THE NEW GALLERIES OF EGYPTIAN AND NEAR EASTERN ART AT THE MICHAEL C. CARLOS MUSEUM

Page 3

Additional galleries will focus on Egypt's other neighbours in the Near East and the Levant and the role of international trade in antiquity. Displays will highlight the cultures of Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran and will illustrate Emory University's contributions to Biblical Archaeology (Fig 28) though its continued excavations in the Holy Land.

	Fig 15. Mummy of a boy. From Thebes. 25th Dynasty, c. 767-656 BC. Linen and human remains. H. 128cm. MCCM 1999.001.001. This boy was about pve years old when he died and is missing his lower limbs. Whether this was the trauma that ended his life, or was an accident in the embalmer's workshop, is unclear. The red shroud covering the mummy evokes the rising sun and the promise of re-birth.
		Fig 16. Head of Osiris. Wax and gold leaf. 26th Dynasty to Late Dynastic Period, c. 685-332 BC. H. 23 cm. MCCM 1998.13.9. This wax mask would have been placed over a figure of the god Osiris, Lord of the Underworld, which was probably made of mud and grain. The grain would sprout and symbolize resurrection. Figures of this type were placed in tombs or buried at sacred sites during festival days. The preservation of this fragile specimen is remarkable.

Fig 17. Cofjhr of the boy Horl. From Thebes. 25th Dynasty, c. 767 - 656 BC. Painted wood. H. 128 cm. MCCM 1999.001.006a-b. Children's coffins are quite rare and this interesting example appears / to have been cut down from an adult coffinn and summarily finished. The elaborately wrapped body of a boy was found inside. Fig 18 (right). Shabff of Neferlbresaneith. Faience. 26th Dynasty, 664-525 BC. H. 7.4 cm. MCCM 1998.11. Shabtis sewed as substitutes for the deceased in case he/she was required to do any labour in the afterlife. This tall, slender figurine belonged to a man named Neferibresaneith, son of Shepenbastet. The mummifonn jigure stands in the traditional pose, with arms crossed, grasping a pick in the left hand and a hoe and the cord of a basket in the right, ready and awaiting any job he might be called upon to do. It carries a version of the Sixth Chapter of the Book of the Dead.

The Michael C. Carlos Museum has the largest collection of archaeological material from the Holy Land in the southern USA, and teaching the archaeology of the ancient Near East using these collections has been a traditional practice of Emory University. This mission was the primary motivation of William A. Shelton's collecting trip through Egypt and the Middle East, which he chronicled in his book Dust and Ashes of Empire. He made significant acqufsitions in Palestine and Iraq, including a large number of tablets, inscribed bricks and cones, and cylinder seals.

The archaeological holdings of the Museum expanded significantly in 1956, as a result of Emory's support of the excavations of Jericho and Jerusalem directed by Dame Kathleen Kenyon on behalf of the British School of Archaeology. Material was also acquired through the pioneering underwater archaeology of Dr Edwin Link, who made some of the earliest investigations along the Mediterranean coast, including the harbour of Caesarea.

 

Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4