Miniaci, Alù, Saler, Forte (eds), “Clay Figurines in Context: Crucibles of Egyptian, Nubian, and Levantine Societies in the Middle Bronze Age (2100–1550 a.C.) and Beyond”
Gianluca Miniaci, Cristina Alù, Camilla Saler e Vanessa Forte (eds), Clay Figurines in Context: Crucibles of Egyptian, Nubian, and Levantine Societies in the Middle Bronze Age (2100–1550 a.C.) and Beyond, Middle Kingdom Studies 17, London 2024.
Since prehistory, ancient Egyptians crafted figurines depicting humans, animals, and other subjects. However, scholars have largely overlooked the category of clay figurines, both fired and unfired, due to the perceived lack of value of the material and variable preservation of their organic material composition. Despite this, clay figurines offer a unique glimpse into ancient peoples’ ideas, gestures, and attitudes, particularly when shaped by hand. Their prevalence, malleability, and portability make them accessible to people of all economic and social backgrounds. This volume focuses on Egyptian clay figurines from the Bronze Age, ranging from approximately 2100 to 1550 BC, and also includes examples from the neighboring countries of Nubia and the Levant, as they are the most immediate corresponding partners in terms of diffusion and entanglement of material culture. The papers in this volume aim to examine previously under- or unexplored topics relating to clay figurines, such as their archaeological context, manufacturing techniques, technological processes, classification, agency, and social significance. Additionally, two sections of the volume will be dedicated to comparative material from the 4th and 3rd millennium BC and the Late Bronze Age.
Table of contents
Theory and Methods
Ulrike Dubiel, “Images in Clay: Aspects of Image Production beyond the Residence”
Wolfram Grajetzki, “Clay and Ceramic Figurines in Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period Burials”
Clay Figurines before the II Millennium: A Comparative Glimpse
Elizabeth Brice, “Here and There, but not Everywhere: Predynastic Zoomorphic Figurines as Regionally Diverse Objects during the Early-mid Fourth Millennium BC”
Axelle Brémont-Bellini, “Not to be Lumped Together. Differences in Context, Typology and Use Practices of Bovine Figurines in the Predynastic Period”
Paul Whelan, “A Canid Conundrum: Questions Raised by the Early Dynastic Figurine Corpus from Abydos”
Clay Figurines in Middle Bronze Age Egypt
Clara Jeuthe, “Remarks on Figurines and their Find Contexts from the Excavations in Ayn Asil, Dakhla Oasis”
Gianluca Miniaci, “Context, Dating, and Assemblage for the Clay Figurines of Lahun: Open Questions and Documented Parallels”
Angela M. J. Tooley, Nicholas S. Picardo, “Peculiar People: Plaque Figurines from Wah-sut (South Abydos)”
Cristina Alù, Hannah B. Page. “Decoding Decoration on Middle Kingdom Egyptian Clay Figurines: Body Modification or Ornamentation?”
Victoria Jensen, “Clay Figurines and Models from the Palace, Settlement, and Cemeteries of Deir el-Ballas”
Marwa Abdel Razek, “Second Intermediate Period Female Figurines in Clay from the Cairo Museum”
Diana Craig Patch, “Agency in a Seventeenth Dynasty Burial: A Pair of Figurines”
Émilie Sarrazin, “The Women Who Gathered at Tell Edfu: An Archaeological Discussion on an Assemblage of Female Figurines from the Second Intermediate Period and Early New Kingdom”
Luisa M. García González, Ana Díaz Blanco, “A Particular Middle Kingdom Figure Pottery Vessel from Tomb QH35p of Qubbet el-Hawa (Aswan, Egypt)”
Clay Figurines in Middle Bronze Age Nubia
Josef Wegner, “A New Look at the Figurine Assemblage of the Lower Nubian C-Group Settlement at Areika”
Jenny Butterworth, “Lower Nubian C-Group Figurines: Defining the Anthropomorphic Corpus”
Anna Uhlschmidt, “Grazing the Eternal Horizon: Animal Figurines at the Northern Cemetery of Aniba”
Clay Figurines in Middle Bronze Age Western Asia
Maciej Makowski, “Mesopotamian Clay Figurines on the Turn? Typological and Quantitative Approaches to the Study of Coroplastic Art during the Transition from the Third to the Second Millennium BC”
Frances Pinnock, “A Group of Mysterious Clay Figurines from Middle Bronze II Ebla”
Camilla Saler, “Clay Figurines from Deposit α (Nos 7852–7902) in the Field of Offerings at Byblos”
The Technological Aspects of the Clay Figurines
Vanessa Forte, “The Incomplete Chaîne Opératoire: Potentials of the Traceological Approach applied to Figurines made of
Unfired Clay”
Hannah B. Page, “Of Marl and Faience: Compositional Analysis of the Unfired Clay Figurines from Lisht with Portable ED-XRF”
Athena Van der Perre, Dennis Braekmans, Vanessa Boschloos, Hendrik Hameeuw, “Skin-deep: Typology, Chemical Characterisation and Innovative Imaging of Unfired Clay Egyptian Execration Figurines at the National Museum for Antiquities, Leiden”
Beyond Middle Bronze Age Figurines: A Change in the Continuity
Patryk Chudzik, “Clay Cow Figurines and their Place in the Votive Practices of the Hathor Cult in the Light of New Evidence from the Theban Necropolis”
Audrey Crabbé, “Magazine Menagerie: Preliminary Results on the Clay Animal Figurines of Magazine 23 at Deir el-Medina”
Kathrin Gabler, Martina Landrino, “Mud Made for Eternity: Two Life-Size Muna-Statues from TT 217”
