Keeping Busy during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Over the past month, our world has been turned upside-down by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is affecting all of us. While the Egypt Centre is currently closed, our work continues from the safety of our homes. In fact, some of us are probably busier than ever! The blog post for this week presents a brief report of some of our activities.

Due to the current lockdown, the Egypt Centre conference planned for May has, unsurprisingly, been cancelled. However, some of the speakers have kindly agreed to give their presentations via Zoom. Additionally, these will be supplemented by several presentations that were delivered at last year’s conference and others that were not scheduled to take place at all. Rather than have them over one weekend, we have decided to host two per week. These lectures are free, although registration for each talk is required. The initial schedule is below, with subsequent presentations being added in a few weeks. All of the talks relate to the Egypt Centre artefacts (fig. 1), so why not join us in exploring the collection from the safety of your homes!

Title: Introduction to the Egypt Centre: History and Highlights

By: Ken Griffin (The Egypt Centre)

When: Apr 30, 2020 07:00 PM London

Title: The Life Cycle of an Object: The Lintel of the Overseer of Craftsmen, Tjenti

By: Ken Griffin (The Egypt Centre)

When: May 5, 2020 07:00 PM London

Title: All the Words Unspoken: A Faience Flute and the Materiality of Music

By: John Rogers (Swansea University)

When: May 8, 2020 07:00 PM London

Title: Paddle Dolls in Ancient Egypt: Gaudy or Godly?

By: Megan Clark (University of Liverpool)

When: May 12, 2020 07:00 PM London

Title: Ancient Egypt and Swansea Royal Institution: A Tale of a Riot; Smuggling and Egyptology

By: Carolyn Graves-Brown (The Egypt Centre)

When: May 15, 2020 07:00 PM London

Title: A Call to Arms: Discovering the Secrets of the Egypt Centre’s Figures from Funerary Models

By: Sam Powell (Swansea University)

When: May 19, 2020 07:00 PM London

Title: The Posthumous Destiny of Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu

By: Aidan Dodson (University of Bristol)

When: May 22, 2020 07:00 PM London

To book for any of these presentations, please complete the appropriate registration via the following link. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Please make sure to check your junk email. Do keep in mind that for many of the speakers this technology is new, so we apologise for any glitches encountered!

Fig. 1: Sarcophagus fragment of Amenhotep son of Hapu (W1367b)

Because of the pandemic more people are turning to online resources, which may well become a permanent feature. Therefore, we are working hard to make the Egypt Centre more accessible online. Aside from the Zoom lectures mentioned above, we are working with our volunteer Sam Powell on revamping our online database, which we hope to launch in 2021. This will include more detailed information on the objects, such as acquisition history, previous owners, a bibliography, and higher resolution images (fig. 2). Eventually, we plan to have multiple images for each object, integrate virtual trails and the ability to save your favourite objects, and other features.

Fig. 2: Screenshot of an object in our new online database

Some of our volunteers have been kept busy over the past month transcribing old auction catalogues, a project that I started about a year ago. To date, 15,000 lots have been transcribed. The catalogues mainly date between 1900–1936, during which time Sir Henry Wellcome purchased tens of thousands of objects. Since the majority of our objects originate from the Wellcome collection, these catalogues are often invaluable for tracing their histories. This is particularly the case for those objects that had no accompanying documentation when they arrived in Swansea (i.e., a Wellcome object slip). Yet sometimes our objects contain auction stickers, which can help identify them in the transcribed catalogues. Other volunteers have been transcribing the old “day books” kept by Kate Bosse Griffiths, the first curator of the collection. These are particularly challenging since Kate’s writing is very difficult to decipher, which isn’t helped by the fact that she switches, often mid sentence, between English, Welsh, German, and other languages! These day books are particularly interesting and useful as they provide details about the early history of the collection and records of her correspondence with various scholars (fig. 3).

Fig. 3: Day book entry dated 17 July 1972. Letter from Kate to Dieter Mueller

Our Learning Officer, Hannah Sweetapple, has been hard at work creating a number of resources for those teaching at home, which are free to download and print. This includes a mummification comic strip, a mummification experiment, colouring sheets, and a monthly “come and create” session (click on the video below). If you have bored kids at home and are looking for something to keep them busy, why not check out the resources available here.  

The Egypt Centre has recently teamed up with Aura Museum Genius in order to offer audio guides of the collection. While only ten highlights from each gallery are currently available, we hope to be able to offer additional objects in the future (fig. 4). These audio guides can be used while visiting the Museum (when we eventually reopen!) or from the comfort of your own home. Each highlight is narrated by Luke Keenan, our Senior Education Leader. A Welsh version of these objects is currently in production and will be available shortly. This app is free, and while it is currently only available for iPhone uses, an Android version is now in development.  

Fig. 4: Screenshot of the Aura app

The highlights included in the Aura app are based on the thirty objects chosen last year by our award-winning volunteers and members of the public. Over the past week, I have been turning these objects into jigsaw puzzles and posting them on Facebook to keep people occupied. Since these puzzles have proved to be quite popular as a way of highlighting the Egypt Centre collection, I’ll continue posting them during the lockdown; some people have been getting very competitive! If you would like to have a go, please click on the following link. A booklet containing the thirty highlights is due to be completed this week (fig. 5). This is the first of several illustrated guides planned to highlight the diverse collection of the Egypt Centre. To receive a pdf copy, just make a contribution of £5 or more to our new crowdfunding page (details below)!

Fig. 5: Cover of our Thirty Highlights booklet

The Egypt Centre relies heavily on educational visits, shop sales, events, and donations as our main source of income. However, with the Museum closed for the foreseeable future due to the lockdown, our income has been greatly affected. We are reaching out to you! Please help us to continue to offer educational resources, to increase our digital presence, to conserve our unique and precious collection, and to support our volunteers.

• If you are an Egyptophile, please donate! 
• If you appreciate art, museums, and the preservation of antiquities, please donate!
• If you have been inspired by our collection, either through visiting the Museum or virtually, please donate!
• If you value the role of volunteers, please donate!
• If you are attending one of our free Zoom lectures, please donate!

Please share this appeal as widely as possible with friends, on social media, or other means. Every donation or share makes a difference! https://wave.swansea.ac.uk/p/egyptcentre/

Most importantly, stay home and stay safe!

A Tale of Five Geese

One of the most beloved objects in the Egypt Centre collection is a small wooden goose, currently on display in the Animals case in the House of Death. W588 is a pale bluey-green goose, with black eyes and a dark red beak. The top of the tail appears to be a light reddish-orange colour, with two blue stripes running through it. The belly of the goose is white. It stands on a wooden plinth with white gesso covered legs and black painted toes (three on each foot). The top and bottom of the base remain unpainted while the sides are painted black (figs. 1 & 6). The possible remains of a dowel appear on top of the goose, which suggests that it was originally held by a servant figure.

Fig. 1: W588

Several Egyptologists who have visited the Egypt Centre in the past have suggested that W588 is a fake, mainly because of the modern-looking base. The object can be traced back to the collection of the Reverend William MacGregor, which was sold at auction in 1922. W588 was sold as part of lot 576, which was purchased for £5/15 by Harry Stow, Sir Henry Wellcome’s chief agent (Hardwick 2012, 28). The object is described in the catalogue as “a painted carved wood figure of a goose, 3½ in. high by 7½ in. long, found at Arab-el-Birk, Middle Empire [Pl. XXXII]”. The fact that it was illustrated in the plates (fig. 2) shows that the goose was regarded as one of the most important objects of MacGregor’s vast collection of approximately 9,000 pieces (Hardwick 2011, 180). A small sticker on one of the long sides of the base has the printed number 535 in red. This is a well-known sticker type, which relates to MacGregor’s own numbering system.

Fig. 2: W588, as shown in the MacGregor auction catalogue

The most important piece of information from the catalogue is that the object was found at “Arab-el-Birk”. When catalogued at the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum in 1923 (number A15379), the provenance had morphed into “Arab al Berkh” (fig. 3). So where exactly is this site? I spent a considerable amount of time over the past few years trying to find it, as had the Egypt Centre curator. This included searching alternative spellings and asking Egyptian colleagues, all without success; it was turning into a wild goose chase! Several months ago, I searched the MacGregor catalogue and found that lot 819 contained an object “found at Arab-el-Birk, opposite Aboutig”. This led me to Abu Tig (أبو تيج), the third largest city in the Asyut governorate. With the site of Aysut being well-known for its Middle Kingdom tombs, this certainly made sense based on the dating of the goose (Regulski & Golia).    

Fig. 3: Wellcome flimsy slip for W588

Several days ago, I was browsing through the auction catalogue of Henry Oppenheimer (1859–1932), a famous London collector, which was sold by Christie’s between 10–14 July 1936 (Bierbrier 2019, 347). Lot 20 immediately caught my eye: “A wood model of a goose. 3 in. high (80 mm.); 9¼ in. long (235 mm.). VIth Dynasty. The body painted a pale green, the eyes, mouth and feet black. Found at Assiout in a VIth-Dynasty tomb with four others by Professor Maspero in 1884, and presented by him to Dr. W. L. Nash. Two of the others went to the Gizeh Museum, one was bought by Professor Flinders Petrie and the fourth was given away by Professor Maspero.” An annotation in the margins of the catalogue notes that the lot was purchased for £22, which was a considerable sum for the day. Unfortunately, it doesn’t state who purchased this lot. Upon searching the Petrie Museum online catalogue, I found several wooden geese, one (UC45821) of which shares many details with W588 (fig. 4).

Fig. 4: UC45821

UC45821 is a wooden model of a goose with red feathers, green beak, black eyes, and white belly. Like W588, it is attached to a rectangular wooden base, which is painted black on the sides only. The legs, including the rendering of the toes, appear to be the same as the Swansea goose (fig. 5). Unfortunately, the Petrie Museum catalogue provides no details on its provenance or acquisition.

Fig. 5: Comparison of W588 and UC45821

MacGregor is known to have visited Egypt in 1885, perhaps just a few months after the geese had been discovered by Gaston Maspero (1846–1816). In fact, in 1886 Maspero invited MacGregor onto his boat (the Tunisah) where Maspero was negotiating the acquisition of a mummy for MacGregor’s collection (info via Bev Rogers). Maspero, Petrie, and MacGregor served together on the committee of the Burlington Fine Arts Club (BFAC) for many years (Pierson 2017, 111). Additionally, Walter Llewellyn Nash (1841–1920), who was mentioned receiving one of the geese in the Oppenheimer catalogue, was also a member of the BFAC, contributing objects to an exhibition on Egyptian art in 1895 (Bierbrier 2019, 338). Thus, it is clear that Maspero, Petrie, MacGregor, and Nash were all acquaintances and so it is certainly possible that Maspero passed on the geese to them. Questions remain, however. Are W588 and UC45821 two of the five geese found by Maspero in 1884? Where is the goose that was sold in 1936 as part of the Oppenheimer collection? Did Maspero add the bases to the figures before presenting them to friends? Moreover, whose tomb did Maspero discover the geese in? If any readers can shed some light on these questions, I would love to hear!

Fig. 6: W588

Bibliography:

Bierbrier, M. L. (2019) Who was who in Egyptology. London: The Egypt Exploration Society. 5th edition.

Burlington Fine Arts Club (1895) Exhibition of the art of ancient Egypt. London: Burlington Fine Arts Club.

Hardwick, T. (2011) ‘Five months before Tut: Purchasers and prices at the MacGregor sale, 1922’. Journal of the History of Collections 23, 1: 1–14.

Hardwick, T. (2012) ‘The obsidian king’s origins: Further light on purchasers and prices at the MacGregor sale, 1922’. Discussions in Egyptology 65: 7–52.

Houlihan, P. F. and S. M. Goodman (1986) The birds of ancient Egypt. Natural history of Egypt 1. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.

Pierson, S. J. (2017) Private collecting, exhibitions, and the shaping of art history in London. The Burlington Fine Arts Club. Oxford: Routledge.

Regulski, I. and M. Golia eds. [n.d.] Asyut: Guardian city. London: The British Museum.

Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge (1922) Catalogue of the MacGregor collection of Egyptian antiquities. London: Davy.

Heritage Placements at the Egypt Centre

The blog post for this week is written by two Swansea University students, Elle Kerridge and Bethany Saunders, on their volunteer placements at the Egypt Centre. Both placements were designed to provide the students with key heritage skills, including education, preventative conservation, and digitisation of archives.

During the 2019–20 academic year, I (Beth) have been a part of the WoW (Week of Work) placement at the Egypt Centre whereby I participated in scanning a donation of 25,000 slides and negatives of sites in the ancient Mediterranean, including Egypt, Asia Minor, North Africa, Morocco, Syria, Israel, Greece, Italy, and Cyprus. These photos had not been previously digitised and contained a wide range of places that have been destroyed or severely damaged in recent times (particularly Syria). Therefore, it is important to preserve the rare photos we have, so we can preserve their history even if the structures no longer stand today (fig. 1). This allowed me to develop my archival and documentation skills, whilst also observing moments in time from different perspectives that had not been seen before; this made it possible to not only view the sites from an academic point of view, but also to witness the enjoyment of the donor and those around, to show what impact ancient cultures have on modern understanding and their historical appreciation. As a third year Egyptology student, I was particularly fascinated with the photos of the pyramids (fig. 2), Cairo Museum, and Tutankhamun’s death mask, but other photos of Palmyra at sunset and the coastal regions of Greece and Italy were particularly stunning.

Fig. 1: Slide of Palmyra (c. 1980s)

Fig. 2: Pyramid of Khafre (c. 1980s)

Through the efforts of all the volunteers, we scanned the slides and negatives much faster than anticipated, so we began scanning photos of the Egypt Centre objects and public related activities that were in need of better-quality digitisation. This allowed me to view objects that I have never seen before, but also observe older photos of ones that I have studied, including beautifully decorated cartonnage cases and fragments from the Book of the Dead. Though there were many great aspects of this placement, a personal highlight for me was discovering that I actually had an object in the photos living in my current student house (fig. 3). Bearing in mind that these photos of the Egypt Centre are many years old, I recently scanned a photo which made me question, why does this object look so similar to something I have sitting in my living room? I have been living in my current accommodation in Swansea for two academic years now and for as long as I can remember, this object had been in my house. I remember it even being in my current room when I did the house viewing! I made the comparison and showed Syd Howells from the Egypt Centre where we were both in agreement that it is in fact the same object, which was likely used as an educational tool! I can only wonder how it ended up in my house, but since the previous residents left it behind, I gave it to the Egypt Centre. The object, of course, is not ancient, but a modern tourist piece probably brought back from Egypt (fig. 4)!

Fig. 3: Egypt Centre workshop (c. 2002)

I am very grateful to Ken Griffin for this amazing opportunity to gain more experience in museum work, to view and preserve photos of ancient sites, to uncover mysterious disappearances of objects, and to look at the way the Egypt Centre has evolved in its public sector.

Fig. 4: Object from the previous photo

I (Elle) started volunteering for the Egypt Centre at the beginning of February 2020 for my module Heritage Work Placement, which was one of six modules that I would complete for my History Masters 2019–2020. I chose this module because it would give me a chance to do something completely different outside of the usual essays and seminar readings that I did throughout my undergraduate. As a side note, I knew nothing about Egyptology before coming to volunteer here! I was meant to complete 100 hours of volunteering before the end of term in June. I completed around half of that before the current COVID-19 pandemic caused everything to crash down around students and faculty alike and my cultivation of Egyptological knowledge was cut short. The idea behind this blog post was thought up by Syd Howells, the volunteer manager at the Egypt Centre, and myself to show the experiences of a student volunteer.

Fig. 5: Mummification at the Egypt Centre

The first few sessions of volunteering consisted of my induction, which included being gifted my gallery assistant notebook that would guide me along the different courses I would need to take part in and the details I would need to learn about each gallery. The courses included a Customer Care workshop, a Gallery Tour, and, my favourite, the Preventative Conservation Training. This was my favourite as it included a trip to the recently refurbished archives and store and I had the chance to see some of the artefacts that had not made it to display, including the human and animal remains! Before the untimely temporary closure of the Egypt Centre, I was about to start my assessment of the public activities consisting of Mummification (fig. 5), Materials (fig. 6) and Senet (an Egyptian board game). This would allow me to independently educate the public on these activities and help out with the educational aspects if necessary.

Fig. 6: Handling session with a royal couple!

Throughout the entire length of my volunteering experience, I was welcomed by everyone; full-time staff and other volunteers of all ages. As a result of my studying and working alongside my volunteering, I came into the Egypt Centre different days and a variety of times so as to meet an array of volunteers who all helped me in different ways and were always there to talk to, whether it be Egypt related or not! Every volunteering session was different and whilst it was a challenge being in a gallery where I was unfamiliar with the content, it pushed me to really concentrate on the displays and ask questions that I might not have thought of prior to this experience. Overall, the past couple of months at the Egypt Centre have been challenging but mostly fun and educational. This opportunity to meet new people and expand my historical knowledge has enhanced my university experience and I would definitely recommend it to anyone, student or not, given the chance.

Faience and Glazed Ceramic Objects from Garstang’s Excavations at Meroe

Following on from the blog post last week, which examined some sandstone architectural elements excavated by John Garstang at Meroe, the entry for this week presents a number of faience and glazed ceramic objects from the same excavation. While some of them were gifted directly to Sir Henry Wellcome, others were purchased by Wellcome in 1922 from the celebrated collection of the Reverend William MacGregor. Both Wellcome and MacGregor were major sponsors of the excavations conducted by Garstang. Using a combination of archival photographs, publications of the excavations, and the Wellcome flimsy slips, it is possible to put these objects in context. For example, in his excavation report, Garstang notes that “objects of glaze and pottery of special interest were found beneath the flooring of the several shrines and of the hall of columns” (Garstang 1911, 14).

Fig. 1: Glazed ceramic crown fragment (W284)

The Egypt Centre has several of these objects from the sanctuary, namely EC401, W284, and W285. W284, which is depicted in plate 10.1 of Garstang’s 1911 publication, is perhaps the most interesting of the three. It is made of glazed ceramic on red brick. The glaze is coloured yellow, light blue, and black (fig. 1). The object seems to be a fragment of headdress decorated in relief, as noted by the Wellcome flimsy slip (13608). In fact, it seems to closely resemble the vulture-cap commonly worn by goddesses. What was the object used for and what did it originally look like? The brick itself is quite thin, perhaps indicating that it was used as a decorative tile.

Fig: Glazed plaque (EC401)

EC401 and W285 are quite similar to each other. Both are formed of a matrix of red brick with a blue/green glaze on the front. EC401 shows the upper part of a shrine, which is decorated on top with two double-feathered plumes fronted with sun-discs. Below this is a frieze consisting of at least eight uraei (fig. 2). W285 depicts four uraei facing to the left, each with a solar-disc atop their heads (fig. 3). As with W284 discussed previously, what were these objects used for? Both objects are only a few centimetres thick, indicating that they were likely plaques or tile inlays. Given that they were all found underneath the floor of the sanctuaries of the temple, it is possible that they represent foundation deposits. Foundation deposits, which were chosen to symbolically ensure the effectiveness and longevity of the building, are well attested at temple sites in both Egypt and Nubia (Pope 2014, 23–25). Many of them do take the form of faience plaques or other similar objects.

Fig. 3: Glazed plaque (W285)

Another interesting object from Meroe (EC402) is described in its Wellcome slip (13608) as a “fragment in blue glaze faience with layers of leaves in relief” (fig. 4). This fragment was purchased by Wellcome in 1922 from the MacGregor collection (lot 1321). Unfortunately, the exact details of where this was found at Meroe is not recorded. Based on parallels, it seems that this object was part of a particular type of faience vessel common during the Roman Period. A complete example of one can be found in the Louvre (E 22585). A detailed study of these vessels was conducted by Marie-Dominique Nenna and Merwatte Seif el-Din in 2000.

Fig. 4: Glazed pottery fragment (EC402)

In 1997, László Török published a two-volume on Garstang’s excavations of Meroe. Several years ago, the Egypt Centre Curator, Carolyn Graves-Brown, recognised a familiar faience object while looking through this publication. Plate 168 depicts a small faience head of a deity with lion’s head, who can perhaps be identified as Apedemak (Žabkar, 1975). At the time of Török’s publication, the present whereabouts of this object was unknown. However, this object (EC451) is currently on display in the House of Life at the Egypt Centre, although it has suffered damage to the face area since the archival image was taken at the time of excavation. This head, which measures just 3cm in height, has a hole in the top of its head, presumably for the insertion of a headdress (fig. 5). The object was excavated in spot M 943, one of the rooms of a house erected over the ruins of complex M 296-942-948 (Török 1997 I, 205).

Fig. 5: Head of lion-headed statue. EC451 on the left and Török pl. 168 on the right) 

The final object is a turquoise-glazed faience wall inlay in the form of a sꜣ-symbol, which measures almost 20cm in height (EC403). The object was previously broken into several pieces before being restored (fig. 6). Looking through the archival photos of Garstang’s excavation reveals that this was one of many inlays used to decorate the area designated M 195 (fig. 7). Excavations of the area in 1912 revealed an extensive water sanctuary complex, which was dedicated to the local god Apedemak (Török 1997 I, 63–91). During the excavations, Garstang and his team discovered a cache of statues on the floor of the basin, some of which were later presented to Wellcome. One in particular, which is now in the Petrie Museum (UC8964), is a sandstone statue of a boy holding an aulos (double-pipe). This was previously published by Dixon and Wachsmann in 1964.

Fig. 6: Glazed sꜣ-symbol from the water sanctuary (EC403)

Fig. 7: Archival photo of the baths with two sꜣ-symbols still in-situ (Török pl. 32)

While the objects presented here are all rather small and fragmentary, they present an important link between excavation, archival, and museum research.

Bibliography:

Dixon, D. M. and K. P. Wachsmann (1964) A sandstone statue of an auletes from Meroë. Kush 12, 119–125.

Garstang, J. (1911) Meroë, the city of the Ethiopians: being an account of a first season’s excavations on the site, 1909–1910. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Nenna, M.-D. and Merwatte Seif el-Din (2000) La vaisselle en faïence d’époque gréco-romaine: catalogue du Musée gréco-romain d’Alexandrie. Études alexandrines 4. Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale.

Pope, J. (2014) The double kingdom under Taharqo: studies in the history of Kush and Egypt, c. 690–664 BC. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 69. Leiden; Boston: Brill.

Sotheby, Wilkinson, and Hodge (1922) Catalogue of the MacGregor Collection of Egyptian Antiquities. London: Davy.

Török, L. (1997) Meroe City, an ancient African capital: John Garstang’s excavations in the Sudan. Egypt Exploration Society, Occasional Publications 12, 2 vols. London: Egypt Exploration Society.

Žabkar, L. V. (1975) Apedemak Lion God of Meroe: a study in Egyptian-Meroitic syncretism. Warminster: Aris and Phillips.

Reuniting Sandstone Blocks from Garstang's Excavations at Meroe

The blog post for this week was intended to be a continuation of my Amarna course, which still has three weeks remaining. However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Swansea University has now cancelled all face-to-face teaching. It is hoped that the final weeks of the course can continue at a later date, with the relevant blog entries posted.

Instead, the entry for this week will present a number of sandstone blocks from the excavations conducted by Professor John Garstang (1876–1956) at Meroe between 1909 and 1914. Since Sir Henry Wellcome was a sponsor of the excavation, he received a share of the finds brought back to England. In 1959, David Marshall Dixon (1930–2005) was appointed Research Fellow at the Wellcome Institute to classify the Egyptian collection. In a report dated December 1959, he noted that “the most important items so far examined are the 11 cases of Sudan material. Fortunately, the lists of items made at the time the cases were received have survived and the contents of the cases have been checked against these and found to be intact.” Later, in April 1960, he noted that “these [cases], like the remainder of finds from the site, had never been touched, having apparently been sent to store almost immediately after arrival in the [Wellcome] Museum. In consequence some of the material, in particular the inscribed architectural blocks, had suffered some damage during the past half a century.”

Fig. 1: Offering table excavated in tomb 307.

A few weeks ago, I decided to photograph several architectural elements in the Egypt Centre collection, which can be traced back to Garstang’s excavations at Meroe. This included offering tables from the necropolis, which were excavated during the 1910 season (fig. 1). Recently, Jochen Hallof reidentified and published one block (EC1295) bearing an inscription of the Meroitic king Teqorideamani (fig. 2). The text (REM 1261) includes a reference to the god “Aqedise in Meroe”, to whom the king obviously delivers a donation. This is the first evidence of a cult of this god in the city of Meroe so far. The block, found by Garstang during his excavations in 1911, was published for the first time by Török (1997, I, 145, fig. N), although he was unaware of its current location.

Fig. 2: Sandstone block with Merotic inscription (EC1295)

 Several other blocks in the Egypt Centre were long thought to have come from Meroe based on the type of sandstone. One particular block (EC1304) contains what looks like a crudely carved graffito depicting the heads of a lion and a man (fig. 3). While looking through Garstang’s publication of his first season of work in Meroe, I noticed that one of the plates contained the same block, albeit in its complete form. According to Garstang’s report, the block was excavated from the steps in the Temple of Amun (Garstang 1911, pp. 70–71, pls. XIX.2, LXVIII [13]). The Garstang Museum kindly provided a scan of the original archival photo (fig. 4). The missing section includes the remainder of the “graffito” and four horizontal lines of a Merotic inscription. Therefore, the hunt was on to find the connecting fragment! After searching the online catalogue of the Petrie Museum, the block was quickly located (UC44568). It seems that the fragments, which were housed in the Petrie Museum for several years between 1964–1971, became separated during the distribution of the Wellcome collection. Incidentally, if any reader to this blog knows the REM number for this block, I would greatly appreciate it!

Fig. 3: Sandstone block (EC1304)

Fig. 4: Archival photo of complete block, courtesy of the Garstang Museum

Two weeks ago the personal archive of David Dixon was transferred from the Department of Classics, Ancient History, and Egyptology at Swansea University, where it had resided for the past 15 years, into the care of the Egypt Centre. Amongst the material was a box of photos of objects and reliefs from Meroe photographed in the Wellcome Collection by Dixon in the 1960s. While scanning through these photos, two in particular grabbed my attention. The first contained the upper half of the double plumes of Amun(?), with the feathers of a winged figure to the left. Just a few days beforehand, I had photographed EC1292, a block decorated with the outstretched wings of a figure (Behdet?). Comparing measurements and the break, it is clear that both fragments belong together (fig. 5). As with the block discussed previously, the adjoining fragment was later traced to the Petrie Museum (UC44567).

Fig. 5: Reconstruction of EC1292 and UC44567 (Dixon archival photo on the right)

 The other photo of interest depicted a doorjamb inscribed with the titles of an official. This fragment was particularly exciting to me since it closely resembled another block housed in the Egypt Centre (EC470), which I had recently published in the Festschrift for Prof. Erhart Graefe (Griffin 2018). Once again, comparing the measurements and break confirmed that both fragments belonged together (fig. 6). The full text can now be read as “for the ka of the Nobleman, Governor, Seal-bearer of the King of Lower Egypt, beloved sole companion, the truly beloved king’s acquaintance, Chief Steward of the Divine Adoratrice …”. Clearly the jamb dates to the Twenty-fifth–Twenty-sixth Dynasty. However, does this doorjamb really originate from Meroe or is this just a mix-up with the archival photo? So far, it has not been possible to trace the current whereabouts of the upper fragment, also likely separated during the distribution of objects. If it did originate from Meroe, which seems unlikely to me, then it likely has an excavation mark. If any readers are aware of its current location, I would be delighted to hear!

Fig. 6: Reconstruction of doorjamb (Dixon archival photo at the top)

Bibliography:

Bierbrier, M. L. (2019) Who was who in Egyptology. London: The Egypt Exploration Society. 5th edition.

Garstang, J. (1911) Meroë, the city of the Ethiopians: being an account of a first season’s excavations on the site, 1909–1910. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Griffin, K. (2018) ‘A doorjamb of a chief steward of the Divine Adoratrice in Swansea’. In A. I. Blöbaum, M. Eaton-Krauss & A. Wüthrich (Eds.), Pérégrinations avec Erhart Graefe. Festschrift zu seinem 75. Geburtstag (pp. 203–208). Ägypten und Altes Testament 87. Münster: Zaphon.

Hallof, J. (2017) ‘Eine wiederentdeckte Inschrift des Königs Teqorideamani (REM 1261)’. Beiträge zur Sudanforschung 12: 111–117.

Leclant, J., A. Heyler, C. Berger el-Naggar, C. Carrier, and C. Rilly (2000) Répertoire d’épigraphie méroitique: corpus des inscriptions publiées, 3 vols. Paris: Boccard.

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Craftsmanship at Amarna

The brief entry for this week is written by Sam Powell, a regular contributor to this blog, including week 2 of this course.

This week’s class focused on craftsmanship at Amarna. As in previous weeks, we discussed the artistic style of this unique period. It was really interesting to hear more about the people creating these beautiful pieces. Dr Ken explained that we know the names of several Amarna sculptors, such as Bak, Iuty, and Thutmose (famous for the bust of Nefertiti found in the remains of his house). We were also shown some of the unique features of the sculpture of Amarna, such as the composite statues and “plaster casts”, which seem to be typical of this period. We also looked at how Amarna art is often subject to forgeries and questionable provenance, since material from the site is highly sought after—I was particularly interested to learn about the controversy surround the Mansoor collection.

Fig. 1: Amulet in the shape of a bunch of grapes (EC3013)

Fig. 2: Stone mould from Amarna (W915)

We looked at several interesting objects this week, including a small grape amulet (EC3013), two amulet moulds (W915 and EC659), and an inlay that is likely part of a Shu feather (EC282). This inlay was discovered at Amarna by the Egypt Exploration Society during the 1930–31 season, as can be seen from the object card.

Fig. 3: Wadjet eye mould (EC659)

Fig. 4: Slate inlay (EC282)

However, my favourite object was the pottery vessel (W1029). The vessel has been reconstructed during the 1980s by Cardiff University Conservation Department. We had in a previous week looked at fragments of this painted ware (W176c-d), and had also discussed the large vessel currently undergoing treatment at Cardiff University (W193). The decoration on these vessels is really lovely, and you can imagine them being used in festivals and on special occasions. Our class estimated the jar would probably hold about three litres of beer or wine—enough for a good night out!

Fig. 5: Amarna vessel (W1029)

As always, the class was highly received by all, and the novelty still hasn’t worn off that we get to handle real pieces of history—thank you Dr Ken!