Certificate in Egyptology graduation ceremony July 2009

Certificate in Egyptology graduation ceremony 2009

The 2009 graduates of the Online Certificate in Egyptology, directed by Professor Rosalie David and taught by Dr Joyce Tyldesley, had their graduation ceremony at the Museum last Friday afternoon. In the photo you will see the graduating students, together with Rosalie David in the centre and Joyce Tyldesley to her right, and the course tutors, in formal dress: Angela Thomas (front right), myself (behind Angela), Glenn Godenho (at the back, next to me).

Curator’s Diary, Tuesday 7th July 2009

We are hosting four curators on the British Museum’s

Coptos crown of Ramesses II

International Curatorial Training Programme for ten days in Manchester, half the time at the Museum with me and half at the time at the Whitworth Art Gallery. The curators are Joyce and Aba from Ghana and Hayam and Hesham from Egypt. They arrived on the train from London yesterday lunchtime, and Manchester has welcomed them with a downpour ever since!

Today they did short presentations on their jobs and professional interests, and then had meetings with Museum staff to discuss our InTouch volunteer programme, using new media such as Twitter, Flickr and blogs, the new Manchester gallery, and the work of the joint academic-university appointments, in particular the Online Certificate in Egyptology, run by one of our joint appointment staff, Joyce Tyldesley.

I will upload photos of their stay shortly. In the meantime, here is an image of crown from a statue of Ramesses II, from Coptos, on display, recently photographed for a researcher.

Curator’s Diary, Friday 26th June 2009

I have been away from the Museum a fair amount over the last few weeks so it has been good to spend the week catching up. One of my volunteers, Trillion, has

Roman glass bottle from Antinoe

completed the reboxing and record photography of the glass collection that we moved into the Egyptology inorganic store from Archaeology a few weeks ago. The collection includes the Roman period bottle from Antinoe to the right, as well as many glass fragments and inlays from Amarna. Another of my volunteers, Anthi, is working through the collections of amulet and inlay moulds, reboxing, photographing and cataloging them.

We had a project team meeting on Thursday to discuss ongoing plans for the redevelopment of the Egypt and Archeology galleries, which will be referred to as the Ancient World galleries – watch this space for further information, and links to the Ancient World gallery development blog, soon to go live!

I will be at The British Museum on Monday giving a presentation on The Manchester Museum and The Whitworth Art Gallery to the curators on the International Curatorial Training Programme.

Curator’s Diary, Monday 15th June 2009

I spent a few days in Chicago last week, visiting the Oriental Institute Museum and the Field

Tutankhamun at the Oriental Institute Museum

Museum, both wonderful places. Emily Teeter very kindly took me though the galleries and stores of the Oriental Museum, and talked about the work of the Oriental Institute Museum. The newly redeveloped galleries (they were reopened in 2004) encompass the whole of the Middle East and display the fieldwork and research the Oriental Institute, as well as the material culture of the ancient civilisations. At the Field Museum, Jim Phillips, a curator in the Anthropology Department who has responsibility for the Egypt collections, showed me around this vast institution and talked about the plans to redevelop the Egypt displays. Both Emily and Jim were extraordinary helpful and generous with their time, many thanks! If you are ever in Chicago, make sure to visit both museums, especially the Oriental Institute Museum if you are interested in Egypt, you will be in for a treat.

Egypt in its African Context webpage

The webpage is now available for the Egypt in its African Context event to be held at The Manchester Museum on the 3-4 October 2009:

http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/collection/ancientegypt/conference/

- or click on the link on the right hand side of this blog.

Curator’s Diary, Monday 1st June 2009

We have had to close the Death and the Afterlife Gallery for approximately two weeks. This

Taking the coffin lid out of the case

is because the replica of the Kyrenia ship, which hangs above the gallery, has become a little unsafe, and the decision has been taken to construct a scaffold to support the boat. The scaffold will go up next week, and this will allow visitors to walk through the gallery again, although some parts of it will remain off-limits until the future of the boat is decided. Jenny and Abby from conservation, Susan, the Curatorial Assitant, and myself, spent the morning emptying some of the cases of the most fragile objects so that the scaffolding could besafely installed, and then the technicians came in to move the large case holding the coffin lid that stands right under the boat.

EES Annual Conference 2009: New Explorations

20-21 June 2009

The Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

The Egypt Exploration Society’s annual conference this year presents recent fieldwork by its field directors, including the work at Tell Basta (ancient Bubastis), the Dakhleh Oasis, Memphis and Saqqara and survey work at Karnak. The conference includes a wine reception on Saturday evening, and book sales.

Student Member £50.00, Student Non-Member £65.00; Reduced Price: Student Member £30.00 Student Non-Member £35.00

Stop Press: discounts on student tickets are now available!

For further information, and booking, please contact Roo Mitcheson (roo.mitcheson@ees.ac.uk). Programme details can be found from here: http://www.ees.ac.uk/membership/events.htm

Curator’s Diary, Thursday 28th May 2009

Mnajdra temple

I have just returned from a few days break in Malta, just lovely – the image shows part of Mnajdra temple, dating to a little before the Pyramids.

Before going away, we hosted a Study Day at the Museum, on Daily Life in ancient Egypt, with Joyce Tyldesley and Stephen Snape, which was very enjoyable – we had lectures and store tours looking at relevant objects. The Saturday before, the Wirral Ancient Egypt Society paid a visit for a morning of tours and a handling session. I also went down to Oxford on a lovely sunny day to give a research seminar, and attended a board meeting of the Egypt Exploration Society in London.

This week at the Museum we have been developing faience research project outlines for students, with Conservation and Manchester Metropolitan University, to look at the composition of the material and how it deteriorates, and the best environment for storing faience artefacts. I’m also catching up with research enquiries, and have a researcher in next week photographing some of the Predynastic palettes in preperation for publication. Tomorrow I will be in the stores, continuing to document and store jewellery from earlier displays.

Ancient Egypt Study Day at The Manchester Museum

DAILY LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT: A GLIMPSE BEHIND THE SCENES

Saturday 16^th May 2009, 9.45 am – 4.30 pm

The Manchester Museum, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL

- Just  a few places left!

Cost £35; limited number of concessions at £20, includes lunch and refreshments

Speakers: Karen Exell,  Steven Snape, Joyce Tyldesley

Please contact Phyllis Stoddart on 0161 275 2643 for further information, or email her at phyllis.stoddart@manchester.ac.uk

Curator’s Diary Wednesday 29th April 2009

The two weeks since Easter have been taken up with a number of researchers from the UK and

Shabti of Horudja, 30th Dynasty

abroad coming to look at material in the collection, including Dr Daniela Rosenow from the Tell Basta Project (Berlin), Melanie Pitkin (Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia) looking at First Intermediate Period material, and a group from Holland looking at the shabti collection, of which we have 799, including 58 of a man called Horudja (see image).

Volunteers have been working on repacking the glass collection, scanning images of material from Kahun to be added to the collections database, and documenting the shells.

My own work has focussed on putting together a conference grant application for the Egypt in its African Context symposium to be held at The Manchester Museum in October 2009 (see the relevant post on this blog) and developing the programme for the visit of four curators from overseas to spend 10 days in Manchester in July, at the Museum and the Whitworth Art Gallery, as part of The British Museum’s International Curatorial Training Programme.