This is the most recent of the increasingly important series of Current Research, first started in 2000, when it was published by British Archaeological Reports. These days it’s published, in a slightly different format, by Oxbow Books (David Brown Books in the USA) and obtained from their website, price £28.00. Back numbers in the series are also available.
Each book is the proceedings of the yearly Current Research in Egyptology Annual Symposium. These offer a chance for graduate students in Egyptology around the world to present papers, and to have them published – something that is often unavailable to students.
In 2007, a total of 40 students, from 10 different countries, presented papers at Swansea University, Wales, whose Egypt Centre has an important place in European Egyptology. Of these, 13 papers are published in Current Research, which was edited this year by Egyptologists Kenneth Griffin and Meg Grundlach. (Different editors are chosen each year, avoiding any potential bias in favour of someone’s favourite subjects).
Ideas like Current Research, a short-run and cheaply available paperback, are one way of overcoming the problem of Egyptological publication. Another, equally valid, is online publication, e.g. the British Museum’s British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan (BMSAES) series, available on http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/online_journals/bmsaes/ (or of course via a search-engine under “bmsaes”).
Which papers to choose to appear in the book must be a considerable problem each year. Some papers can be excluded as they are part of a larger work in progress. The rest are generally chosen to represent as wide a range of topics as possible.
Still, I can’t help but wish that such papers as, for example, Are you sitting comfortably? Purges and Proctology in Ancient Egypt, by Jacky Finch of the University of Manchester had found a place in print! Papers not published are listed, and every year there are one or two gems that you sincerely hope will appear one day.
Still, what is published is certainly worth the price of the book, and I found the 2007 edition particularly full of absolutely fascinating information, from which even the most knowledgeable Egyptologist can learn.
Each book is the proceedings of the yearly Current Research in Egyptology Annual Symposium. These offer a chance for graduate students in Egyptology around the world to present papers, and to have them published – something that is often unavailable to students.
In 2007, a total of 40 students, from 10 different countries, presented papers at Swansea University, Wales, whose Egypt Centre has an important place in European Egyptology. Of these, 13 papers are published in Current Research, which was edited this year by Egyptologists Kenneth Griffin and Meg Grundlach. (Different editors are chosen each year, avoiding any potential bias in favour of someone’s favourite subjects).
Ideas like Current Research, a short-run and cheaply available paperback, are one way of overcoming the problem of Egyptological publication. Another, equally valid, is online publication, e.g. the British Museum’s British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan (BMSAES) series, available on http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/online_journals/bmsaes/ (or of course via a search-engine under “bmsaes”).
Which papers to choose to appear in the book must be a considerable problem each year. Some papers can be excluded as they are part of a larger work in progress. The rest are generally chosen to represent as wide a range of topics as possible.
Still, I can’t help but wish that such papers as, for example, Are you sitting comfortably? Purges and Proctology in Ancient Egypt, by Jacky Finch of the University of Manchester had found a place in print! Papers not published are listed, and every year there are one or two gems that you sincerely hope will appear one day.
Still, what is published is certainly worth the price of the book, and I found the 2007 edition particularly full of absolutely fascinating information, from which even the most knowledgeable Egyptologist can learn.
One of my own favourites was Divine determinatives in the Papyrus of Ani, by Rachel Aronin, of the University of Pennsylvania. The Papyrus of Ani is, of course, the best-known example of the so-called “Book of the Dead”, having appeared in print. Its vignettes, particularly those of the Double Judgement scene, have often been reproduced.
But as Rachel Aronin points out, these were meant to be far more than mere illustrations; there is a close relationship between the text, the pictures, and the determinatives for the deities present. It is with the determinatives, of course, that the essay is most concerned; the ways in which the names of Goddesses and Gods were written. Why, for instance, does Hathor never have the familiar snake determinative for Goddesses after Her name?
Other fascinating reads are Wells and cisterns in Pharaonic Egypt, by Henning Franzmeiter, and The central halls in the Ptolemaic temples by Amr Gaber.
Other fascinating reads are Wells and cisterns in Pharaonic Egypt, by Henning Franzmeiter, and The central halls in the Ptolemaic temples by Amr Gaber.
And there is so much else to read here, such as the question Did Ramesses III settle the Sea-Peoples in Canaan? by Pawel Wolinski, and Monuments in context: Experiences of the colossal in Ancient Egypt, by Campbell Price. Just how did Egyptians regard those huge colossi… in a world where we are familiar with the huge, and the means to move huge things, we can often overlook just how amazing such things as giant statues and obelisks must have been.
Here the author asks if colossal structures were far more than just Pharaonic egocentricity. Did the huge communal effort of assembling, moving, and then looking at them provide a means of binding society together?
What were the origins of astronomy? The subject may be considerably older than you think. In The first Decan, Rosalind Park looks at its possible Predynastic origins, 5,500 years ago.
And there is far more, of course. Worth the price? Well, you would need to have a more than superficial interest in Egyptology to appreciate the books. They are not aimed at the general reader. However, this certainly does not mean that they are written in an inaccessible, scholarly way, and the books are good for dipping into for quite short reads – the essays are, on average, around 10 pages long.
What were the origins of astronomy? The subject may be considerably older than you think. In The first Decan, Rosalind Park looks at its possible Predynastic origins, 5,500 years ago.
And there is far more, of course. Worth the price? Well, you would need to have a more than superficial interest in Egyptology to appreciate the books. They are not aimed at the general reader. However, this certainly does not mean that they are written in an inaccessible, scholarly way, and the books are good for dipping into for quite short reads – the essays are, on average, around 10 pages long.
Treat yourself to a copy? Well, why not. I do each year, anyway…
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