- Best-selling author, lecturer and curator. Co-director of Egiptología Complutense based at Universidad Complutense de... moreBest-selling author, lecturer and curator. Co-director of Egiptología Complutense based at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and Honorary President of Egyptology Scotland. Current collaborator with The Wadi C2 Project and The Coptic Magical Papyri Project. Formerly Senior Curator for Ancient Egypt at National Museums Scotland, , who taught Egyptology and the Coptic language at the University of Glasgow.edit
The Egyptologist Jan Assmann characterises a Bronze Age ‘revolution’ that brought an end to ‘primary religions’ as an era when religious thinking was able to ‘emancipate itself’ from autochthonous origins. This argument presumes an... more
The Egyptologist Jan Assmann characterises a Bronze Age ‘revolution’ that brought an end to ‘primary religions’ as an era when religious thinking was able to ‘emancipate itself’ from autochthonous origins. This argument presumes an intellectual deficit in ancient thinking, which is not warranted by modern evolutionary theories and is otherwise contradicted by the demonstrable awareness of the complexity of language and its relationship to meaning, for example, in a Ramesside poem about the appearance of the king of Egypt upon his chariot. The issue is not that a poet perhaps 150-200 generations removed from ourselves could employ the full complexity of human language, because we may expect any human adult to do so even in the Bronze Age. The issue is that the poet is obviously aware of the complexity of language, of language difference, and of the sophisticated relationship between languages and meaning.
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Flinders Petrie is the man whose name, more than any other, is associated with the archaeological discovery of Ancient Egypt. However, he came to conclude that indigenous Egyptians have contributed nothing of consequence to civilization,... more
Flinders Petrie is the man whose name, more than any other, is associated with the archaeological discovery of Ancient Egypt. However, he came to conclude that indigenous Egyptians have contributed nothing of consequence to civilization, and that their own civilization has been the product of a sequence of definitive ‘Northern’ interventions. The synthesis of his historical and political convictions was a law of the revolutions of civilization, whereby each nation is subject to cycles of excellence, decline and then conquest. Using the case of the magnificent Qurneh burial-group, which he discovered in 1908, Petrie’s law can be understood as an emphatic assertion of the inferiority of indigenous Egyptian, and more generally African, culture at all stages of history. However, his radical beliefs are an original teleology, and cannot be dismissed simply by reference to the endemic racism of European scholarship.
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During 1892 the English gentleman-scholar Cecil Torr conducted a heated, often acrimonious, public debate with Flinders Petrie regarding the implications of Mycenaean Greek material recently discovered in Egypt. That debate serves to... more
During 1892 the English gentleman-scholar Cecil Torr conducted a heated, often acrimonious, public debate with Flinders Petrie regarding the implications of Mycenaean Greek material recently discovered in Egypt. That debate serves to remind us that our orthodox chronology of the ancient world emerged out of a world of alternative ideas, often at variance with those acceptable to modern scholarship. In particular, Torr challenged the logic of Petrie's chronological conclusions, exposing the inherent racism of his historical beliefs.
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An encyclopaedia entry for the heading, "Anaximander of Miletos".
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A coffin and mummy in the National Museums of Scotland (A.1907.569 + A) constitute the remains of an important priest and functionary at Karnak named Iufenamun. On stylistic grounds they can be dated to the Tenth Century BC. They are... more
A coffin and mummy in the National Museums of Scotland (A.1907.569 + A) constitute the remains of an important priest and functionary at Karnak named Iufenamun. On stylistic grounds they can be dated to the Tenth Century BC. They are described here, along with an argument that this Iufenamun can be identified as one of the priests responsible for the celebrated cache of the New Kingdom pharaohs at Deir el-Bahri tomb TT 320.
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Certain textual images of Ahhotep II and Ahmose-Nefertiry in stele of Ahmose I illustrate the authority of the principal queen as an active female counterpart of the king during the early 18th Dynasty, perhaps partly inspired by the... more
Certain textual images of Ahhotep II and Ahmose-Nefertiry in stele of Ahmose I illustrate the authority of the principal queen as an active female counterpart of the king during the early 18th Dynasty, perhaps partly inspired by the mythological model of Osiris and Isis. These images may presage the accession of Hatshepsut as king, which can therefore be seen as the outcome of a cultural process rather than as an act of political opportunism. This discussion also draws a parallel between the representation of Ahmose I and Ahmose-Nefertiry in writing on stela Cairo CG 34002 and familiar pictorial images of the king and queen in art of the Amarna Period.
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Abstract: This report presents the results of survey and excavation at al-Moghraqa, in the vicinity of the Wadi Gaza. The objective of fieldwork was to establish the date of the site, the nature of its occupation and in particular the... more
Abstract: This report presents the results of survey and excavation at al-Moghraqa, in the vicinity of the Wadi Gaza. The objective of fieldwork was to establish the date of the site, the nature of its occupation and in particular the context and function of the terracotta cones ...
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This paper presents a technological study of items of Egyptian jewellery from the collections of the National Museums Scotland: a pendant from the 19th century BC; objects from the 16th century BC royal burial unearthed at Qurneh; two... more
This paper presents a technological study of items of Egyptian jewellery from the collections of the National Museums Scotland: a pendant from the 19th century BC; objects from the 16th century BC royal burial unearthed at Qurneh; two gold finger-rings dated to the 14th century BC; and a group of pendants from the 13th century BC. The objects were examined using optical microscopy, X-radiography and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). In addition, the elementary compositions of alloys and solder joints were investigated using air-path X-ray fluorescence (XRF), proton-induced X-ray analysis (micro-PIXE), and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDS). This preliminary study provides information about the evolution of alloy composition and the use of alluvial gold, and illustrates the Ancient Egyptian goldsmiths’ skills in working with wires, granulation and joining techniques.
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In 1908, the archaeologist Flinders Petrie discovered a rich intact burial of an adult and child at Qurneh, near Luxor. Stylistically, the burial has been dated to the late 17th Dynasty, in the 16th century BC. The complete burial group... more
In 1908, the archaeologist Flinders Petrie discovered a rich intact burial of an adult and child at Qurneh, near Luxor. Stylistically, the burial has been dated to the late 17th Dynasty, in the 16th century BC. The complete burial group came to Edinburgh in 1909. A recent examination of the rings of the necklace found with the adult burial is presented as part of a wider study of the mummy collections of the National Museums Scotland (NMS). The necklace shows sophisticated workmanship, with 1,699 rings threaded onto four strands, the rings having uniform diameter and thickness, and very few of them showing any visible joints. The necklace rings have been examined by Optical Microscopy, X-radiography, Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDS), air-path X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), and proton induced X-ray analysis (micro-PIXE). We summarise these findings and propose the method of manufacture. We also describe an experimental attempt to make joint-less rings in order to compare them with the originals.
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In 1908, the archaeologist Flinders Petrie discovered a rich intact burial of an adult and child at Qurneh, near Luxor. Stylistically, the burial has been dated to the late 17 th Dynasty, in the 16 th century BC. The complete burial group... more
In 1908, the archaeologist Flinders Petrie discovered a rich intact burial of an adult and child at Qurneh, near Luxor. Stylistically, the burial has been dated to the late 17 th Dynasty, in the 16 th century BC. The complete burial group came to Edinburgh in 1909. A recent examination of the rings of the necklace found with the adult burial is presented as part of a wider study of the mummy collections of the National Museums Scotland (NMS). The necklace shows sophisticated workmanship, with 1,699 rings threaded onto four strands, the rings having uniform diameter and thickness, and very few of them showing any visible joints. The necklace rings have been examined by Optical Microscopy, X-radiography, Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDS), air-path X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), and proton induced X-ray analysis (micro-PIXE). We summarise these findings and propose the method of manufacture. We also describe an experimental attempt to make joint-le...
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The National Museums of Scotland Mummy Project has provided important new information about a burial excavated in Egypt. This has resulted in the facial reconstruction of a woman who was probably a queen at Thebes ca. 1570–1520 BCE. There... more
The National Museums of Scotland Mummy Project has provided important new information about a burial excavated in Egypt. This has resulted in the facial reconstruction of a woman who was probably a queen at Thebes ca. 1570–1520 BCE. There are strong suggestions from the grave goods and her diet that this woman may have been ethnically Nubian rather than Egyptian. However, it is not yet possible to establish her ethnic identity for sure, so a definitive reconstruction of her appearance in life remains elusive.
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... Introducción a los jeroglíficos egipcios. Información General. Autores: Mark Collier, Bill Manley; Editores: Alianza Editorial; Año de publicación: 2000; País: España; Idioma: Español; ISBN : 84-206-2937-5. Otros catálogos.... more
... Introducción a los jeroglíficos egipcios. Información General. Autores: Mark Collier, Bill Manley; Editores: Alianza Editorial; Año de publicación: 2000; País: España; Idioma: Español; ISBN : 84-206-2937-5. Otros catálogos. Bibliotecas ...
Introduction to the Revised Edition 1. Hieroglyphs 2. More Uses of Hieroglyphs 3. Special Writings 4. Scenes and Captions 5. Description 6. Further Aspects of Description 7. Characterisation 8. The Future Hieroglyphic Sign-Lists for the... more
Introduction to the Revised Edition 1. Hieroglyphs 2. More Uses of Hieroglyphs 3. Special Writings 4. Scenes and Captions 5. Description 6. Further Aspects of Description 7. Characterisation 8. The Future Hieroglyphic Sign-Lists for the Exercises Reference Tables Egyptian-English Vocabulary Key to the Exercises Bibliography and Further Reading Index