This article explores notions of traditions and materiality in the production of standing coffins during the Roman period. The coffin cover British Museum EA 55022 is carved in the shape of a standing man dressed in Greek clothing. The detailed study of this piece led to the investigation of parallels from Abusir el-Meleq, where the…
Egyptian Shabtis Discovered in Various Regions of Europe
In this paper the author analyzes the presence of ancient Egyptian shabtis discovered around Europe. These are commonly related to the diffusion of ancient Egyptian cults during the Late and Greco-Roman periods. The first section discusses the role of shabtis in Egyptian religious and funerary custom. The second describes the production of shabtis. The third…
Mediterranean Influence in the Ceramic Assemblage of the Small-scale Settlement of Al-Qārah al-Ḥamrā
This paper explores the ceramic repertoire of Al-Qārah al-Ḥamrā, a small settlement in the Fayyūm on the north shore of Lake Qārūn, dating from the Hellenistic to Early Roman period. A selection of wares discovered is discussed and broadens the picture of activities occurring at the site. The paper further contributes to the understanding of…
Quarrying for Augustus: Gebel el-Silsila as a Source for Early Roman Monuments at Dendera
This paper presents a selection of epigraphic documents dispersed over three quarry faces (C11–C13) in the Main Quarry (Q34) at Gebel el-Silsila’s east bank, dating from the reign of the Emperor Augustus. The aim is to describe and decipher the various marks and depictions, and to translate the Demotic and Greek texts, in order to…
Indian Glass in Ancient Nubia
Even within Sudanese studies, Ancient Nubian glassware is an under-examined area of research. My work uses scientific analysis to identify raw materials and production techniques of Nubian-provenanced glassware from the Meroitic Period (c. 400 BCE–400 CE) and X-Group/Ballana Culture (c. 400–600 CE). This analysis has identified a type of glass indigenous to South East Asia—high-alumina…
Are Aegeans Depicted on Relief Block 1985.328.13 in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York?
This short discussion aims to show that, contrary to some earlier suggestions, there are no good arguments that Cretans or Aegeans are depicted on relief block 1985.328.13 in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, also known as relief block nr. 254 from the Norbert Schimmel Collection. The chronologically closest representation of a bound…
Mid-to-Late 18th Dynasty Egyptian Functionaries Serving in the Southern Levant: Can We Trace the Individuals?
Although the involvement of 18th Dynasty Egypt in the southern Levant is a well-researched topic, the focus is rarely laid on the people themselves, who were sent to the region on behalf of the Egyptian state organization. This paper examines those who represented the Egyptian military and administration in the southern Levant and who came…
Late Bronze Age Production, Use, and Exchange of Luxury Vases: A New Approach
Egypt shows evidence for major social and cultural changes during the New Kingdom that are clearly visible in funerary contexts, and especially by the typological evolution of Egyptian luxury vessels. In particular, new forms appear in both royal and commoner tombs that imitate foreign vessels. The paradox is that these vessels, when discovered outside of…
The Expulsion of the Hyksos and the End of the Middle Bronze Age: A Reassessment in Light of Recent Chronological Research
The end of the Middle Bronze Age and its connection with the end of the Second Intermediate Period in Egypt and the alleged expulsion of the Hyksos is of key-importance for understanding the development of the subsequent Late Bronze Age and the rising Egyptian interest in the region. For a long time it was assumed…
Egyptian Worshippers in Canaanite Sanctuaries: Cultural Negotiation in Temple and Paraphernalia from the LB IIB–IA IA Southern Levant
The long-lasting Egyptian-Levantine interactions reached a climax in the Southern Levant during the Late Bronze IIB (the Ramesside age). Temples and temple paraphernalia at the hubs of the Egyptian presence in Canaan assumed a primary role in the transcultural encounter between local Canaanites and stationing Egyptians, consistent with their function of assuring communities’ identity and…
Archaeological Evidence for the Presence of Egyptians in the Southern Levant during the Late Bronze Age: A Reappraisal
The nature of Egyptian control in the southern Levant during the Late Bronze Age has been the subject of vivid debate. Historical reconstructions either see a substantial presence of Egyptian personnel into the southern Levant (Weinstein) or local Canaanites emulating the Egyptian mode of rulership (Higginbotham). This paper offers a re-evaluation of the archaeological data…
Identifying the Lachish of Papyrus Hermitage 1116A verso and the Amarna Letters: Implications of New Radiocarbon Dating
Age and preceding formative years of Late Bronze Age society have long been noted. At some prominent tell sites that according to the texts were major city-states, little to no settlement remains have been identified. Here we revisit this issue at Tel Lachish, showing on the basis of renewed radiocarbon dating that two previously exposed…
Kerma Ceramics, Commensality Practices, and Sensory Experiences in Egypt During the Late Middle Bronze Age
This article examines instances of ceramics from the Classic Kerma state in modern-day Sudan found in Egypt during the Middle Bronze Age. Moving beyond traditional colonial and ethnic interpretations of this material, I argue that the inherently sensorial and bodily aspects of these vessels in Kerman eating and drinking practices made these objects appealing for…
Egyptianizing Practices and Cultural Hybridity in the Southern Levant During the Late Bronze Age
This article explores how material culture is used to shape, mediate and transform social relations within contact zones. The aim is to highlight cultural hybridity, namely the material expression of new social practices within a colonial third space. It focuses on the Gaza region of the southern Levant during the later 2nd millennium BCE, a…
The Diffusion of the Alphabet in the Second Millennium BCE: On the Movements of Scribal Ideas from Egypt to the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Yemen
The non-impact of the alphabet has garnered a lot of attention recently: how could an invention so revolutionary do so little? Researchers have been led to wonder whether the alphabet may not have been as revolutionary as had been thought, or perhaps that it was not invented as early as had been thought. Recent discoveries,…
The Role of Migration Theory in Egyptology
Migration research is an ever-expanding field that can be explored from several different perspectives. It has always been a part of archaeological and historical interpretation, although it has not yet been thoroughly examined as a subject in its own right. Therefore, for a better understanding of the phenomenon of migration in the past, it is…
Destruction and Fall of Egyptian Hegemony over the Southern Levant
What brought about the end of Egyptian hegemony and the physical presence of Egyptians in the Late Bronze Age southern Levant? Several theories have been proposed in response to this question with two prominent theories taking center stage. One emphasizes the role of the Sea Peoples, whose path of destruction forced out the Egyptians. Another…
Joseph, Ahiqar, and Elephantine: The Joseph Story as Diaspora Novella
The possible Egyptian background of the Joseph story has been discussed for decades. While previous research compared the Joseph story to Egyptian texts from the New Kingdom, the present article focuses on material from the 1st millennium BCE. By drawing from the term “diaspora novella,” introduced by Arndt Meinhold in 1975, the present article compares…
The Role of Egypt in the Formation of the Hebrew Bible
The article deals with the manifold mentions of Egypt in the Hebrew Bible. Among them are many negative views, especially in the Exodus narrative, which originated in the Northern Kingdom and reached Judah after 722 BCE. Prophetic oracles also condemn Egypt and the attempts of Judean kings in the 8th to 6th century BCE to…
References to the Pharaoh in the Local Glyptic Assemblage of the Southern Levant during the First Part of the 1st Millennium BCE
Among the thousands of scarabs, scaraboids and other stamp-seal amulets unearthed in Iron Age contexts in Cis- and Transjordan, many are engraved with royal Egyptian imagery. Focusing mainly on pharaonic motifs, this paper aims to catalogue the principal motifs and production groups, to trace their development throughout the earlier parts of the Iron Age and…
The Egyptian-Canaanite Interface as Colonial Encounter: A View from Southwest Canaan
The paper reevaluates the Egyptian–Canaanite interface during the Late Bronze Age based on archaeological evidence for intercultural discourses. Southwestern Canaanite local elite and the Egyptian court were interconnected in patronage relationships for centuries and the exposure of the locals to the Egyptian culture (both in Egypt and in Egyptian colonies along the Levantine coast) led…
Egyptian Gola in Prophetic and Pentateuchal Traditions: A Socio-Historical Perspective
The diverse descriptions in the Hebrew Bible of Judahites/Israelites in Egypt reflect the dynamics of the geo-political relations between Yehud and Egypt, mainly during the Persian period. The different descriptions of the Judahite inhabitants in Egypt in Jeremiah 24:8, 42:7–22, and 44 and in Exodus 5 may indicate the changes of the attitude towards the…
The Past and Future of “Biblical Egyptology”
Egypt is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible numerous times, but despite multiple studies, the Egyptian background referred to in the Bible remains historically elusive. This is due to the fact that Egyptian details from the biblical source (names, epithets) can often be correlated with more than one period in Egypt’s history. These difficulties have prevented…
Did You Sleep Well on Your Headrest?—Anthropological Perspectives on an Ancient Egyptian Implement
This paper explores how recent anthropological methodologies (materialities approach) as well as concepts at the interface between archaeology and anthropology (experiential and sensual archaeology) inevitably widen the boundaries of Egyptology. The presented case study contributes to a discussion of the physical relationship of material objects and the human body, focusing on states when materiality seeps…
Mutuality in Exploring the Past: Ethno-Experimental and Community Archaeology
Throughout most of its history the discipline of Egyptology has incorporated some form of anthropology, ranging from physical anthropology and cultural anthropology to anthropological archaeology. In the last few decades Egyptologists have become much more aware of the critical discourses that take place in sociology, anthropology and anthropological archaeology worldwide. The debates around poststructuralist, postcolonial,…
Boat Symbolism in Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt: An Ethno-Archaeological Approach
Predynastic and Early Dynastic boat images were used to express complex ideological concepts. The most important of them is the notion of “Order out of Chaos,” which became the cornerstone of the pharaonic ideological system that emerged at the end of this crucial phase of Egyptian history. During subsequent millennia, the boat is mostly used…
Building a Predynastic: The Construction of Predynastic Galleys
In the mid-1890s, William Matthew Flinders Petrie put forth interpretations for the decorations on late prehistoric Egyptian ceramics, one motif of which he understood as a “galley.” This interpretation was soon thereafter questioned by naval specialist Cecil Torr who instead interpreted the motif as an enclosure. Despite intense debate between Petrie, Torr, and other colleagues,…
Sniffing out the Gods: Archaeology with the Senses
All knowledge of the world is shaped by the way our senses perceive it. In archaeology, and especially in Egyptological studies, a visual approach has predominated the analysis of ancient material remains. When viewed from a sensory- based framework, however, a new, dynamic dimensionality of the material record might be revealed. This approach to the…
Death and the Right Fluids: Perspectives from Egyptology and Anthropology
framework developed by anthropology is not standardly applied by Egyptology. The present study focuses on summarizing a comparative framework of mortuary rituals and applying it to the study of bodily fluids in ancient Egypt. The bodily fluids under discussion—menstrual blood, milk, efflux of Osiris (rḏw-fluids), and semen—have been chosen because of their specific connection to…
A Question of Substance: Interpreting Kinship and Relatedness in Ancient Egypt
In recent years kinship theory has opened up innovative avenues of enquiry that contrast with the comparatively static nature of some previous analytical models. A prime example of these new interpretative frameworks is the field of so- called new kinship studies, which advocates against the reification of kinship, leaning towards the more encompassing and fluid…