This dissertation is a study of how woodworking in ancient Egypt developed in the 19th and 20th dynasties. To establish the range of wooden furniture manufactured during this period, a detailed survey of furniture depicted in Ramesside Theban and Memphite tombs (appendices A, B and F) has been undertaken. These furniture forms are compared with ancient sketches of furniture that are annotated with a range of signs and marks found on a collection of "furniture ostraca" discovered at Deir el-Medina (chapter 1). In order to address the question of whether a generic design canon was used for furniture throughout Ramesside Egypt, the occupational use of wooden products by the inhabitants of Gurob is compared with those used at Deir el-Medina (chapter 2). The quality of woodworking and the skill level of Ramesside carpenters is also analysed through study of their expertise in manufacturing a range of different forms of coffm construction and other large pieces of funerary equipment including tomb doors and protective statues (chapter 3). Discernible changes in the design and usage of Ramesside furniture, when compared with those used in the 18th Dynasty, are examined both tirrOtigh study of extant pieces of furniture and via analysis of the pictorial repertoire of furniture depicted in Ramesside private tombs (chapter 4). Depictions of furniture used by the elite class in the reign of Rameses III are studied both in the royal tomb (KVll) and the royal mortuary temple at Medinet Habu, leading on to discussion of the question of how these representations of royal furniture may have been used as symbolic tools to promote the Ramesside empire at the edges of its sphere of influence (chapter 5).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:619042 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Killen, Geoffrey Patrick |
| Publisher | University of Liverpool |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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