Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College, London

Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London A Special Exhibition Catalogue Review by Stan Parchin Trope, Betsy Teasley, Stephen Quirke and Peter Lacovara, et al. Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London (exh. cat.). Atlanta, GA: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2005. ISBN No. 1-928917-06-2 Softcover, $49.95 (US) Books dealing with both ancient Egyptian art and its scientific study rarely strike a balance in their treatment of the two topics. From an art historian's perspective, Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London excels in its even coverage of both subjects. This highly readable catalogue for the special exhibition of the same name describes in 205 pages more than 160 works of art and artifacts from a renowned British collection. The show's United States tour began in April 2005 at Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta, Georgia and continues through June 2009. The objects are explained in 12 richly illustrated chapters that deal with various aspects of ancient Egyptian art and material culture: chronology; sculpture; archaeology; sites; weights and measures; daily life; writing; arts and crafts; ceramics; funerary works; tools and weapons; and faience and glass objects. First and foremost, Excavating Egypt... is the story of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, founded through bequest in 1892 by writer Amelia Edwards (1831-1892) at University College London. It was named after Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942), a professor of Egyptian Archaeology. Edwards' numerous trips to the land of the pharaohs were described in her popular A Thousand Miles Up the Nile (1877); the book introduced British readers to Egypt, its people and ancient monuments.

English

2005

205 Pages

23 x 27 cm