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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
They’Ll Never Be Royals: The “Purple” Textiles Of Fag El-Gamous, Bethany Jenson, R. Paul Evans, Kerry Muhlestein
They’Ll Never Be Royals: The “Purple” Textiles Of Fag El-Gamous, Bethany Jenson, R. Paul Evans, Kerry Muhlestein
Faculty Publications
Excavations at the Fag el-Gamous necropolis have unearthed a unique collection of textile fragments, among which are some beautifully dyed pieces, including several featuring purple threads. The purple threads used in the textiles come in a variety of hues, suggesting different dye sources for the threads. In the ancient world, the source for true, enduring purple dye came from the sea snail, Murex. This dye was highly prized, very expensive, and was frequently used for royal garments. Because of its desirable nature, purple dye was frequently imitated with mixtures of blue and red dyes, such as indigo (plant genus Indigofera) …
Textiles And Jewelry At Fag El-Gamous, Joyce Smith, Kerry Muhlestein, Brian Christensen
Textiles And Jewelry At Fag El-Gamous, Joyce Smith, Kerry Muhlestein, Brian Christensen
Faculty Publications
Elsewhere in this volume we discuss extensively the burial practices of the common man as represented in the Fag el-Gamous sand cemetery. While these burials must represent the common, or poorer, people of the area due to their large numbers, they are remarkable in regards to the amount of resources used for a common burial.1 The two most frequently used types of goods associated with these burials, and probably the most expensive, are textiles and jewelry. In order to better understand these burials and the requisite resources marshaled by the deceased during their life and their loved ones after their …
The Fayoum, The Seila Pyramid, Fag El-Gamous And Its Nearby Cities: A Background, Kerry Muhlestein, Cannon Fairbairn, Ronald Harris
The Fayoum, The Seila Pyramid, Fag El-Gamous And Its Nearby Cities: A Background, Kerry Muhlestein, Cannon Fairbairn, Ronald Harris
Faculty Publications
Because the excavations discussed in this volume take place in the Fayoum, and cover a time period that spans from the Old Kingdom through the Byzantine era, many readers will find it helpful to understand the history, geography, and geology of the Fayoum. Here we provide a brief outline of those subjects. This is not intended to present new information or be a definitive discussion. Rather, it is aimed at contextualizing the rest of the material presented in this volume, and thus making all of its information more accessible. The Fag el-Gamous cemetery and the Seila Pyramid are located on …
Excavations At The Seila Pyramid And Ritual Ramifications, Kerry Muhlestein
Excavations At The Seila Pyramid And Ritual Ramifications, Kerry Muhlestein
Faculty Publications
In modern times it was not apparent that the structure many travelers had seen atop the remote escarpment in Gebel El-Rus was actually a pyramid. Before its excavation it was locally known as el-Qalah, meaning “the fortress,” though it has since come to be called Harem Seila, or the Seila Pyramid. Even before excavation it could be easily seen as far away as Hawara when the air was clear. Though it stood six miles straight west of the Meidum Pyramid, there was nothing about the visible square covered in aeolian sand that would make explorers or archaeologists think it was …