Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T05:06:13.685Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

17 - Reclaiming the Archive

The Contribution of Egyptian Women to the Archaeologies of the Delta (1880–1924)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2024

Katherine Blouin
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Get access

Summary

In this short chapter, I consider the representation of and contribution of Egyptian women to archaeology as suggested by the archaeological archive. I do so by looking at Flinders Petrie’s Delta excavation archives (1880–1924), reflecting thereby on the biases and absences in the record through a female Indigenous archaeologist lens. By highlighting the instances of recording Egyptian women in the colonial archive, and by reflecting on what such rare recording occasions can reveal, I centre not only the roles played by women, but also the strategic narcissism through which Egyptian women were, and at times still are, (un)seen. As an acknowledgement of the role they have played in the overall archaeological knowledge production process, I also challenge the persistence of colonial framing by referring to Egyptian male and female members of the excavations as ‘archaeologists’ rather than as ‘workforce’.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Nile Delta
Histories from Antiquity to the Modern Period
, pp. 595 - 610
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abd el-Gawad, H. and Stevenson, A. 2021. ‘Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage: Using Comic Art for Multidirectional Storytelling’, Journal of Social Archaeology 21(1): 121145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abd el-Gawad, Heba and Alice, Stevenson. 2023. “Egyptian mummified remains: communities of descent and practice.” In The Routledge Handbook of Museums, Heritage and Death, edited by Biers, Trisha and Clary, Katie. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Drower, M. D. 2004. Flinders Petrie: A Life in Archaeology. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Editorial. 2021. ‘Women Must Not Be Obscured in Science’s History’, Nature 591: 501502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
El Saadawi, N. 1983. Woman at Point Zero. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Listen to Her! Turning the Volume up on Egypt’s Ordinary Women. 14 September–22 December 2018. London: Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology.Google Scholar
MacDonald, S., and Catherine, S. 2004. ‘Uncovering Ancient Egypt’. In Public Archaeology, edited by Nick, Merriman, 109131. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
McMaster, H. R. 2021. Battlegrounds: The Battle to Defend the Free World. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.Google Scholar
Quirke, S. 2010. Hidden Hands: Egyptian Workforces in Petrie Excavation Archives, 1880–1924. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Riggs, Chr. 2019. Photographing Tutankhamun: Archaeology, Ancient Egypt, and the Archive. London: Routledge.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×