The Arts of Making in Ancient Egypt

This book provides an innovative analysis of the conditions of ancient Egyptian craftsmanship in the light of the archaeology of production, linguistic analysis, visual representation and ethnographic research.During the past decades, the "imaginative" figure of ancient Egyptian material producers has moved from "workers" to "artisans" and, most recently, to "artists". In a search for a fuller understanding of the pragmatics of material production in past societies, and moving away from a series of modern preconceptions, this volume aims to analyse the mechanisms of material production in Egypt during the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1550 BC), to approach the profile of ancient Egyptian craftsmen through their own words, images and artefacts, and to trace possible modes of circulation of ideas among craftsmen in material production.The studies in the volume address the mechanisms of ancient production in Middle Bronze Age Egypt, the circulation of ideas among craftsmen, and the profiles of the people involved, based on the material traces, including depictions and writings, the ancient craftsmen themselves left and produced.Contents:Sculpture Workshops: who, where and for whom?Simon ConnorThe Artistic Copying Network Around the Tomb of Pahery in Elkab (EK3): a New Kingdom case studyAlisee DevillersAntiquity Bound to Modernity. The significance of Egyptian workers in modern archaeology in EgyptMaximilian GeorgEpistemological Things! Mystical Things! Towards an ancient Egyptian ontologyAmr El HawaryCentralized and Local Production, Adaptation, and Imitation: Twelfth Dynasty offering tablesAlexander Ilin-TomichTo Show and to Designate: attitudes towards representing craftsmanship and material culture in Middle Kingdom elite tombsClaus JurmanPrecious Things? The social construction of value in Egyptian society, from production of objects to their use (mid 3rd-mid 2nd millennium BC)Christelle MazéFaience Craftsmanship in the Middle Kingdom. A market paradox: inexpensive materials for prestige goods?Gianluca MiniaciLeather Processing, Castor Oil, and Desert/Nubian Trade at the Turn of the 3rd/2nd Millennium BC: some speculative thoughts on Egyptian craftsmanshipJuan Carlos Moreno GarcíaLanguages of Artists: closed and open channelsStephen QuirkeCraft Production in the Bronze Age. A comparative view from South AsiaShereen RatnagarThe Egyptian Craftsman and the Modern Researcher: the benefits of archeometrical analysesPatricia Rigault, Caroline ThomasThe Representation of Materials, an Example of Circulations of Formal Models among Workmen. An insight into the New Kingdom practicesKarine SeigneauStaging Restricted Knowledge: the sculptor Irtysen's self-presentation (ca. 2000 BCE)Andreas StauderThe Nubian Mudbrick Vault. A Pharaonic building technique in Nubian village dwellings of the early 20th CenturyLilli Zabrana