News and events
Upcoming events
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Australian Centre for Egyptology Early Career Researcher Showcase,
Please join us in November for our final event for 2024, the Australian Centre for Egyptology Early Career Researcher Showcase, which will feature six presentations by senior PhD students and recent graduates about their current research. The afternoon will be offered both in-person and via Zoom.
When: Saturday, 9 November 2024
Time: 1:30 - 5:00 pm
Where: Function Centre, 25C WW, room 122
Cost (includes afternoon tea for in-person attendance):
Member: $45.00 (in-person or Zoom)
Student: $30.00 (in-person or Zoom)
Non-member: $55.00 (in-person or Zoom)
Parking
Parking will be free on the afternoon if car registration details are provided on the booking form.
Attendance
The Rundle Foundation for Egyptian Archaeology will email the Zoom link directly to Zoom attendees approx. 48 hours before the conference commences. Please use that link to access the event. The link should not be shared with others. Also: Choice of attendance mode (in-person or Zoom) cannot be changed on the day of the conference.
To book, please click here: https://payments.mq.edu.au/ECRSHOWCASE2024
LECTURE 6
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LECTURE 5
In Search of the Ancient Nile Lecture
Join us in person on Wednesday July 24 at 5.00 pm (AEDT) for the next presentation in the 2024 Australian Centre for Egyptology / Rundle Foundation for Egyptian Archaeology lecture series. The lecture entitled, ‘In search of the ancient Nile’, will be presented by Tim Ralph, Associate Professor in Natural Sciences at Macquarie University.
Refreshments will be served from 5pm, the lecture commences at 5.30pm.
Abstract: Rivers are dynamic features in the landscape. They can change in size, shape and location in response to prevailing environmental conditions. As the lifeblood of Egypt, the Nile and its past courses have been studied and debated for centuries. People and places moved with the river, and over time settlements, communities and their monuments rose and fell. This talk will explain how a multidisciplinary team mapped and confirmed the presence of an extensive ancient path of the Nile River, the Ahramat Branch, meaning the “Pyramid Branch”, extending for more than 60 km along the Western Desert margin of the Nile floodplain from upstream of Lisht to Giza. The findings show how satellite remote sensing, geophysical surveys, geomorphological interpretations, and sediment analysis together tell the story of the ancient Nile, its relevance for the Egyptian pyramid chain, and its eventual decline and abandonment as the river moved to the east.
See related stories in Nature and The Conversation.
Where: Building 25C WW, room 120/121 (above the Macquarie University History Museum) and via Zoom: https://macquarie.zoom.us/j/86840977078
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LECTURE 4
Please join us on Wednesday, May 22 for the next presentation in the 2024 Rundle Foundation for Egyptian Archaeology lecture series. The paper will be presented by Dr Martin Odler from Newcastle University (UK), and is entitled: Recent developments in the research of ancient Egyptian copper metallurgy.
Time: 5:30-6:30pm (refreshments from 5pm)
Where: 23WW, Theatre 1 (near the Price Theatre) – please note the new location
Zoom: https://macquarie.zoom.us/j/86840977078
Abstract: Over the last decade, there has been an upsurge in research on ancient Egyptian copper metallurgy and metal objects, clarifying many unanswered questions, but also producing new ones. In the lecture, the focus will be on the use of copper by ancient Egyptians and Nubians, from the Predynastic through the Early Dynastic Period, Old and Middle Kingdoms, and until the end of the Second Intermediate Period (c. 4000–1600 BC). The main practical material of these eras was arsenical copper, and although several analytical programmes identified many such artefacts, the practical consequences of its use were never investigated in detail in ancient Egypt and Nubia. Popular notions of Egyptian “primitive” technology are not based on facts, and the lecture will present advances in four major parts of the ancient Egyptian chaîne opératoire: initial procurement and processing of ore; storage and transactions with copper; artefact production, and artefact use. Finally, early results of the current postdoctoral project of the author will be presented: a project EgypToolWear – Metalwork Wear Analysis of Ancient Egyptian Tools, taking place at Newcastle University, under the guidance of Prof. Andrea Dolfini.
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LECTURE 3
Please join us on Tuesday May 14 at 11:00am (AEDT) for a special presentation for the Australian Centre for Egyptology / Rundle Foundation for Egyptian Archaeology. The lecture entitled, ‘Dolls of the Dead: Ushabtis as Victorian and Edwardian magical talismans’, will be delivered by Dr Jasmine Day, who is President of The Ancient Egypt Society of Western Australia Inc. and an Ambassador of the International Society for the Study of Egyptomania.
When: 11am-12pm
Where: 25C WW (Arts Precinct), room 120/121
Zoom link: macquarie.zoom.us/j/86840977078
Abstract: Despite the current decolonisation of Egyptology, insufficient research has been undertaken into the historic trade in Egyptian antiquities (Hagen and Ryholt 2016:7), especially the lower end of the market that supplied small portable souvenirs to tourists. The affective dimension of this market – the emotional and imaginative relationships that purchasers had with artefacts – has also been largely overlooked as Egyptologists seek to distance themselves from past collecting practices. We must reconstruct ethnographies of collecting, linking the evidence for personal receptions of ancient Egypt with the material record of the touristic antiquities trade that survives in museums, private collections and the current antiquities market.
An example of this ethnography is a previously undocumented phenomenon, the gifting of ushabti figurines as “dolls” in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In this era of high infant mortality and widespread European belief in luck (Luckhurst 2012), small ushabtis were purchased as talismans to safeguard the lives of girls and women, as documented in letters accompanying the gifts. This sheds new light on the significance of Margaret “Unsinkable Molly” Brown taking a ushabti in her pocket as she escaped the Titanic and the many small ushabtis, often tied to strings of mummy beads, in museum collections. Other touristic souvenirs, including ancient fragments reassembled into new kinds of objects, pose questions about the ideologies of their manufacturers and purchasers. A closer study of the souvenirs from Victorian and Edwardian travellers’ trips to Egypt can reveal sociocultural phenomena for which little other evidence may survive.
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LECTURE 2
Please join us on Wednesday March 20 at 5.30 pm (AEDT) for the next presentation in the Australian Centre for Egyptology / Rundle Foundation for Egyptian Archaeology lecture series for 2024.
The lecture entitled, ‘The Egyptian 'conquest' of Nubia: Stories of cooperation and coexistence’, will be presented by Dr Aaron de Souza, who is an Honorary Associate in the Australian Centre for Egyptology.
Abstract: Like feuding neighbours, ancient Egypt and Nubia existed in an almost constant state of tension. The balance of power shifted back and forth, punctuated by small-scale incursions, until the full-scale Egyptian colonisation of their southern rival. The pharaohs of the New Kingdom inherited a long and complicated history along with the task of controlling ancient Nubia and its mineral wealth that were vital to maintaining Egypt’s dominance in the region. But as with all relationships, the story of Egypt and Nubia is not a one-way street. Using Ma'at as his narrative thread, Aaron will unpack the relationship between Egypt and Nubia from the Predynastic Period onwards. Rather than focussing on the traditional narrative of Egyptian dominance over Nubia, he will take a more nuanced perspective that highlights Nubia's many impacts on Egyptian culture and identity.
The talk will take place via Zoom: https://macquarie.zoom.us/j/86840977078
Everyone welcome!
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Photo: Sowada et al, JASR 49 June 2023, 103978, Fig. 1, © April 2023 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Come celebrate the start of the academic year with wine and cheese followed by a free hybrid lecture.
Dr Karin Sowada
The Queen's Jewels: Silver and the bracelets of Hetepheres I (c. 2600 BC)
Abstract
The silver bracelets of queen Hetepheres I (c. 2600 BC), mother of pyramid-builder king Khufu, are the most famous silver artefacts from early Egypt known today. This lecture presents recent scientific analysis on a bracelet in the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) conducted by an international collaborative team. The research program delivered significant new information about early Egyptian silver-working, the elemental composition of the metal, and origins of the silver ore. Lead (Pb) isotope analysis revealed the Aegean as its source, exposing hitherto unknown distant trade routes.
When: Wednesday, February 28th, 2024
Time: 5.30–6.30pm. Refreshments will be served from 5pm
Where: Room 120/121, 25C WW (Arts Precinct, on campus at Macquarie University)
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2024 Annual Mini Conference
Please join us for the 2024 mini conference of the Australian Centre for Egyptology, which focuses this year on New Horizons in Egyptian Archaeology and will feature reports on recent fieldwork in Egypt and staff research projects.
When: Saturday, April 6, 2024
Time: 1:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Where: Function Centre, 25C WW, room 122
Cost (includes afternoon tea):
Member: $50.00
Student: $40.00
Non-member: $60.00
N.B. Parking will be free on the afternoon if car registration details are provided on the booking form.
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Come in person or join us online using this Zoom link here.
Past Events
- ACE Annual Conference, 2022: Learn more about the conference topic.
- The AEC6 Conference, 2022: Learn more about the event.
News
Ramses: golden treasures of the superstar pharaoh come to Sydney
What was Egypt like 3,300 years ago? You had to be there! And thanks to a new blockbuster exhibition at the Australian Museum, you can be. Read more about this exciting exhibition in The Lighthouse or view the video.
Secrets of the ancient Nile the subject of a new expedition
Dr Tim Ralph from Macquarie University’s School of Natural Sciences will join an international team on a field expedition to Egypt in December to investigate previously unknown former Nile River branches near the ancient Meidum Pyramid Complex, which is more than 4000 years old. Read more about this in The Lighthouse.
Silver in Ancient Egypt
Surviving tomb robbers and time, jewellery owned by ancient Egyptian royalty in around 2600 BC is helping shed new light on the beginnings of the globalised world.
Read the full ABC article, featuring the study's lead author Karin Sowada, director of the Australian Centre for Egyptology at Macquarie University.
Multidisciplinary discovery of ancient restoration
Read more about this publication
Macquarie researchers have used cutting-edge medical technology to reveal a previously unknown method of preserving Egyptian mummies.
A world-first discovery at Macquarie University published today challenges what we know about ancient Egyptian mummification and raises questions about mummified bodies held in collections worldwide.
A team led by Dr Karin Sowada, a research fellow at Macquarie’s Department of History and Archaeology, examined the layers encasing a mummified adult woman kept at the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney, using advanced CT scans (computed tomography).
3D visualisation and cross-sectional scans revealed a carapace, or shell, encasing the body made from mud and straw sandwiched between layers of linen. Typically, this shell is made from resin, an imported material at the time.
“Mummified bodies in collections all over the world have been sitting right under our noses for generations. The application of new technology can reveal totally new information which challenges what we previously knew,” Sowada says.
The family likely organised a mud carapace as a form of ancient conservation to assist her transition to the hereafter.
Mummification is the process used to preserve the dead by drying and embalming, practiced widely in many ancient cultures. Archaeologists had not recorded the use of mud carapaces within layers of textile wrappings as a technique in Egyptian mummification before now.
Sowada was involved in conducting initial scans on the mummified body in 1999 during which the carapace was first discovered. Nearly two decades later, working with radiologist Professor John Magnussen, bio-archaeologist Professor Ronika Power and the museum’s senior curator Dr James Fraser who initiated the project, she analysed new CT scans.
“The technology has improved enormously for medical purposes. And so the new visualisations of the wrapped body are incredibly good, many times better, than in the late ‘90s,” she says. “We can see so much more detail.”
In a CT scan, radiologists use computerised X-ray imaging creating a narrow beam of X-rays around the body or object to produce cross-sectional images. Improved computing enhances analysis of scans, enabling better visualisation of what lies beneath the wrappings.
Conservation or imitation?
Dr Timothy Murphy, a geochemist at Macquarie, helped determine that the carapace consisted of a thin base layer of mud, coated with a white calcite-based pigment and a red-painted surface of mixed composition.
In the detail: 3D-rendered CT images of the mummified adult woman. 21st-century medical technology allows 'incredibly good' visualisations. Photo credit: Chau Chak Wing Museum and Macquarie Medical Imaging.
Previously, researchers had discovered resinous paste and linen shells within mummy wrappings through autopsies and radiological imaging. Yet such shells are little studied and usually assumed to be made of resin, based on comparison with bodies of the Egyptian elite.
Ancient Egyptians believed that mummification helped transition the deceased from death to the afterlife and rebirth, Sowada says. “Some of the bones had separated from each other, damage probably caused by ancient tomb-robbers. The family likely organised a mud carapace as a form of ancient conservation to assist her transition to the hereafter.”
Another hypothesis is that the mud carapace is an example of 'elite emulation'. The deceased’s family may not have been able to afford the expensive resin which was used by Egyptian elite classes and imported from the Mediterranean coast, so they used cheaper, readily available mud – probably from the nearby Nile.
“Even today, when the rich and famous decide to do something it often sparks a fashion trend that percolates down to the rest of society who try to copy it,” Sowada says.
The mystery mummy
The research team also partnered with Dr Geraldine Jacobsen and her team at ANSTO (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation) to radiocarbon date the linen wrappings. The ANSTO team discovered the wrappings date to the 12th century BC, around 3200 years ago. This led to another puzzling discovery.
New views: The mummified woman, encased in a modern sleeve for conservation, and its coffin (left) and CT images showing transverse views of the carapace at different locations. Photo credit: Chau Chak Wing Museum and Macquarie Medical Imaging
“Carbon dating revealed a discrepancy of 150-200 years between the date of the mummified person and its coffin,” Sowada says. “Based on the decorative style, the coffin dates to about 1000 BC. The results indicate that the body is older than the coffin and does not belong to it.”
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The inscription on the wooden coffin names the original occupant as the lady Meruah, ‘Mistress of the House’, ‘Chantress of Amun’ and ‘Adorant of Mut in Isheru’. Mut was the consort of the god Amun and Isheru is the ancient name given to part of her temple at the Karnak complex in ancient Thebes.
Sowada says these titles suggest the original person in the coffin was a married woman of relatively high status.
The coffin and the associated body were part of a collection by philanthropist and politician, Sir Charles Nicholson, who donated it to the University of Sydney in 1860 after he bought it during a trip to Egypt a few years earlier.
“Perhaps, the dealer who sold it to Nicholson just rustled up a mummified body from another source to fill the empty coffin. The dealer probably thought a tourist wasn’t going to know the difference,” Sowada says.
Dr Karin Sowada (pictured with Candace Richards, Acting Curator of the Nicholson Collection) is a specialist in the archaeology of Egypt and the Middle East, and Research Fellow in the Department of History and Achaeology.