Ancient Egypt in 50 Discoveries

by Stephanie Boonstra, Campbell Price

Genres: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 236
Rating:

Synopsis:

This book presents the unique history of ancient Egypt through 50 artefacts discovered during excavations of the EES since its founding in 1882. They are brought together in this beautifully illustrated volume from global museums: from major collections as well as those that are a little less known. Readers will travel through three millennia of Egypt’s history from the Early Dynastic to the end of the Graeco-Roman Period uncovering the daily lives of the ancient Egyptians by investigating everyday items, as well as the elite objects of the ruling classes. 90 illustrations.

Alongside these artefacts, further topics are unpacked relating to the history of Egypt and Egyptology as well as those characters that have played a role in the ‘discovery’ of ancient Egypt.

Each object entry is written by an expert in their field. Contributions include several items from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the Metropolitan Museum in New York as well as the University Museum of Kyoto, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, and Bolton Museum.

Ancient Egypt in 50 Discoveries is nominally written by Stephanie Boonstra and Campbell Price, but they also acted as editors, gathering together a bunch of contributions from others associated with the Egypt Exploration Society.

As a result, though it’s a lovely volume with some good (full-colour) photographs of various finds, it has a somewhat disjointed feel; there are extra sections with info that repeats from the main objects and vice versa, and it doesn’t quite feel like a cohesive narrative. Some of the objects are related to each other, but most stand alone, and I think it could’ve benefited by being a bit more drawn together.

Still, there are some good photos and good choices of object, and they make a good point about the later periods being less interesting to archaeologists and treated as a “decline”, while still actually producing amazing monuments equal in quality to before. It’s a bias that comes out of the fascination with a particular period of ancient Egypt, and isn’t necessarily the full truth.

As someone who knows a fair bit about ancient Egypt, a lot of the extra info wasn’t necessary for me — but would definitely help orient someone who knows less about it.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)