Review of the section on Egypt
by
M.A. Eccleston
The section on Egypt in The Oxford Companion to Archaeology consists of five sub- sections: Overview, Predynastic Cultures of Egypt, Old Kingdom Egypt, Middle Kingdom Egypt and New Kingdom Egypt (194-204). As with the rest of the Companion, each of these sections is written by a different author.
The question that immediately strikes the reader when looking at this section is, 'Where are the sections on Late Period Egypt, Ptolemaic Egypt, and Roman Egypt?' Given the short length of the Overview, Silberman manages a very good three-paragraph précis of Egyptian civilisation (194). The sections on Predynastic, Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom Egypt are written by Diane Holmes, Donald B. Spanel, and Edward Bleiberg, respectively. All give a reasonably well balanced summary of important aspects of these periods. This includes short historical overviews, a summary of important archaeological discoveries, and some interpretations of this evidence.
Unfortunately, the section on Old Kingdom Egypt written by Ogden Goelet is somewhat disappointing (195-8). This section gives a summary of most of the major sites and monuments of this period, as well as raising problems such as the impact of foreign influence over Egypt during the period of unification. However, Goelet continually laments the paucity of royal inscriptions and the fact that a history of the Old Kingdom can not be written as a result. Comments such as 'Our sense of contemporary life is derived chiefly from archaeological finds' (195) seem to reflect an outdated and methodologically flawed approach. The implication is that only textual evidence, rather than excavated objects, can be used to 'write' history. The apparent disinterest in non-royal archaeology is reflected in the fact that no mention is made of the excavations conducted for the past twenty years by l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale at Ain Aseel in the Dakhleh Oasis. This is arguably the best preserved and hence one of the most important Old Kingdom settlements in Egypt. Apart from this, Goelet's summary of the major monuments and the political situation during the Old Kingdom period is quite comprehensive.
The major disappointment of the section on Egypt as a whole is the fact that nothing has been written about the later periods of Egyptian history, though Egypt is briefly mentioned in the section on the Eastern Provinces of the Roman Empire (615-8). These are as important and interesting as earlier periods and it is a major flaw not to discuss them. If time permits, one can wade through the rest of the Companion to find other sections that relate to Egypt, such as Alexandria, Karnak, and Luxor, Flinders Petrie, Pyramids of Giza, and Writing (Egyptian Hieroglyphic). These sections are not cross-referenced under Egypt and are only to be found by consulting the index at the back or leafing through the book. Unfortunately, these methods only really work if you know generally what you are looking for.
In conclusion, the section on Egypt gives the reader a good overview of Egyptian history from the Predynastic to the end of the New Kingdom period. It references many general texts and articles about each period, which would allow anyone interested to pursue more specific reading. In this respect, the Companion does fulfil its aim of summarising specialised knowledge and making it available to a wide audience, including interested non-specialists (vii).
About the reviewer
Mark Eccleston is an MSc Archaeomaterials student at the University of Sheffield and is currently writing
his dissertation on the petrographic analysis of locally produced ceramics from the
Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt. He is involved in fieldwork with the Dakhleh Oasis Project at
the Roman period site of Kellis (Ismant el-Kharab).
Copyright © M.A. Eccleston 1998
Copyright © assemblage 1998