Egyptian Archaeology and the Twenty-First Century Museum

Egyptian Archaeology and the Twenty-First Century Museum 

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2022   

Alice Stevenson

This Element addresses the cultural production of ancient Egypt in the museum as a mixture of multiple pasts and presents that cohere around collections; their artefacts, documentation, storage, research, and display. Its four sections examine how ideas about the past are formed by museum assemblages: how their histories of acquisition and documentation shape interpretation, the range of materials that comprise them, the influence of their geographical framing, and the moments of remaking that might be possible. Throughout, the importance of critical approaches to interpretation is underscored, reasserting the museum as a site of active research and experiment, rather than only exhibitionary product or communicative media. It argues for a multi-directional approach to museum work that seeks to reveal the inter-relations of collection histories and which has implications not just for museum representation and documentation, but also for archaeological practice more broadly.

This Element is free online from 19th August - 2nd September

 

Series: Elements in Ancient Egypt in Context

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009070348[Opens in a new window]

Online ISBN: 9781009070348

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication: 30 September 2022

Element contents

• Summary
• 1
  Introduction
• 1.1
  The Twenty-First Century Museum
• 1.2
  Egypt, an Exotic Chronotope
• 1.3
  Multi-Directional Curatorship
• 2
  Collecting Histories
• 2.1
  Periodization
• 2.2
  Acquisition Histories
• 2.3
  Documenting Histories
• 2.4
  The Antiquities Market
• 3
  Materials
• 3.1
  Photographs
• 3.2
  Replicas
• 3.3
  Restoration and Conservation
• 4
  Space and Place
• 4.1
  Buildings
• 4.2
  Egypt in Egypt
• 4.3
  Egypt in Africa
• 5
  Experimental Reassembling