‘A selection of minor antiquities’: a multi-sited view on collections from excavations in Egypt

ABSTRACT

This article draws upon the ‘Artefacts of Excavation’ (2014–17) project, which is investigating the worldwide distribution of finds from British-led excavations in Egypt between 1880 and 1980. The departure point for the present article is the earliest phase of these distributions. The potential for multi-sited ethnographic approaches to illuminate the history and significance of such collections is explored. It is argued that, through such analyses, it is possible to chart shifting tensions in the status of objects as they were collected, circulated and re-evaluated between the field and the museum. The article concludes by suggesting that multi-sited frameworks may also be able to re-animate ‘orphaned’ archaeological collections, some of which could be at risk from commercial sale.

KEYWORDS:

• Multi-sited ethnography
• museum
• Egyptian archaeology
• history of collections

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to John Baines for helpful comments on a previous draft.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The Egypt Exploration Fund changed its name to the Egypt Exploration Society in 1919.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) under grant number AH/L004569/1.

Notes on contributors

Alice Stevenson

Alice Stevenson is the Curator of UCL’s Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. Prior to specializing in the archaeology of Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt (late fifth to early third millennium BC), she studied archaeology and anthropology more broadly and has additional research interests in the history and ethics of archaeology, anthropology and museums. She has previously held positions at the University of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum, UCL Institute of Archaeology and the Egypt Exploration Society.

Emma Libonati

Emma Libonati is a research associate at UCL on the ‘Artefacts of Excavation’ project. She is interested in the material culture of the Hellenistic and Roman Near East, in particular stone sculpture, and in the dissemination of Egyptian religion throughout the Mediterranean. She has previously been a postdoctoral fellow at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles and a research assistant at King’s College London on the digital resource The Art of Making in Antiquity: Stoneworking in the Roman World.

Alice Williams

Alice Williams is a DPhil student at the University of Oxford researching the display and reception of ancient Egyptian material at the London annual archaeological exhibitions of the late nineteenth to early twentieth century. Prior to joining the ‘Artefacts of Excavation’ project team, she studied Egyptian archaeology and museum studies and has previously held positions at the Science Museum, London, and the Egypt Exploration Society