Normative portrayals of women by ancient Egyptian sources have resulted in an Egyptological chara... more Normative portrayals of women by ancient Egyptian sources have resulted in an Egyptological characterization of ancient Egyptian women as deriving their identity from their male associations. This paper probes the validity of this normative view by examining the extant mortuary archaeology of elite Theban women in the eighth-sixth centuries BCE.
Three major burial forms were practiced in the mortuary landscape of the Theban necropolis: temple burials, tomb reuses and new constructions. By analyzing these practices through the combined lenses of landscape, materiality, memory work and identity one gains a more nuanced picture of processes of identity creation by elite Theban women. This examination of female burial practices suggests that women manipulated the materiality of their environment and burial forms to express social and political status across groups and between individuals. Theban women of the eighth-sixth centuries BCE cannot be compartmentalized into merely wives and daughters who derived their status and identities from their male relatives, but rather should be viewed as independent women asserting agency in identity creation.
In keeping with the theme of the session, this paper explores the ways in which objects exerted a... more In keeping with the theme of the session, this paper explores the ways in which objects exerted agency on subjects and were acted upon in turn. Ancient Egypt is an especially fitting context from which to examine these entanglements of objects and subjects. Surrounded by monumental references to the past, how did landscapes of materialized pasts shape the constructions of identities of ancient Egyptians?
As a case study, this paper examines the impact and influence of the landscape and its associated memories on the burial practices of a group of priestesses at Thebes in the First Millennium BCE. It will be seen that the past as materialized in the monumental landscapes exerted agency over the priestesses, constraining the manifestations of their burials. At the same time, the reuse and reinscription of the landscapes by the priestesses to define their group and individual identities demonstrate the dialectical complexities between objects and subjects in First Millennium BCE Egypt.
In the Third Intermediate Period and Late Period, women appear prominently and often independentl... more In the Third Intermediate Period and Late Period, women appear prominently and often independently in the archaeological records. Studies of women during this period have focused mainly on the God’s Wives of Amen, rather than the lower echelons of elites. At Medinet Habu, there are a number of tombs belonging to the high-ranking Singers in the Interior of the temple of Amen. Traditionally, this concentration of burials has been explained as celibate attendants of the God’s Wives of Amen expressing in death their affiliations in life. More complexities may be seen, however, in a detailed analysis of the spatiality and tomb assemblage of these burials. Utilizing ideas of memory and landscape, this paper asks, “surrounded by monumental references to the past, how did elite women at Medinet Habu utilize the materialized past to construct and negotiate their identities?”
Normative portrayals of women by ancient Egyptian sources have resulted in an Egyptological chara... more Normative portrayals of women by ancient Egyptian sources have resulted in an Egyptological characterization of ancient Egyptian women as deriving their identity from their male associations. This paper probes the validity of this normative view by examining the extant mortuary archaeology of elite Theban women in the eighth-sixth centuries BCE.
Three major burial forms were practiced in the mortuary landscape of the Theban necropolis: temple burials, tomb reuses and new constructions. By analyzing these practices through the combined lenses of landscape, materiality, memory work and identity one gains a more nuanced picture of processes of identity creation by elite Theban women. This examination of female burial practices suggests that women manipulated the materiality of their environment and burial forms to express social and political status across groups and between individuals. Theban women of the eighth-sixth centuries BCE cannot be compartmentalized into merely wives and daughters who derived their status and identities from their male relatives, but rather should be viewed as independent women asserting agency in identity creation.
In keeping with the theme of the session, this paper explores the ways in which objects exerted a... more In keeping with the theme of the session, this paper explores the ways in which objects exerted agency on subjects and were acted upon in turn. Ancient Egypt is an especially fitting context from which to examine these entanglements of objects and subjects. Surrounded by monumental references to the past, how did landscapes of materialized pasts shape the constructions of identities of ancient Egyptians?
As a case study, this paper examines the impact and influence of the landscape and its associated memories on the burial practices of a group of priestesses at Thebes in the First Millennium BCE. It will be seen that the past as materialized in the monumental landscapes exerted agency over the priestesses, constraining the manifestations of their burials. At the same time, the reuse and reinscription of the landscapes by the priestesses to define their group and individual identities demonstrate the dialectical complexities between objects and subjects in First Millennium BCE Egypt.
In the Third Intermediate Period and Late Period, women appear prominently and often independentl... more In the Third Intermediate Period and Late Period, women appear prominently and often independently in the archaeological records. Studies of women during this period have focused mainly on the God’s Wives of Amen, rather than the lower echelons of elites. At Medinet Habu, there are a number of tombs belonging to the high-ranking Singers in the Interior of the temple of Amen. Traditionally, this concentration of burials has been explained as celibate attendants of the God’s Wives of Amen expressing in death their affiliations in life. More complexities may be seen, however, in a detailed analysis of the spatiality and tomb assemblage of these burials. Utilizing ideas of memory and landscape, this paper asks, “surrounded by monumental references to the past, how did elite women at Medinet Habu utilize the materialized past to construct and negotiate their identities?”
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Three major burial forms were practiced in the mortuary landscape of the Theban necropolis: temple burials, tomb reuses and new constructions. By analyzing these practices through the combined lenses of landscape, materiality, memory work and identity one gains a more nuanced picture of processes of identity creation by elite Theban women. This examination of female burial practices suggests that women manipulated the materiality of their environment and burial forms to express social and political status across groups and between individuals. Theban women of the eighth-sixth centuries BCE cannot be compartmentalized into merely wives and daughters who derived their status and identities from their male relatives, but rather should be viewed as independent women asserting agency in identity creation.
As a case study, this paper examines the impact and influence of the landscape and its associated memories on the burial practices of a group of priestesses at Thebes in the First Millennium BCE. It will be seen that the past as materialized in the monumental landscapes exerted agency over the priestesses, constraining the manifestations of their burials. At the same time, the reuse and reinscription of the landscapes by the priestesses to define their group and individual identities demonstrate the dialectical complexities between objects and subjects in First Millennium BCE Egypt.
Book by Jean Li
Three major burial forms were practiced in the mortuary landscape of the Theban necropolis: temple burials, tomb reuses and new constructions. By analyzing these practices through the combined lenses of landscape, materiality, memory work and identity one gains a more nuanced picture of processes of identity creation by elite Theban women. This examination of female burial practices suggests that women manipulated the materiality of their environment and burial forms to express social and political status across groups and between individuals. Theban women of the eighth-sixth centuries BCE cannot be compartmentalized into merely wives and daughters who derived their status and identities from their male relatives, but rather should be viewed as independent women asserting agency in identity creation.
As a case study, this paper examines the impact and influence of the landscape and its associated memories on the burial practices of a group of priestesses at Thebes in the First Millennium BCE. It will be seen that the past as materialized in the monumental landscapes exerted agency over the priestesses, constraining the manifestations of their burials. At the same time, the reuse and reinscription of the landscapes by the priestesses to define their group and individual identities demonstrate the dialectical complexities between objects and subjects in First Millennium BCE Egypt.