Our next MAES meeting is on Monday 13 March at our usual VENUE!     

Michelle Middleman: Real or Ideal? Ideology Versus Reality in Old Kingdom Tomb Biographies

Old Kingdom tomb biographies were designed to place the tomb owner in the best possible light. Consequently, at first appearance, the content of these biographies, with their formulaic phraseology, seems to give us little more than an idealised version of reality, rather than the real-life everyday experiences. However, things are not always quite as they seem; there are some officials who record unique events, contradict themselves, and subtly stray from the ideology within their biographies. This lecture focuses on the more unusual, idiosyncratic content of the biographies to demonstrate how these examples are glimpses of reality regarding life in the Old Kingdom.

Michelle Middleman has a BA and MA degree in Egyptology and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Liverpool. She specialises in Old Kingdom tomb biographies and social life in the Old Kingdom.

Everyone welcome £3 members on the door (with a free tea or coffee voucher) and £5 for guests. Pendulum Hotel, Sackville Street, Manchester, M1 3BB. Parking in Charles Street multistory.

Doors open – whenever you wish to arrive! We’ll be there from 7 and we kick off at 7:45pm

This Monday Colin Reader brings a strange tale of pharaohs and outer space!!!!!

An ornate gold and bejewelled pectoral with a green scarab at its centre was one of the many treasures discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter and his team in Tutankhamun’s famous tomb, KV62. Although perhaps not one of the most celebrated pieces from Tutankhamun’s trove, interest in this piece increased in 1996 when a mineralogist spotted that rather than a piece of relatively ordinary semi-precious stone, the green scarab was carved from a far more exotic material: silica glass.

Although silica glass is relatively well known in Egypt, this is the only known example used in a pharaonic artefact. Generally, silica glass is found in fragments in a remote part of the Western Desert, north of the Gilf Kebir and close to the Libyan border. The mystery is how had this chunk of silica glass found its way to the Nile Valley in the New Kingdom, and why was it so admired by the ancient Egyptians that it was used as a finely carved centrepiece for a prominent item of royal regalia? Surely, neither the royal court nor the craftsmen of New Kingdom Egypt could have known how strange this material really is?

As an engineering geologist and former Chairman of MAES, Colin was first attracted to ancient Egypt as a result of the controversy over the age of the Great Sphinx at Giza and what its weathering and erosion could tell us about its age. Although his ideas on the Early Dynastic origins of the Sphinx are controversial, they have been published in peer reviewed journals and have featured in a number of TV documentaries. Colin’s initial interest in the Sphinx led him to research wider issues associated with the geology of Egypt and during the COVID lockdown, he wrote a book focussing on what the geology and landscape of Egypt meant for the people of the Nile Valley.  The book is planned for publication in October 2022 and elements of today’s talk have been taken from the manuscript.

All welcome! Monday 27th February at the Pendulum Hotel, Sackville Street, Manchester, M1 3BB.

Doors open 7:30pm; lecture 8pm. Members £3, Guests £5 on the door. Parking round the corner in the Charles Street Multi-story.

In our next MAES lecture on Monday 13th February, Alan B Lloyd will be delving deep into the ancient Egyptian afterlife!

The religion of death is by far the best-known aspect of ancient Egyptian civilisation.  It has its beginnings in the Prehistoric period, and aspects of it survived well into the Roman period.  Like all religious systems it embodied two aspects: a belief system and an action system.  The belief system was the driver and was generated by two factors: the concept of the nature of the person and the concept of the nature of life after death.  This body of belief gave rise to a complex system of ritual action which was designed to ensure the continuous survival of the deceased as a fully functioning personality in the afterlife.  The lecture will explore in detail this corpus of belief and action which constituted one of the greatest achievements of Pharaonic culture.

Alan is Professor Emeritus at the Department of History and Classics, Swansea University, and President of the Egypt Exploration Society. He is an authority on the writings of Herodotus and author of “A Companion to Ancient Egypt” and “Ancient Egypt: State and Society”.

Everyone welcome. The lecture begins 8pm on Zoom – free to MAES members who will be sent a link. Guests welcome – booking via Eventbrite here (tickets £5).

Next Monday we kick off the new year with our latest MAES Zoom lecture!

9 Jan 2023 ZOOM Doors open 7:30pm; lecture 8 – 9pm GMT

Amandine Merat: The textiles from the Theban Tomb 298 at Deir el-Medina: First Survey and First Observations

During the period 18^th – 26th January 2022, the textiles found in the Theban Tomb of Baki (TT298, reign of Sety I) at Deir el-Medinah were studied. The objectives of this first study season were to get an overview and a better understanding of the material discovered in the tomb, its condition, amount and nature, and to make a start with the analyses of a few samples, as part of the preparation of the overall study to take place in the following seasons. Despite a limited time on-site, great discoveries and observations were already made during this first survey, the results of which will be presented here.

Amandine Merat is an Archaeologist and Researcher in Egyptology, with a specialisation in ancient and archaeological textiles. She worked as a curator at the Louvre Museum, the Bode Museum (Berlin) and the British Museum. Now an independent scholar, she works as a textile specialist on varied projects and archaeological sites in Egypt. In January 2022, she joined the IFAO Deir el-Medina team to undertake the study of the textiles found in TT298 (Tomb of Baki).

All welcome! Free for MAES members (who will receive the link via email). Guests can book (£5) on Eventbrite here:

We look forward to seeing you at our lectures in 2023. Full details on our website here:

Tomorrow night (Monday 19th December) we welcome Katherine Slinger to give the final zoom meeting of 2022!

All welcome – MAES members will receive a link via email. Guests can book here:       

Katherine Slinger: Tomb Families – Private Tomb Distribution in the New Kingdom Theban Necropolis

The Theban Necropolis contains hundreds of tombs belonging to elite individuals, dating from the end of the Old Kingdom through to the Ptolemaic Period, with the vast majority dating to the New Kingdom (c.1550-1077BC).  These tombs are scattered across the landscape at the edge of the desert between the Valley of the Kings to the west, and the row of royal mortuary temples along the edge of the cultivation to the east. This lecture will focus on New Kingdom private tomb distribution and investigate this apparently random arrangement of tombs by focusing on factors which may have influenced tomb location. GPS surveying has enabled the spatial analysis of these tombs, demonstrating that specific areas of the necropolis were popular at different times and among particular groups of people. Clusters and patterns can be identified between tombs built during the same reign(s), as well as between tomb owners with similar titles and familial connections. The orientation of specific tombs towards Karnak temple, royal mortuary temples and festival processional routes, reveals their significance to certain individuals. This research provides a deeper understanding of the necropolis, and how private tombs linked to the wider sacred landscape of Thebes.  

Dr Katherine Slinger was awarded her PhD in Egyptology from the University of Liverpool in 2020 in Egyptology for her research into the non-royal Theban Necropolis. She graduated with a first-class degree in Egyptology in 2014, and a Master’s degree with Distinction in Egyptology in 2015, both from the University of Liverpool. She is also a qualified primary school teacher. 

Katherine currently works as an Egyptology tutor in the Continuing Education department of the University of Liverpool. She has also lectured in Egyptian Archaeology at the University of Sheffield and Durham University. Her thesis has recently been published as a monograph with Archaeopress. Katherine is also an independent researcher and freelance lecturer.           

We are very sorry but we have been forced to cancel the Manchester AE Society lecture meeting at the Pendulum Hotel tomorrow (Monday 12th) due to the poor weather conditions. We will be inviting Colin Reader back to give his lecture in the new year.

Our next meeting will be on Zoom on Monday 19th December with Katherine Slinger giving a lecture on Tomb Families: Private Tomb Distribution in the New Kingdom Theban Necropolis. More details to follow!!!!

Our next Manchester Ancient Egypt Society meeting we see the return of a familiar face as Colin Reader comes to give us a fascinating lecture at our central Manchester venue. Everyone welcome!

Monday 12 December VENUE LECTURE     

Colin Reader: Tutankhamun the Extra-terrestrial Connection

An ornate gold and bejewelled pectoral with a green scarab at its centre was one of the many treasures discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter and his team in Tutankhamun’s famous tomb, KV62. Although perhaps not one of the most celebrated pieces from Tutankhamun’s trove, interest in this piece increased in 1996 when a mineralogist spotted that rather than a piece of relatively ordinary semi-precious stone, the green scarab was carved from a far more exotic material: silica glass.

Although silica glass is relatively well known in Egypt, this is the only known example used in a pharaonic artefact. Generally, silica glass is found in fragments in a remote part of the Western Desert, north of the Gilf Kebir and close to the Libyan border. The mystery is how had this chunk of silica glass found its way to the Nile Valley in the New Kingdom, and why was it so admired by the ancient Egyptians that it was used as a finely carved centrepiece for a prominent item of royal regalia? Surely, neither the royal court nor the craftsmen of New Kingdom Egypt could have known how strange this material really is?

As an engineering geologist and former Chairman of MAES, Colin was first attracted to ancient Egypt as a result of the controversy over the age of the Great Sphinx at Giza and what its weathering and erosion could tell us about its age. Although his ideas on the Early Dynastic origins of the Sphinx are controversial, they have been published in peer reviewed journals and have featured in a number of TV documentaries.

All welcome. Venue: Pendulum Hotel, Sackville Street, Manchester, M1 3BB. Guests £5 on the door; Members £3. Doors open 7pm. Lecture 7:45pm.

Saturday 26th November – join MAES for a special anniversary study day investigating some lesser known aspects about the life and times of Tutankhamun!

Explore the discovery of the tomb through the eyes of the Egyptian media of the time, and through the photographs of Harry Burton in the Griffith Institute archive! Discover what new experimental archaeology findings tell us about Tutankhamun’s textiles and what the latest scientific findings reveal about the health of the king.

Join Rosalie David OBE, Abeer Eladany, Daniella Rosenow and Nancy Hoskins from 9:30am to 4:30pm. All welcome. Visitors £30 booking via Eventbrite here:

For our next MAES lecture we welcome Garry Shaw who will be taking us on a tour from Aswan to Alexandria studying Egypt’s gods and myths.

   

In this lecture, we will explore the myths and legends of ancient Egypt while travelling along the Nile from Aswan to Alexandria. As we stop at key locations, we’ll meet the gods and goddesses worshipped there by the ancient Egyptians, learn about their mythology, and see the monuments associated with them. Taking evidence from across Egyptian history, the talk will include famous myths, legends, and stories, and some that are less well known. The talk is based on Shaw’s book: Egyptian Mythology: A Traveller’s Guide from Aswan to Alexandria (Thames & Hudson, 2021).

Garry J. Shaw is an author and journalist covering archaeology, history, and world heritage. He has a PhD in Egyptology and is the author of six books including “The Pharaoh: Life at Court and on Campaign” and “The Egyptian Myths: A Guide to the Ancient Gods and Legends”, with his latest book “The Story of Tutankhamun: An Intimate Life of the Boy who Became King” due in autumn 2022.

Monday 14th November 7:30pm doors open. All welcome!

Free to MAES members. Guests £5 via Eventbrite