Description
First runner-up for the British-Kuwait Friendship Society Book Prize in Middle Eastern Studies 2015.
In ancient Egypt, wrapping sacred objects, including mummified bodies, in layers of cloth was a ritual that lay at the core of Egyptian society. Yet in the modern world, attention has focused instead on unwrapping all the careful arrangements of linen textiles the Egyptians had put in place.
This book breaks new ground by looking at the significance of textile wrappings in ancient Egypt, and at how their unwrapping has shaped the way we think about the Egyptian past. Wrapping mummified bodies and divine statues in linen reflected the cultural values attached to this textile, with implications for understanding gender, materiality and hierarchy in Egyptian society. Unwrapping mummies and statues similarly reflects the values attached to Egyptian antiquities in the West, where the colonial legacies of archaeology, Egyptology and racial science still influence how Egypt appears in museums and the press.
From the tomb of Tutankhamun to the Arab Spring, Unwrapping Ancient Egypt raises critical questions about the deep-seated fascination with this culture - and what that fascination says about our own.
Author: Christina Riggs
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 06/05/2014
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.60d
ISBN13: 9780857855077
ISBN10: 0857855077
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Anthropology | General
- Social Science | Archaeology
- Art | History | Ancient & Classical
In ancient Egypt, wrapping sacred objects, including mummified bodies, in layers of cloth was a ritual that lay at the core of Egyptian society. Yet in the modern world, attention has focused instead on unwrapping all the careful arrangements of linen textiles the Egyptians had put in place.
This book breaks new ground by looking at the significance of textile wrappings in ancient Egypt, and at how their unwrapping has shaped the way we think about the Egyptian past. Wrapping mummified bodies and divine statues in linen reflected the cultural values attached to this textile, with implications for understanding gender, materiality and hierarchy in Egyptian society. Unwrapping mummies and statues similarly reflects the values attached to Egyptian antiquities in the West, where the colonial legacies of archaeology, Egyptology and racial science still influence how Egypt appears in museums and the press.
From the tomb of Tutankhamun to the Arab Spring, Unwrapping Ancient Egypt raises critical questions about the deep-seated fascination with this culture - and what that fascination says about our own.
Author: Christina Riggs
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 06/05/2014
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.60d
ISBN13: 9780857855077
ISBN10: 0857855077
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Anthropology | General
- Social Science | Archaeology
- Art | History | Ancient & Classical
About the Author
Christina Riggs is a Senior Lecturer in the department of Art History and World Art Studies, University of East Anglia, UK.