The
blog post for this week is written by Wendy Goodridge,
the Assistant Curator of the Egypt Centre and first ever volunteer at the
museum. She started volunteering in 1997 before the museum was officially
opened, whilst she was a postgraduate student studying under Professor Alan
Lloyd. Wendy worked with the Curator Carolyn
Graves-Brown and a few other eager volunteers to transform the empty museum
spaces into displays highlighting the collection ready for the grand opening in
1998. She was employed at first as a Museum Assistant in 1998 and in 2003 was
appointed Assistant Curator. Wendy took the lead on developing the schools
programme, introducing the ‘dummy mummy’, which was made by her sister, and spends
a lot of her time on museum administration. Wendy is interested in the
extraordinary collector Sir Henry Wellcome and her favourite objects in the
museum are the amulets!
Sadly, we have come to the end of
our five-week course, which seems to have flown by really quickly! I have thoroughly
enjoyed exploring the various topics especially as Ken has illustrated them so
well using the Egypt Centre collection and bringing the objects to life! Doing
this course has been a refreshing change from my normal daily work where I
really don’t get time to study the collection! Session five was aptly named
‘Treasures of the Dead’ and Ken commented ‘Everything we have seen in the
previous four sessions could also be deemed “treasures”’. Today’s session was
focusing less on funerary objects and more on personal objects that were used
in daily life by the ancient Egyptians, who would have wanted to be buried with them
for use in the afterlife. I am not going to be able to report on all the types
of ‘treasures’ Ken mentioned, but will choose a selection. We can see
‘treasured’ objects depicted in funerary processions and paintings of the deceased in the afterlife using their ‘treasures’. Possessions such as
furniture, clothing, beds and headrests, a fan, games and toys, boxes, and of
course lots of wine (fig. 1)!
Fig. 1: Funeral procession in the tomb of Ramose (TT 55) |
Ken discussed wooden furniture and
explained it was a very common commodity for the afterlife, especially for the
elite (Killen 1993, 2018). We examined the beautifully decorated chair of Sitamun in the Cairo Museum, which is decorated with protective beings such as
Bes beating a tambour and wielding knives. Was this object made for the tomb or
was it used in life also? The Egypt Centre has a wide variety of furniture
pieces, including legs of beds, chairs, and stools. Ken highlighted a pair of
Egypt Centre wooden bed legs from Akhmim (fig. 2). One is decorated with the
image of Bes standing on a protective Sa-sign,
with a snake on the other face. The second leg is decorated with the protective
being Tawaret with a knife projecting from her feet. Is it possible this bed/couch
was used by pregnant women after childbirth for purification, particularly as
these beings are known to protect women in childbirth? The Egypt Centre
recently presented a lecture by Manon Schutz who discussed the possible use of
purification beds for women after childbirth.
Fig. 2: Bed legs from Akhmim (W2052a & W2052b) |
Headrests were seen throughout Dynastic Egypt from the Early Dynastic to the Roman Period. They were used by the living as a ‘pillow’ while sleeping, but were also used to prop the head of the mummy during their eternal sleep! Some tomb models show the person laying on their side or on their back. They have a practical use but were also believed to have a symbolic function as a symbol of rebirth. The persons head represents the sun lowering each evening and, hopefully, rising each morning in the horizon, the Akhet! Ken showed a complete wooden headrest (AB80), possibly from Abydos, which was donated to the Egypt Centre by Aberystwyth University in 1997 (fig. 3). It is made of three pieces; a headrest, stem, and base so it is easier to repair and can easily be transported. Headrests are commonly made of wood, but some are made of stone or faience. They are also commonly shown on the inside of coffins from the Middle Kingdom. Some headrests are decorated with the protective being Bes, possibly including our headrest, who would avert your nightmares! Of course, headrests are still used in modern societies today. If you fancy trying one out (after Covid-19 is a distant memory of course!) we have a replica headrest that is used for visitors and school parties. Some find it surprisingly comfy and much cooler than a pillow! For anyone who wants more information on headrests, Ken mentioned the work of Dr Katharina Zinn, University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Katharina has researched headrests and presented at the Wonderful Things 2019 conference as well as for the Friends of the Egypt Centre (Zinn 2018). You can also see our Curator Carolyn Graves-Brown talk about headrests in her Bitesize series.
Fig. 3: Wooden headrest (AB80) |
Clothes were not high on the list
of items taken into the tomb for use in the afterlife despite being important
in life for the elite. Ken discussed the possibility that tomb depictions
showing the deceased in fine linen clothes perhaps sufficed as substitutes for
the real thing (fig. 4). One fascinating fact we discussed was that most clothes found
were deliberately inside out! We had quite a lively discussion about this fact.
Had the deceased taken them off this way and they were left inside out so the
unwashed clothes had the ‘essence’ of the deceased in the sweat deposited on
the garment? Or were they laundered inside out to preserve the linen? The last tale
in the Westcar Papyrus tells the story of the magical birth of the first
three kings of the Fifth Dynasty: Userkaf, Sahure, and Kakai. Reddedet, wife of
Rewosre, a priest of Ra, goes into a difficult labour, and the god Ra, hearing
it, sends Isis, Nephthys, Meskhenet, Heket, and Khnum to help her. These
deities transform themselves into dancing girls and musicians and go to the
home to help with the birth. They find Rewosre, upset over his wife’s condition
wearing his kilt ‘upside down’, which can also mean ‘inside out’.
Interestingly, it was pointed out in the chat that the modern Arabic word for
inside out also means upside down! The kilt was the most popular item of
clothing and comes top in laundry lists and a shopping list from
Deir-el-Medina! We were lucky enough to have Rosalind Janssen participate in
our Experiment
and Experience conference. Rosalind has expertise concerning ancient
Egyptian textiles and clothes, with a special interest in the Egyptian laundry
and pleating techniques (Hall 1985, 1986).
Fig. 4: Elaborate clothing in the tomb of Nebamun (BM EA 37981) |
Sandals were another interesting item taken to the afterlife by the elite. These may well have been worn by the deceased in life and they were usually made of plant fibre (fig, 5). What I thought was interesting was they have been found on top of coffins and sometimes inside coffins as though the deceased wants them nearby for quick access when they arise. Just like me putting my slippers by the side of my bed!
Fig. 5: Sandals from the British Museum on loan to the Egypt Centre (BM EA 36201) |
The last ‘treasure’ I will mention is jewellery. Many items of jewellery have been found in graves and tombs right through Egyptian history. Was the jewellery intended to enhance beauty and to feel good, worn for protection (amuletic properties), or both? Ken reminded us we shouldn’t put our modern notion of ‘beauty’ and our function of jewellery from ancient Egypt. Ken showed us various pieces from the Egypt Centre collection; one was W793, a beautiful bracelet made of carnelian, quartz (possibly amethyst), and copper, which was excavated by Flinders Petrie at Qau el-Kebir (fig. 6).
The highlight of the jewellery Ken
discussed were four New Kingdom, Eighteenth Dynasty, Amarna collars. They were
part of the Berens collection purchased by Wellcome in 1923 and were believed
to come from the royal tombs and bodies of the Amarna princesses! The collars
are mainly made of faience and include beads of glass and semi-precious stones,
such as lapis lazuli and carnelian. W8 has a large central shell shaped, floral
pendant flanked by amulets of fish and squatting baboons, Bes and Taweret figures,
female deities with staffs, poppy seed cases, a heart, and a row of rosettes. W9
has a rare central female Bes amulet flanked by female deities with staff, a
squatting baboon, and two rows of rosettes. W10 has a central heart amulet
flanked by a crouching child figure, female deities with staff, fish, and a
situla amulet. W11 is a beautiful intricate round collar made of tiny beads
with no central pendant. The images of the collars were excellent quality and
we were told some took Ken over five days to cut out the background! Ken did a
poll and asked which collar was our favourite – W9 the Beset collar
won but my favourite is still W11 (fig. 7)! It is not known whether the linen thread is original.
I like to hope it is—why use linen for modern threading? Ken discussed the
ethics of radiocarbon dating the object; some of the thread will have to be
destroyed so losing some of the beautiful beadwork and it would devalue the
object if the string is not original. Although some would prefer to find out,
others, like myself, would say no!
So many other ‘Treasures’ were discussed that couldn’t be mentioned, such as cosmetics, games, toys, vessels, wigs, mirrors, boxes, and tools of the trade! It was certainly a treasure packed session! On behalf of all those who took the five-week course, I want to say a big thank you to Ken for such interesting sessions, as well as encouraging and patiently answering so many questions. Additionally, to Sam Powell who co-hosted and worked very hard to ensure the sessions ran smoothly! We look forward to the next one on Egyptian religion, which has now been advertised!
Bibliography:
Hall, Rosalind 1985. “The cast-off garment of
yesterday”: dresses reversed in life and death. Bulletin de l’Institut français d'archéologie orientale 85, 235–243.
——— 1986. Egyptian textiles. Shire Egyptology 4. Princes Risborough: Shire
Publications.
Killen, Geoffrey 1994. Egyptian woodworking and furniture.
Shire Egyptology 21. Princes Risborough: Shire Publications.
——— 2017. Ancient Egyptian furniture, 3 vols, 2nd ed. Oxford; Philadelphia:
Oxbow Books.
Zinn, Katharina 2018. Did
you sleep well on your headrest?—Anthropological perspectives on an ancient
Egyptian implement. Journal of
Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 17, 202–219.
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