‘Death on the Nile: Uncovering the Afterlife of Ancient Egypt’ reflects the continuing public fascination with Egyptian coffins, mummies and burials. This new volume draws on 100 objects from the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Egyptian collection, and deepens our understanding of the lives and concerns of ancient Egyptians as they prepared themselves for death and burial.
The book builds on the growing trend in Egyptology to use techniques of scientific analysis and imaging to examine artefacts from Egyptian antiquity. The Fitzwilliam Museum has carried out an extensive project, involving Egyptologists, research scientists and conservators, to investigate every aspect of its impressive collection of coffins and shed new light on their production in the workshops of ancient Egypt.
‘Death on the Nile’ traces the religious beliefs of the people for whom the coffins were created, and how those beliefs changed over time. Comparisons of contemporaneous coffins likewise reveal how the economic and political structure of the period determined the burial options available to individuals in different social strata. Choices of materials and methods used to create the coffins add to the human story of the daily concerns and aspirations of the customer, and practical realities for the craftsman. AUTHOR: Helen Strudwick is curator of the Egyptian galleries at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. SELLING POINTS: . Features 90 objects from the Fitzwilliam’s remarkable Egyptian collection, with additional contextual drawings, paintings, diagrams and photographs . A fascinating insight into the daily concerns and aspirations of the customer and practical realities for the craftsman. 200 colour illustrations