In
Excavations at the Seila Pyramid and Fag el-Gamous Cemetery, the excavation team provides crucial information about the Old Kingdom and Graeco-Roman Egypt. While both periods have been heavily studied, Kerry Muhlestein and his contributors provide new archaeological information that will help shape thinking about these eras. The construction and ritual features of the early Fourth Dynasty Seila Pyramid represents innovations that would influence royal funerary cult for hundreds of years. Similarly, as one of the largest excavated cemeteries of Egypt, Fag el-Gamous helps paint a picture of multi-cultural life in the Fayoum of Egypt during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Excavations there provide a statistically impactful understanding of funerary customs under the influence of new cultures and religion.
Kerry Muhlestein, Ph.D. (2003), UCLA, is Professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University. He is the director of the BYU Egypt Excavation Project and has published four books and over forty articles about ancient Egypt and her neighbors.
Krystal V.L. Pierce, Ph.D. (2013), UCLA, is Assistant Professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU. She has excavated at several sites in Egypt and Israel, and has published articles and chapters in various journals and books related to Egypt and the Levant.
Bethany Jensen, M.A. (2017), Johns Hopkins University, is Assistant Curator at a museum. She is an emerging scholar who has worked with Seila/Fag el-Gamous throughout her studies and is pursuing further education and experience in Egyptology.
Acknowledgements List of Illustration Introduction
Kerry Muhlestein 1 The Fayoum, the Seila Pyramid, Fag el-Gamous and its Nearby Cities
Kerry Muhlestein, Cannon Fairbairn, and Ronald A. Harris 2 History of the Excavations at Fag el-Gamous and the Seila Pyramid
Kerry Muhlestein and Bethany Jensen 3 Excavations at the Seila Pyramid and Ritual Ramifications
Kerry Muhlestein 4 Ritual Objects from the Northern Side of the Seila Pyramid
Kerry Muhlestein, Brian D. Christensen and Ronald A. Harris 5 Death of a Common Man
Kerry Muhlestein and Cannon Fairbairn 6 The Mummy Portraits of Fag el-Gamous
Bethany Jensen and Kerry Muhlestein 7 An Introduction to the Textiles of Fag el-Gamous: The Use of Basket Weave Linen in Burials of the Necropolis of Fag el-Gamous
Kristin H. South 8 Textiles and Jewelry at Fag el-Gamous
Joyce Y. Smith, Kerry Muhlestein, and Brian D. Christensen 9 They’ll Never Be Royals: The “Purple” Textiles of Fag el-Gamous
Bethany Jensen, R. Paul Evans, Giovanni Tata, and Kerry Muhlestein 10 A Paleopathological Pilot Study of the Fag el-Gamous Cranial Collection
Casey L. Kirkpatrick 11 Fag el-Gamous Pottery with “Kill Holes”
Kerry Muhlestein, Brian D. Christensen, and Cannon Fairbairn 12 Report on Botanical Macro Remains at the Fag el-Gamous Necropolis
Terry B. Ball and Kerry Muhlestein 13 The Fag el-Gamous Papyrus Fragment
Lincoln H. Blumell 14 Philadelphia: A Preliminary Report
John Gee 15 A Complete List of Publications about the Fag el-Gamous Necropolis and Seila Pyramid Excavations by Members of the
BYU
Egypt Excavation Team (Including Those from the Year that I.E.S. Edwards Was Part of the Team, and Those Resulting from Work at Kom Aushim)
Bethany Jensen and Masen Williamson
Everyone interested in pyramids and Old Kingdom royal funerary cult, as well as those who study mummification, the Fayoum, the culture of Graeco-Roman Egypt and the transition to Christianity.