Publication Showcase: Dr Georgia Barker “Preparing for Eternity” in Old and Middle Kingdom Egypt

CACHE congratulates our Centre Member Dr Georgia Barker on the publication of her new book Preparing for Eternity: Funerary models and wall scenes from the Egyptian Old and Middle Kingdoms, BAR International Series 3070 (BAR Publishing, 2022).

During the late Old Kingdom to the end of the Middle Kingdom, there were two principal types of artistic representation in the ancient Egyptian elite tomb: funerary models and wall scenes. The two media exhibit several similarities in design, with both depicting people and animals engaged in activities of everyday life. This has caused scholars to regularly label funerary models duplicates or substitutes of wall scenes, implying that they served the same purpose in the tomb. However, there are several notable differences yet to be acknowledged. This book conducts a detailed comparative analysis of the two artistic media, focusing on representations from the sites of Meir, Deir el-Bersha and Beni Hassan in Middle Egypt. The analysis highlights the distinguishing characteristics of each medium and establishes a more precise understanding of the role of funerary models in the tomb and their relationship to wall scenes.

The results presented in this publication originated in Georgia’s PhD research. She is continuing to investigate funerary art and its historical significance in her postdoctoral research project, “Impacts of Instability: Funerary Models, Wall Scenes and Inscriptions at Asyut”.

Dr Georgia Barker is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of History and Archaeology at Macquarie University. For more on Georgia’s work, see her Macquarie University profile and engage with her on Twitter.

Image (above) front cover of “Preparing for Eternity” by G. Barker.