Egypt and the Near East

Study and cataloguing of the Egyptian amulet collection

Estimated timeframe: 2020–2023

Lead researchers: Esther Pons and Isabel Olbés

The aim of this project is to study and publish the collection of Egyptian amulets that entered the National Archaeological Museum by different means, such as purchase, donation or partage. This is a collection of more than five hundred objects made of various materials (faience, stone, carnelian, lapis lazuli, hematite) and depicting a wide range of themes, particularly figures of human and animal or theriomorphic deities, as well as royal symbols and body parts.

Amulets always had a magical purpose, purportedly protecting their owners from any enemies, evil spirits or other threats they might encounter in life or in death. In fact, the amulets inserted in the bandages of mummified corpses were fashioned according to the criteria mentioned in funerary texts, with great importance attached to both their type and the material of which they were made.

Study and cataloguing of the collection of bronze Egyptian deities

Estimated timeframe: 2021–2023

Lead researchers: Esther Pons and Isabel Olbés

The goal of this project is to study and publish the collection of bronze Egyptian deities that entered the National Archaeological Museum by different means, such as purchase or donation.

The collection includes more than two hundred and fifty sculptures of numerous human and zoomorphic or theriomorphic Egyptian gods, chief among them Osiris, nursing Isis, Neith, Harpocrates, Min, Sekhmet the lioness, Bastet the cat, Uraeus the serpent and Horus the falcon.

The majority of bronze Egyptian sculptures date from the Late Period, when massive amounts of tin were imported to Egypt thanks to the country’s trade relations with the Phoenicians, and copper was obtained from local mines or imported from other eastern Mediterranean lands.

Other studies of the department’s collections