
The Arts of Making in Ancient Egypt
Voices, Images, and Objects of Material Producers 2000-1550 BC
Sidestone Press
1st Edition
Published on 15. February 2018
Book
Hardback
275 pages
978-90-8890-524-7 (ISBN)
Description
This book provides an innovative analysis of the conditions of ancient Egyptian craftsmanship in the light of the archaeology of production, linguistic analysis, visual representation and ethnographic research.
During the past decades, the "imaginative" figure of ancient Egyptian material producers has moved from "workers" to "artisans" and, most recently, to "artists". In a search for a fuller understanding of the pragmatics of material production in past societies, and moving away from a series of modern preconceptions, this volume aims to analyse the mechanisms of material production in Egypt during the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1550 BC), to approach the profile of ancient Egyptian craftsmen through their own words, images and artefacts, and to trace possible modes of circulation of ideas among craftsmen in material production.
The studies in the volume address the mechanisms of ancient production in Middle Bronze Age Egypt, the circulation of ideas among craftsmen, and the profiles of the people involved, based on the material traces, including depictions and writings, the ancient craftsmen themselves left and produced.
During the past decades, the "imaginative" figure of ancient Egyptian material producers has moved from "workers" to "artisans" and, most recently, to "artists". In a search for a fuller understanding of the pragmatics of material production in past societies, and moving away from a series of modern preconceptions, this volume aims to analyse the mechanisms of material production in Egypt during the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1550 BC), to approach the profile of ancient Egyptian craftsmen through their own words, images and artefacts, and to trace possible modes of circulation of ideas among craftsmen in material production.
The studies in the volume address the mechanisms of ancient production in Middle Bronze Age Egypt, the circulation of ideas among craftsmen, and the profiles of the people involved, based on the material traces, including depictions and writings, the ancient craftsmen themselves left and produced.
More details
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
27fc/49bw
Dimensions
Height: 263 mm
Width: 187 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
1027 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-8890-524-7 (9789088905247)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Gianluca Miniaci is Associate Professor in Egyptology at the University of Pisa, Honorary Researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, UCL - London and Chercheur associe at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris. He is currently co-director of the archaeological mission at Zawyet Sultan (Menya, Egypt) and principal investigator for the project PROCESS (fingerprints on clay figurines). He is author of several volumes, including Rishi Coffins (2011), The Middle Kingdom Ramesseum Papyri Tomb (2021) and The Treasure of the Egyptian Queen Ahhotep (2022) and more than 100 scientific articles. Dr. Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia (PhD in Egyptology, 1995) is a CNRS senior researcher at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne, as well as lecturer on social and economic history of ancient Egypt at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. He has published extensively on the administration, socio-economic history, and landscape organization of ancient Egypt, usually in a comparative perspective with other civilizations of the ancient world, and has organized several conferences on these topics.
Recent publications include Dynamics of Production in the Ancient Near East, 1300-500 BC (2016), L'Egypte des pharaons. De Narmer a Diocletien (3150 av. J.-C.-284 apr. J.-C.) (2016) and Ancient Egyptian Administration (2013).
He is also chief editor of The Journal of Egyptian History (Brill) and area editor ("economy") of the UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. Prof. Stephen Quirke is Edwards Professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology at the UCL Institute of Archaeology; his research is on hieratic writing, Middle Kingdom social history, and history of archaeology and collections from Egypt. From 1999 to 2013 he was curator at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. Andreas Stauder is Professor of Egyptology at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes/PSL Research University in Paris. He was previously a researcher with the Swiss National Science Foundation and the University of Basel, and a post-doctoral fellow at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. He directs the project "Scripta-PSL. History and Practices of Writing" (2017-) and is a scientific co-editor of the section "Language" for the UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology (UEE). He has previously co-directed the module "Materiality and Semantics of Writing" in the National Centre of Competence in Research "eikones" (2013-2017, SNSF and University of Basel) and directed the SNSF-project "The Old Egyptian Verb. Functions in text" (2012-2016). He is the author of The Earlier Egyptian Passive. Voice and Perspective (2014) and Linguistic Dating of Middle Egyptian Literary Texts (2013).
Recent publications include Dynamics of Production in the Ancient Near East, 1300-500 BC (2016), L'Egypte des pharaons. De Narmer a Diocletien (3150 av. J.-C.-284 apr. J.-C.) (2016) and Ancient Egyptian Administration (2013).
He is also chief editor of The Journal of Egyptian History (Brill) and area editor ("economy") of the UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. Prof. Stephen Quirke is Edwards Professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology at the UCL Institute of Archaeology; his research is on hieratic writing, Middle Kingdom social history, and history of archaeology and collections from Egypt. From 1999 to 2013 he was curator at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. Andreas Stauder is Professor of Egyptology at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes/PSL Research University in Paris. He was previously a researcher with the Swiss National Science Foundation and the University of Basel, and a post-doctoral fellow at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. He directs the project "Scripta-PSL. History and Practices of Writing" (2017-) and is a scientific co-editor of the section "Language" for the UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology (UEE). He has previously co-directed the module "Materiality and Semantics of Writing" in the National Centre of Competence in Research "eikones" (2013-2017, SNSF and University of Basel) and directed the SNSF-project "The Old Egyptian Verb. Functions in text" (2012-2016). He is the author of The Earlier Egyptian Passive. Voice and Perspective (2014) and Linguistic Dating of Middle Egyptian Literary Texts (2013).
Content
Sculpture Workshops: who, where and for whom?
Simon Connor
The Artistic Copying Network Around the Tomb of Pahery in Elkab (EK3): a New Kingdom case study
Alisee Devillers
Antiquity Bound to Modernity. The significance of Egyptian workers in modern archaeology in Egypt
Maximilian Georg
Epistemological Things! Mystical Things! Towards an ancient Egyptian ontology
Amr El Hawary
Centralized and Local Production, Adaptation, and Imitation: Twelfth Dynasty offering tables
Alexander Ilin-Tomich
To Show and to Designate: attitudes towards representing craftsmanship and material culture in Middle Kingdom elite tombs
Claus Jurman
Precious Things? The social construction of value in Egyptian society, from production of objects to their use (mid 3rd-mid 2nd millennium BC)
Christelle Maze
Faience Craftsmanship in the Middle Kingdom. A market paradox: inexpensive materials for prestige goods?
Gianluca Miniaci
Leather Processing, Castor Oil, and Desert/Nubian Trade at the Turn of the 3rd/2nd Millennium BC: some speculative thoughts on Egyptian craftsmanship
Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
Languages of Artists: closed and open channels
Stephen Quirke
Craft Production in the Bronze Age. A comparative view from South Asia
Shereen Ratnagar
The Egyptian Craftsman and the Modern Researcher: the benefits of archeometrical analyses
Patricia Rigault, Caroline Thomas
The Representation of Materials, an Example of Circulations of Formal Models among Workmen. An insight into the New Kingdom practices
Karine Seigneau
Staging Restricted Knowledge: the sculptor Irtysen's self-presentation (ca. 2000 BCE)
Andreas Stauder
The Nubian Mudbrick Vault. A Pharaonic building technique in Nubian village dwellings of the early 20th Century
Lilli Zabrana
Simon Connor
The Artistic Copying Network Around the Tomb of Pahery in Elkab (EK3): a New Kingdom case study
Alisee Devillers
Antiquity Bound to Modernity. The significance of Egyptian workers in modern archaeology in Egypt
Maximilian Georg
Epistemological Things! Mystical Things! Towards an ancient Egyptian ontology
Amr El Hawary
Centralized and Local Production, Adaptation, and Imitation: Twelfth Dynasty offering tables
Alexander Ilin-Tomich
To Show and to Designate: attitudes towards representing craftsmanship and material culture in Middle Kingdom elite tombs
Claus Jurman
Precious Things? The social construction of value in Egyptian society, from production of objects to their use (mid 3rd-mid 2nd millennium BC)
Christelle Maze
Faience Craftsmanship in the Middle Kingdom. A market paradox: inexpensive materials for prestige goods?
Gianluca Miniaci
Leather Processing, Castor Oil, and Desert/Nubian Trade at the Turn of the 3rd/2nd Millennium BC: some speculative thoughts on Egyptian craftsmanship
Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia
Languages of Artists: closed and open channels
Stephen Quirke
Craft Production in the Bronze Age. A comparative view from South Asia
Shereen Ratnagar
The Egyptian Craftsman and the Modern Researcher: the benefits of archeometrical analyses
Patricia Rigault, Caroline Thomas
The Representation of Materials, an Example of Circulations of Formal Models among Workmen. An insight into the New Kingdom practices
Karine Seigneau
Staging Restricted Knowledge: the sculptor Irtysen's self-presentation (ca. 2000 BCE)
Andreas Stauder
The Nubian Mudbrick Vault. A Pharaonic building technique in Nubian village dwellings of the early 20th Century
Lilli Zabrana