National Museums Liverpool Blog - egypt

Volunteer Tom Hawley came along with me to a talk by our Antiquities Curator, Carolyn Routledge, and has written this blog to tell you all about it. You also can see the photos of Carolyn's trip to the 'Sacred City of Abydos' on Flickr, including her exciting journey into a tomb.

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The most recent talk by Dr. Carolyn Routledge at the Treasure House Theatre, World Museum Liverpool, was filled with tales of gore and splendour. The talk was accompanied by photographs of Dr. Routledge herself, exploring ancient tombs in the Egyptian desert.

During her time on the archaeological site in Upper Egypt, Dr. Routledge worked alongside different institutions, mainly from the United States. Dr. Routledge took us on a historical tour of some of the oldest tombs in Egypt, located in the ancient city of Abydos, about six miles west of the River Nile.

Many of the larger knives on display in the Ancient Egypt gallery and the World Museum, were thought to have been used for ritual killings. One of the bodies found in Abydos is believed to have been a male servant. It was the favourite servants who were ritually killed, buried alongside their pharaoh and taken with him to the afterlife. Some compliment indeed! The name found with this dead servant was ‘Nefer’, who also happened to be a dwarf. There is evidence to suggest that dwarves were very highly respected in ancient Egypt, holding important responsibilities. In fact, the name Nefer translates into English as beautiful, or good.

Another exhibit on display at the Ancient Egypt gallery is a red necklace, moulded from metal into the shape of an oyster shell. Dr. Routledge told us that the necklace could be made of electrum (a naturally occurring combination of gold and silver) that has corroded to a red colour, or it could be made of a gold alloy containing some copper, which is a rare ‘red gold’. They hope to find out in the future whether it is made from red gold, which would make this necklace a rare treasure!

It was interesting to discover the stories behind some of the museum’s exhibits. They’re not just beautiful, but they have remarkable tales attached to them. Make sure you check out World Museum Liverpool's events and activities page for future and upcoming events. And don’t forget… they’re all free!

If you want to hear an Egyptian Pharaoh telling you about his new fiancé or get the gossip about a runaway Egyptian servant, then check out these videos taken from the new Ancient Egypt gallery. They really bring to life some of the  types of people who would have lived and worked in Egypt at the time. Apparently, the runaway servant in question didn't want to clean his master's smelly clothes anymore, but I won't spoil the story for you!

For more videos including those of an Egyptian priest and a chantress, visit the main Egypt  videos page, where there are also links to transcripts of all the videos.

To view the video subtitles, please select the full-screen option, shown by the four arrows icon. A transcript of this video can be found here.

As you will have seen from the many posts on this blog, the new Ancient Egypt gallery at the World Museum opened to the public today. Last night some visitors were invited along to the preview opening and were greeted by the Ya Raqs Dance Troupe, who performed traditional Egyptian dances in truly glamorous costumes. The red velvet number was a particular favourite of mine. 

I spoke to 'Aziza' who said she had been dancing for about three years. The dancers were from Chester and the Wirral - I had no idea that these were such exotic places!

The gallery itself has a good spooky atmosphere now that the lighting is low, in particular the 'Realm of Osiris', which has several mummies in it. I also had a go at one of the interactives and found out what my adopted Egyptian name ('Fire Spirit Goddess' in case you were wondering!) would be in hieroglypics. You can check out more photos from the opening event on our Egyptian gallery Flickr set.

I found myself, for a few fleeting seconds, feeling quite intellectual during my last trip to the cinema. This was quite an achievement considering I had gone to see a romantic comedy about a dentist called Bertram who gains the ability to communicate with ghosts after a near death experience during a colonoscopy. I know - but it was good!

I was watching Ricky Gervais' new film, 'Ghost Town', while munching on some Revels (by the way, I'm not loving the new 'mystery sweet', I won't spoil it for you by saying what it is, but I say bring back the coffee one). In the film, Gervais' love interest is an Egyptologist and they bond over a fascination with the dental hygiene of a mummy (of course!)

They were discussing the mummy's internal organs and it was at this point in the film that I threw down my Revels and sat up excitedly, prodding my friend, as I realised I knew an Egyptian fact! I had been reading about some of the collection items from our new Egypt gallery and so I was able to say; “Look, look, those are canopic jars!”

My bewildered companion nodded and was not as impressed as I'd hoped, but I was quite pleased with myself anyway. There on the screen were indeed some canopic jars, very similar to the ones that will be on display here. These jars were used to store a mummy's organs, before being placed inside a canopic chest and buried in the tomb with the mummy. So if you go to see the film, you too can try to impress your friends with this cool Egyptian factoid. Enjoy!

You can read more about the new Egypt gallery, opening on Friday 5 December 2008 at World Museum Liverpool, on our museum developments page.