Browse results
Abstract
In an open letter to her Egyptological colleagues, Ann Macy Roth outlined the characteristics of “Afrocentric Egyptology” and its arguments as she had understood them in 1995, when the letter was written. The letter addressed the dismissive attitude that “traditional” Egyptology had toward “Afrocentric,” or African-centered, scholarship. She called for her colleagues, the “traditional Egyptologists,” to build a bridge to “Afrocentrism.” Noting that African-centered perspectives were not going to disappear, Roth argued that openness to them would ultimately benefit Egyptology, a field that needed to correct its inherent European bias. In the process, Roth explained, Egyptologists could temper the political motives behind African-centered scholarship and provide it with a more academic, and therefore, objective framework. Considering current efforts in academia to decolonize fields of study and to promote diversity, inclusion, and equity, this paper returns to the content of Roth’s letter with a critical eye.
Abstract
In 1964, the Oriental Institute Nubian Expedition (OINE), under the direction of James E. Knudstad, excavated quarry dumps outside the Middle Kingdom fortress of Serra East. These dumps contained pottery and seal impressions that had been discarded and removed from the fortress proper, well after its construction, sometime in the eighteenth century B.C.E. The sherds included many of convex bowls with deeply incised linear and geometric designs of clearly non-Egyptian origin. While a few others occur in Nubia, these bowls differ from the known products of the contemporary C-Group and Kerma cultures. Similar vessels have been excavated at considerable distance, however, near Kassala and beyond, near the Red Sea, and in the Fourth Cataract region, also by the OINE. Their widespread distribution strongly points to a connection with the Medjay people, who are known to have occupied areas in the Eastern Desert and who appear in Pan Graves in Lower Nubia and Upper Egypt. They are most probably responsible for the appearance of this pottery in the far southeast Atbai and the Fourth Cataract, a geographic distribution confirmed by a well-known dipinto in the tomb of Sebeknakht II at el-Kab in the Second Intermediate Period.
Abstract
Excavations undertaken by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in the pyramid complex of Senwosret III at Dahshur have revealed substantial portions of seven lintels that topped the doorways of structures mainly dedicated to the king’s cult (pyramid temple, north chapel, south temple, and probably enclosure wall). The collection represents the most comprehensive information about these features from any royal cult complex of the Old or Middle Kingdoms. Six of the lintels have designs incorporating the king’s Horus and throne names facing or flanked by deities. In most cases, Nekhbet and Wadjet in their vulture and cobra form are depicted, but one fragmentary lintel has an unusual image of Seth. The seventh lintel preserves part of a winged sun disk. The royal-name lintels may mark pathways that led from outside the structures towards or through their interior spaces. In addition, a doorframe with depictions of deities and accompanying speeches seems to originate from a doorway likely topped by a lintel with figures of the king and deities. This article examines the different types of lintel designs used during the Old and Middle Kingdoms and poses questions about why the temple designers made certain iconographic choices.
Abstract
The author is currently leading excavations in two areas at Saqqara: near the pyramid of Teti and at Gisr el-Mudir. Between these two areas, excavations uncovered four false doors dating to the Old Kingdom. These false doors have been restored and are published here, complete with translations of the texts and descriptions of the archaeological contexts in which they were discovered.
Abstract
One of the burial assemblages on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York belongs to a high-status woman of Dynasty 21 named Djedmutiuesankh. Discovered in Tomb MMA 60 by Herbert Winlock in 1924, her equipment includes a three-piece coffin set, an Osiris shroud, an Osiris figure, two funerary papyri, and two shabti boxes with a full complement of shabtis. The principal title held by this woman was ḥry(t) wrt ḫnrwt tpy(t) n jmn, First Great Chief of the Principal Khener of Amun, a title believed to designate a wife or daughter of one of the High Priests of Amun. This article reviews Djedmutiuesankh’s funerary equipment, explores what her titles might tell us about her role in the Theban hierarchy, and assesses previous attempts to place her more specifically within the 21st Dynasty family of the High Priests of Amun.
Abstract
Royal statuary from the 6th Dynasty, beginning in the reign of Pepi I, consistently shows features of what Egyptologists have designated the Second Style or late Old Kingdom style. This style is distinguished by an interest in expressiveness that is lacking in early Old Kingdom statuary. It has remained difficult to trace the origins and development of the Second Style in royal statuary because of the limited number of preserved royal statues from the late Old Kingdom. However, a proto-Second Style is apparent in statuary from the 5th Dynasty pyramid complex of Raneferef. This article examines the known statues of kings who reigned between Raneferef and Pepi I and contemporary products of royal statuary workshops in order to trace the gradual development of the proto-Second Style into the Second Style, thus demonstrating that the Second Style did not appear suddenly, at the command of a particular pharaoh, individual, or workshop, as previous Egyptologists have suggested.
Abstract
The prevalence of anatomical artifacts discovered in Egyptian mortuary settings has often been relegated to discussions of mummy trappings along with all other amulets, jewelry, and material extensions of the body. These items, however, represent a unique assemblage of artifacts that deserve to be analyzed as their own group, united by their anatomical focus. With the physical corpse taking precedence in studies of post-mortem conceptions of the body in Egyptian culture, analyses have neglected to see how these anatomical artifacts could potentially assist in furthering such research. This paper works to begin rectifying this through the analysis of these anatomical artifacts and their usage, focusing on the Old Kingdom material as a case study. My research finds that these items, which often represent the most fragile portions of the body, can be classified as having served as “reserve” or “replacement” parts for the limbs of the deceased. The use of artificial parts in this manner highlights the necessity of bodily completeness to the post-mortem ideology, an idea highlighted in the mortuary texts of the time. Ultimately, the use of these reserve and replacement parts provided a pathway to the afterlife for those missing a portion of their body; the practice was also mimetic of, and possibly explained through, the Osiris mythology.
Abstract
The tomb of Nymaatra, located in north Saqqara, was rediscovered by the Czech mission in 2021. It was initially excavated by the French archaeologist Auguste Mariette back in the 1860s. The tomb features unique architectural evidence and dates to the early 5th Dynasty (twenty-fifth century B.C.E.). The mastaba’s cult facilities consist of a row of several small chapels and serdabs, built probably for other members of Nymaatra’s family. The fashion in which the subterranean residence, with two rooms, was built and the sheer size of the tomb, covering an area of about 1500 sq. m., also make the tomb rather unique. Nymaatra is probably represented in the mortuary complex of Sahura, where he features among the highest officials of the time and even in the company of Sahura’s successor, the king-to-be Neferirkara. Together, all of this provides evidence for a rather exceptional standing of Nymaatra in the court society of the early 5th Dynasty.
Abstract
Royal barges depicted on 18th Dynasty temple walls were outfitted with kiosks set at the fore and aft, decorated most often with a sphinx trampling enemies. Amenhotep III introduced new iconography to the kiosks: the motif of the king smiting enemies. His smiting kiosk boat on the Third Pylon at Karnak is depicted towing the Userhat bark in the Opet festival and, in Luxor Temple reliefs, Tutankhamun’s smiting kiosk boats also play prominent roles in the Opet festival. Both instances suggest a particular significance of this type of boat in the Opet festival. However, the same type of boat with smiting kiosks occurs in Akhenaten’s reign. While Akhenaten’s new religion rejected Amun and associated ceremonies, the smiting kiosk remained a major feature of the royal barges. The kiosks were decorated with depictions of either Akhenaten or Nefertiti smiting an enemy. One tomb relief shows the High Priest of Aten supervising the construction of such a boat, indicating that there is a religious significance to the smiting kiosk boats during Akhenaten’s reign. This paper examines smiting kiosks on Akhenaten and Nefertiti’s barges, their role in Akhenaten’s innovative religion, and proposes that these boats served a ceremonial purpose.
Abstract
The subject of this paper is an enigmatic implement that has been called scissors, a hair- or wig-curler, or a tweezer-razor, which is the term used in this study. The author has identified more than one hundred examples, most in museum collections and in publications. The majority were acquired on the art market, but about forty are associated with a provenance and twenty-five are noted in excavation publications. The author agrees with Reisner that the tweezer-razor is most likely a tool designed for first aid rather than for hair styling, as suggested by Petrie. The excavated examples also suggest that these implements belonged predominantly, and perhaps exclusively, to men.