per le spedizioni minerarie faraoniche
Cristina Alù
– ‘The mouth of the two ways’: Ezbet Rushdi, a crossroads between Sinai and the Levant in the Middle Kingdom
Francesco Missiroli
– In the Heart of the Sea: The Island As Chronotope in the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor
Angelo Colonna
– ‘Fiori lapislazzuli’: una nota filologica e archeobotanica ad una lirica amorosa del vaso di Deir el-Medina
Flora Andreozzi
– Representations on animals in Ancient Egypt: parallel traditions through the millennia. The example of the donkey in the Teaching of ‘Onchsheshonqy
Mathilde Prévost
– Priests Carrying ‘Osiris-Canopus/Hydreios’: from Alexandria to the Imperial Isea outside Egypt. Preliminary considerations
Rosanna Pirelli
– Il Romanzo di Cambise: alcune osservazioni sulla fortuna di un genere e una nuova proposta di datazione
Paola Buzi
– First Archaeological Hints: Early Birds in Iraqi Kurdistan
Dlshad Aziz Marf, Jesper Eidem
– “Lo so, ma preferisco non dirlo”. Silenzi e strategie etnografiche in Hdt. II
Andrea Taddei
– The Adventurous Life of Giuseppe Ferlini
Gianluca Miniaci
– Assassinio nel Museo egizio: The Scarab Murder Case (S.S. Van Dine, 1930)
Domitilla Campanile
– Le notizie di Simēon Lehac’i sugli Armeni, ottomani e no
Alessandro Orengo
This volume serves as a catalogue raisonné for faience figurines and provides a detailed analysis and description of over 1150 pieces along with their archaeological and museological contexts. The volume is accompanied by numerous drawings, photos, cards, archival material, graphs, tables, maps, and plans.
The research is primarily based on material coming from documented archaeological contexts, with two main unpublished cores from Lisht and Byblos, but also includes material from more than 150 sites. The museological research focuses on three main collections: the Petrie Museum, the British Museum, and the Musée du Louvre, but also encompasses a total of 35 different museums in 33 different cities across Europe, Northern Africa, Western Asia, Russia, and the USA, as well as private collections and public auctions.
The volume covers not only faience figurines, but also provides a comprehensive study of the material dimension and culture of the late Middle Kingdom (1850-1650 BC), encompassing a diverse range of object groups, including a large corpus of pottery and stone vessels, as well as information on the people and society from that period.
This volume analyses Middle Kingdom Egyptian figurines made in faience, a lustrous and intensely blue glaze paste, skilfully manufactured with a high degree of accuracy. They represent one of the most iconic and signature categories of artefacts in ancient Egypt.
The research especially focuses on the manufacture, iconography and distribution (spatial and chronological) of this type of figurines. Particular attention is given to the study of the archaeological contexts and their ‘life cycle’ in ancient Egyptian society. Indeed, the tangibility and proximity (given the reduced scale) of the figurines engender intimacy, making them more involved in human interactions, in contrast to larger statues that are far less accessible.
As a result, faience figurines represent one of the best artefacts for exploring the ‘social narrative’ of ancient Egyptian society. They were used to express concepts, ideas, feelings, and visions that were specific to certain communities and cultures. Therefore, figurines inevitably encapsulate fragments of human stories and customs of the society.
An extensive Iconographic Appendix provides a detailed analysis of the wide range of subjects represented by these figurines: hippopotami, lions, baboons, cats, dogs, hedgehogs, as well as humans, dwarfs or grotesque creatures, females (with truncated legs), vessels, vegetables, and a limited number of hybrid creatures, such as Aha/Bes and Ipy/Taweret.
Following an introductory sketch of relevant research, the first section, ‘Methodological Considerations’, critically examines the limitations the evidence available imposes on our understanding. ‘Early Uses of Writing’ addresses material and spatial aspects of inscriptions, and their communicative functions over the textual ones. The third section, ‘Material Features’, deals with clay, wooden and papyrus manuscripts and demonstrates the importance of an integrated approach. The contributions to ‘Co-presence of Written Artefacts’ take into account that written artefacts come in clusters. The final section, ‘Cultural Encounters’, presents studies on the interactions between social strata and ethnic groups, challenging previous ideas.
The volume contributes to the comparative study of written artefacts in ancient history, stimulating cross-disciplinary and -cultural research.
The scope of this volume is to search for traces of any voluntary and intentional fragmentation of ancient artefacts, creating, improving, and sharpening the methods and principles for a scientific investigation that goes beyond single author impression or sensitivity. The comparative lens adopted in this volume can allow the reader to explore different fields taken from ancient societies of how we can address, assess, detect, and even discuss the action of breaking and mutilation of ancient figurines.
ToC:
Cristina Alù, Some Remarks on the sx.tjw and their Overseers: The Multiple Meanings of sx.t and the Social Identity of the Marsh-dwellers
Daphna Ben-Tor, James M. Weinstein, Scarabs from a Late Middle Kingdom Workshop at Tell el-Dab‘a
Edward Brovarski, A Hitherto Unpublished Middle Kingdom Stela in the Field Museum of Natural History – Chicago
Arkadiy E. Demidchik, Some Remarks on Neha’s Spell for Gaining Power over his Servant Statuettes
Micòl Di Teodoro, The Preservation of Monuments in the Written Sources of Dynastic Egypt between 2000 and 1550 BC
Gudelia García Fernández, Angela M.J. Tooley, Paddle Dolls from the Spanish Mission to Dra Abu el-Naga: Images and Contexts
Wolfram Grajetzki, Middle Kingdom Coffins and Coffin Fragments in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Ali Hassan Eid, The Journey from Authenticity to Forgery: A Case-study on an Adzeblade (Egyptian Museum Cairo JE 67944) of the Thirteenth Dynasty
Khaled Hassan, Middle Kingdom Wooden Board with Hieratic Inscriptions from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (JE 30442/CG 25369/SR 920)
Dinara Hereikhanova, Not only for a King: Nms-headdresses on the Objects of the Twelfth to Eighteenth Dynasties
Lubica Hudáková, The Acquisition of a Coffin – Tracing the (Art) History of the Coffin of Neby (MFA 04.2058): From Dayr al-Barsha to Beni Hassan to Boston
Alexander Ilin-Tomich, Minor contributions to Middle Kingdom prosopography
Esmeralda Lundius, Processing Sites in the Funerary Landscape: Observations on Ancient Egyptian Offering Trays and ‘Soul houses’
Ahmed M. Mekawy Ouda, Seven Oyster Shells at the Egyptian Museum Cairo (CG 12825-12829, JE 28320 and JE 91753)
Ahmed M. Mekawy Ouda, Khaled Hassan, Wooden Kohl Tube with Hieratic Inscriptions at the Egyptian Museum Cairo (CG 44703/JE 18553)
Gianluca Miniaci, Cornelius von Pilgrim, An Unusual Mutilation of the Crocodile Hieroglyphic Sign in an Early Middle Kingdom Stela from the Sanctuary II of Heqaib at Elephantine
Stephen Quirke, Three Types of inscribed Middle Kingdom objects in the Purchases by Flinders Petrie
Patricia Rigault, A new Occurrence of CT 398 on two Coffin Fragments in the Louvre Museum
Julien Siesse, The Late Middle Kingdom Stela Louvre N 196 = C 42 from the Louvre Museum
Uta Siffert, ‘Death ends a Life, not a Relationship’. Some Thoughts on Designatin the Deceased Ax and Wsir NN in the Middle Kingdom
Danijela Stefanović, The Administration of the Middle Kingdom Weaving Workshops: a Note on the Textual and Iconographic Data
Mohamed Youssef Ali, The Statue of Ameny from his Tomb at Lisht
finds in Near Eastern Archaeology. A gilded coffin and a trove of
magnificent jewels and precious objects belonging to a queen named
Ahhotep was discovered at Dra Abu el-Naga, in Western Thebes by
Auguste Mariette in 1859. Many of the objects associated with the
burial bore the names of Kings Ahmose and Kamose of the end of the
Second Intermediate Period and the beginning of the New Kingdom
(1600–1500 BC) and reflected the influence of the Aegean and of Nubia.
Despite its importance, the treasure has never been fully published
and much new research on the various aspects of the find have not been
collected into a combined study until now. The volume details the
circumstances of the treasure’s discovery, its history of display and
publication, both the technical and artistic aspects of the individual
elements of the material, a review of the history and burial practices
of the period. The volume also tackles the analysis of the Aegean
influence on the elements of the treasure and the Eastern
Mediterranean relations at the turn of the Middle Bronze Age
(1600–1500 BC). As appendices there are also maps, chronological
tables, lists of the treasure and selected images.
Table of Contents:
Kevin M. Cahail, The Internal Chronology of the Second Intermediate Period: A Summary of Old Theories and New Discoveries
Anna-Latifa Mourad, Chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean Area
Gianluca Miniaci, The Discovery of Queen Ahhotep’s Burial at Dra Abu el-Naga (Thebes) in the Nineteenth Century AD: Between Tale and Archaeological Evidence
Gianluca Miniaci, The original Inventory List of the Queen Ahhotep ‘Treasure’ from Mariette’s Papers (BIF Paris, Fonds Maspero, Ms. 4052)
Gianluca Miniaci, Notes on the Journal d’Entrée Entries for Queen Ahhotep’s Assemblage
Marilina Betrò, A Note to Carter Manuscripts and the Discovery of Ahhotep’s Coffin (Cairo CG 28501)
Yasmin El Shazly, The Display History of the Ahhotep Treasure
Marilina Betrò, The Identity of Ahhotep and the Textual Sources
Peter Lacovara, The Treasure of Ahhotep in Archaeological Context
Ellen Morris, Daggers and Axes for the Queen: Considering Ahhotep’s Weapons in their Cultural Context
Miriam Colella, Queen Ahhotep’s Lion Heads and the Inclusion of Gaming Pieces in the Funerary Costumes of Second Intermediate Period-early Eighteenth Dynasty
Peter Lacovara, The Flies of Ahhotep
Margaret Maitland, Daniel M. Potter, Lore Troalen, The Burial of the ‘Qurna Queen’
Sara E. Cole, The Aegean and Egypt during the Fifteenth (Hyksos) Dynasty (c. 1650-1550 BC) and Beyond
Sarah C. Murray, Aegean Consumption of Egyptian Material Culture in the Sixteenth Century BC: Objects, Iconography, and Interpretation
Beth Ann Judas, The Aegeanizing Elements Depicted on the Objects from the Burial of Ahhotep
Shelley Wachsmann, Ahhotep’s Metal Ship Models
Images do not exist in their ontological isolation, as atomic unity, but they form a complex agency network with other images and with the society that produced them, hence the title "Company of Images". Eighteen papers focus on this intricate web, tackling the topic from different perspectives: material culture, archaeological finds, anthropological and social relations, iconographic representations, and analysis of the written sources, including linguistic approaches. The final goal is to highlight theoretical and methodological issues in order to explore connections between the images and their society, people who created images and who were recursively affected by the images they created.
Anna Consonni, Precious finds from an early Middle Kingdom tomb in Thebes: reconstructing connections between the dead and their goods
John Coleman Darnell, Colleen Manassa Darnell, Umm-Mawagir in Kharga Oasis: an Industrial Landscapeof the Late Middle Kingdom/Second Intermediate Period
Vivian Davies, The tomb of a Governor of Elkab of the Second Intermediate Period
Marleen De Meyer, An Isolated Middle Kingdom Tomb At Dayr Al-Barsha
Nathalie Favry, The Transmission of Offices in the Middle Kingdom
Wolfram Grajetzki, Gianluca Miniaci, The stela of the Thirteenth Dynasty treasurer Senebsumai, Turin Cat. S. 1303
Karin Kopetzky, Some Remarks on the Relations between Egypt and the Levant during the late Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period
Ingrid Melandri, Female Burials in the Funerary Complexes of the Twelfth Dynasty: an Architectonic Approach
Stephen Quirke, Diachronic questions of form and function: falcon-head utensils in Middle Kingdom contexts
Mohammed Gamal Rashed, The Egg as a Metaphor for Isis: A Coffin Text Imagery
Gloria Rosati, ‘Writing-Board Stelae’ with Sokar-Formula: A Preliminary Account with a note on the Archaeological Context of Tomb C 37, Asasif, by Gianluca Miniaci
Ashraf Senussi, Said Abd Alhafeez Abd Allah Kheder, Two Blocks of Sobekhotep from Hawara
Julien Siesse, An Unpublished Scarab of Queen Tjan (Thirteenth Dynasty) from the Louvre Museum (AF 6755)
Pascal Vernus, Literary exploitation of a craftman’s device: the sandal-maker biting leather (Teaching of Chety, pSallier VIII, 12). When philology, iconography and archaeology overlap
Fred Vink, Boundaries of Protection. Function and significance of the framing (lines) on Middle Kingdom apotropaia, in particular magic wands
Paul Whelan, On the Context and Conception of Two ‘Trademark’ Styles from Late Middle Kingdom Abydos
Masahiro Baba, Ken Yazawa: Burial Assemblages of the Late Middle Kingdom, Shaft-tombs in Dahshur North
Bettina Bader: Stone Objects from the Late Middle Kingdom Settlement at Tell el-Daba
Helmut Brandl: Late Middle Kingdom or Late Period? Re-Considering the “Realistic” Statue Head, Munich ÄS 1622
Simon Connor: The Statue of the Steward Nemtyhotep ( Berlin ÄM 15700) and some Considerations about Royal and Private Portrait under Amenemhat III
Biri Fay: Thoughts on the Sculpture of Sesostris I and Amenemhat II, Inspired by the Meket-re Study Day
Biri Fay: London BM EA 288 (1237) - a Cloaked Individual
Biri Fay, Rita E. Freed, Thomas Schelper, Friederike Seyfried: Neferusobek Project (I)
Rita E. Freed: A Torso gets a Name: an Additional Statue of the Vizier Mentuhotep?
José M. Galán, Ángeles Jiménez-Higueras: Three Burials of the Seventeenth Dynasty in Dra Abu El-Naga
Wolfram Grajetzki: A Middle Kingdom Stela from Koptos (Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove HA282043)
Zoltán Horváth: Hathor and her Festivals at Lahun
Alexander Ilin-Tomich: King Seankhibra and the Middle Kingdom Appeal to the Living
Alejandro Jiménez Serrano: A unique Funerary Complex in Qubbet el-Hawa for Two Governors of the Late Twelfth Dynasty
Renata Landgráfová: In the Realm of Reputation: Private Life in Middle Kingdom Auto/biographies
Eva Lange: The So-called Governors' Cemetery at Bubastis and Provincial Elite, Tombs in the Nile Delta: State and Perspectives of Research
David Lorand: The Archetype of Kingship Who Senwosret I claimed to be, How and Why?
Antonio J. Morales: Tracing Middle Kingdom Pyramid Texts Traditions at Dahshur
Miriam Müller: New Approaches to the Study of Households in Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period Egypt
Melinda G. Nelson-Hurst: The (social) House of Khnumhotep
Rune Nyord: Scribes of the Gods in the Coffin Texts
Mohamed Gamal Rashed: The Significance of the Hieroglyph ‘The Egg with the Young Bird Inside
Patricia Rigault: The Canopic Chest of Khakheperreseneb/Iy - Louvre E 17108
Danijela Stefanovic, Helmut Satzinger: I am a Nbt-pr, and I am Independent
Angela M. J. Tooley: Garstang's El Arabah Tomb E.1
Online streaming: https://bit.ly/ReligiousSecularityatByblos.
Since the Early Bronze Age, Byblos has flourished as a vibrant hub for the exchange of materials, cultures, and religious practices among diverse societies in the Eastern Mediterranean basin. Its material culture exemplifies the coexistence and interplay of various traditions, creating a fertile ground for cultural innovation. As a key trading centre, Byblos became a crucible for the exploration and formation of new and alternative identities within its material culture.
Artifacts from the Middle Bronze Age at Byblos reveal a dynamic blend of Levantine, Egyptian, Eastern Mediterranean, and South-West Asian influences, blurring the distinctions between the old, the foreign, and the novel. This cultural fusion is especially evident in Byblos’ religious landscape, where the city’s multicultural nature encouraged a flexible and inclusive approach to spirituality, allowing for the coexistence and even merging of diverse religious practices and deities, leading to the emergence of new ontologies within a single urban environment.
This workshop delves into the distinctive character of Middle Bronze Age Byblos and its material culture, focusing on how it embodies “globalization” through the exchange of ideas and craftsmanship. It explores how foreign elements were assimilated into new material forms and how the interaction of diverse traditions in Byblos sparked the development of fresh cultural perspectives, social norms, and identities. Lastly, it investigates how the fusion of varied religious practices is reflected in the material culture of this transformative period.
The event will be held in person on December 17, 2024, in Room B of “Le Benedettine” Conference Center (Piazza San Paolo a Ripa d’Arno 16, Pisa).
This workshop is organized in the framework of the project Godscapes: Modeling Second Millennium BCE Polytheisms in the Eastern Mediterranean, https://godscapes.unict.it/?page_id=1944 , (PI: Nicola Laneri, Catania University; Unit coordinator: Gianluca Miniaci, University of Pisa) founded by the scheme PRIN 2020, Italian Ministry of University and Research.
Programme
9:00-9.15 Greetings and Opening
9:15-9:35 Michel de Vreeze (Durham University) The Early Bronze Age roots of Byblos’ religious economy. Byblos from a regional perspective.
9:35-9:45 Question and discussion
9:45-10:05 Marta D’Andrea (University of Rome “La Sapienza”) Religious Entanglements between Byblos and Western Palestine in the Early and Middle Bronze Age: Overlooked Proxies for Socio-Political Ties?
10:05-10:15 Question and discussion
10:15-10:35 Chiara Pappalardo, Roberta Sanna, Nicola Laneri (University of Catania) Knowledge Graphs of Material Religion: Connecting the Data from Byblos
10:35-10:45 Question and discussion
10:45-11:15 Coffee Break
11:15-11:35 Julien Chanteau (Musée du Louvre) Byblos Sacred Space in the Middle Bronze Age
11:35-11:45 Question and discussion
11:45-12:05 Lorenzo Nigro (University of Rome “La Sapienza”) Temples orientation at Byblos and cultural interaction
12:05-12:15 Question and discussion
12:15-12:35 Bianca Eugenia Berti (University of Rome “La Sapienza”) The Temple of Ba’alat at Byblos, a stratigraphic update
12:35-12:45 Question and discussion
12:40-14:40 Lunch Break
14:40-15:00 Alexander Ahrens (Orient Department, German Archaeological Institute) Salad Bowl or Melting Pot? Egyptian Imports, Egyptianizing Objects, and the Merging of Material Culture and Cultural Traits at Middle Bronze Age Byblos
15:00-15:10 Question and discussion
15:10-15:30 Camilla Saler (University of Pisa) Egyptian and Egyptianizing Objects in the Votive Deposits of Byblos and their Integration into Local Religious and Social Practices
15:30-15:40 Question and discussion
15:40-16:00 Amel Bouhafs (ENiM – ASM UMR 5140, Paul Valéry University, Montpellier) “Bi-national deities” : Egyptian gods in Byblos ? Selection, Appropriation, Translation and Assimilation
16:00-16:10 Question and discussion
16:10-16:30 Gianluca Miniaci (University of Pisa) Byblos: A Laboratory for Resheph and the Smiting God Iconography
16:30-16:40 Question and discussion
16:40-17:00 Concluding remarks and closing round table
All societies have developed ways to manage the (re-)appropriation of "ownerless things" left abandoned or in ruins (e.g. places abandoned after conflicts, crises, natural disasters, forsaken cemeteries, tombs, etc.). Starting from the constant need for human communities to establish rules and practices governing the use of resources at their disposal, each society has often masked its intent to appropriate an abandoned artifact with ritual practices. The final goal of the meeting is to stimulate comparative analyses of this topic in both ancient and modern societies, starting with (but not exclusively) the key questions:
• What does it mean to qualify something as abandoned? What claims and conflicts lay behind this qualification? Which ‘actors’ manifest themselves in the process (individuals, families, communities, states)?
• What relationship is created between things and people through abandoned artifacts? What social groups develop, starting from the problem of resource appropriation and reuse?
• What actions (e.g., inventorial) and rituals (e.g., dedication to ancestors) are employed to legitimize the appropriation of assets/artifacts classified as abandoned?
Sono queste le domande principali da cui muove il congresso che riunirà a Pisa il 5 e 6 giugno 2017 gli studiosi delle varie discipline orientalistiche del mondo antico.
Ancient Egyptian ear studs from variety of materials appear in the archaeological record and are usually depicted as worn with a convex dome to the front. However, there is evidence to suggest that the glass objects discussed in this volume, and which are similar, but not equal, in shape to ear studs, were not designed as ear jewelery, but that they actually functioned as beads. The objects are flat-fronted and pierced latitudinally. The piercing, which is related to the manufacture of the objects on a metal rod,would have enabled the objects to be threaded and to be suspended vertically, either as parts of garments or as parts of bead chains.
Daphna Ben-Tor, James M. Weinstein, Scarabs from a Late Middle Kingdom Workshop at Tell el-Dab‘a
Edward Brovarski, A Hitherto Unpublished Middle Kingdom Stela in the Field Museum of Natural History – Chicago
Arkadiy E. Demidchik, Some Remarks on Neha’s Spell for Gaining Power over his Servant Statuettes
Micòl Di Teodoro, The Preservation of Monuments in the Written Sources of Dynastic Egypt between 2000 and 1550 BC
Gudelia García Fernández, Angela M.J. Tooley, Paddle Dolls from the Spanish Mission to Dra Abu el-Naga: Images and Contexts
Wolfram Grajetzki, Middle Kingdom Coffins and Coffin Fragments in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Ali Hassan Eid, The Journey from Authenticity to Forgery: A Case-study on an Adzeblade (Egyptian Museum Cairo JE 67944) of the Thirteenth Dynasty
Khaled Hassan, Middle Kingdom Wooden Board with Hieratic Inscriptions from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (JE 30442/CG 25369/SR 920)
Dinara Hereikhanova, Not only for a King: Nms-headdresses on the Objects of the Twelfth to Eighteenth Dynasties
Lubica Hudáková, The Acquisition of a Coffin – Tracing the (Art) History of the Coffin of Neby (MFA 04.2058): From Dayr al-Barsha to Beni Hassan to Boston
Alexander Ilin-Tomich, Minor contributions to Middle Kingdom prosopography
Esmeralda Lundius, Processing Sites in the Funerary Landscape: Observations on Ancient Egyptian Offering Trays and ‘Soul houses’
Ahmed M. Mekawy Ouda, Seven Oyster Shells at the Egyptian Museum Cairo (CG 12825-12829, JE 28320 and JE 91753)
Ahmed M. Mekawy Ouda, Khaled Hassan, Wooden Kohl Tube with Hieratic Inscriptions at the Egyptian Museum Cairo (CG 44703/JE 18553)
Gianluca Miniaci, Cornelius von Pilgrim, An Unusual Mutilation of the Crocodile Hieroglyphic Sign in an Early Middle Kingdom Stela from the Sanctuary II of Heqaib at Elephantine
Stephen Quirke, Three Types of inscribed Middle Kingdom objects in the Purchases by Flinders Petrie
Patricia Rigault, A new Occurrence of CT 398 on two Coffin Fragments in the Louvre Museum
Julien Siesse, The Late Middle Kingdom Stela Louvre N 196 = C 42 from the Louvre Museum
Uta Siffert, ‘Death ends a Life, not a Relationship’. Some Thoughts on Designatin the Deceased Ax and Wsir NN in the Middle Kingdom
Danijela Stefanović, The Administration of the Middle Kingdom Weaving Workshops: a Note on the Textual and Iconographic Data
Mohamed Youssef Ali, The Statue of Ameny from his Tomb at Lisht
finds in Near Eastern Archaeology. A gilded coffin and a trove of
magnificent jewels and precious objects belonging to a queen named
Ahhotep was discovered at Dra Abu el-Naga, in Western Thebes by
Auguste Mariette in 1859. Many of the objects associated with the
burial bore the names of Kings Ahmose and Kamose of the end of the
Second Intermediate Period and the beginning of the New Kingdom
(1600–1500 BC) and reflected the influence of the Aegean and of Nubia.
Despite its importance, the treasure has never been fully published
and much new research on the various aspects of the find have not been
collected into a combined study until now. The volume details the
circumstances of the treasure’s discovery, its history of display and
publication, both the technical and artistic aspects of the individual
elements of the material, a review of the history and burial practices
of the period. The volume also tackles the analysis of the Aegean
influence on the elements of the treasure and the Eastern
Mediterranean relations at the turn of the Middle Bronze Age
(1600–1500 BC). As appendices there are also maps, chronological
tables, lists of the treasure and selected images.