The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter in 1922 is one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of all time. It took Carter and his team 10 years to clear the contents of the tomb and among the objects found was a large collection of shoes and sandals. The footwear is analysed here in detail for the first time since the discovery using Carter's records and Harry Burton's excellent photographs along with the author's analyses of the objects, all of which are housed in th...

The tomb of Tutankhamun, discovered in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor (Egypt) by Howard Carted, yielded over 6000 items. Among the vast number of richly embellished precious objects, such as the solid gold coffin and mask, were also more mundane objects, including the hitherto unpublished basketry objects. Baskets, the ‘plastic bags’ of the ancient world, were used for storage of all sorts of things, including food, clothing and jewellery, and many that were found in the tomb re...

Chariots, the racing cars of the ancient world, first appeared in Egypt about 1600 BC, and quickly became not only the preferred mode of transport for royalty and the elite, but also revolutionised military tactics and warfare. Remains of chariots have been found in Egyptian tombs -Tutankhamun's tomb contained six chariots, which tripled the number of ancient Egyptian chariots known before the discovery of his tomb. However, none of the chariots was complete, as all lacked their leather casin...

This catalogue presents the ancient Egyptian footwear in the collection of the Coptic Museum in Cairo. The catalogue contains detailed descriptions and measurements, photographs and drawings. Each description of a footwear category is followed by short discussions, addressing topics such as typology and dating. In addition a fairly large corpus of comparative material is presented as well, none of which has been published before. The present work will form an important resource for future stu...

'Leatherwork from Elephantine' describes, illustrates and analyses the finds from the excavations at Elephantine island (Aswan, Egypt) that are conducted by the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), in collaboration with the Swiss Institute for Architectural and Archaeological Research on Ancient Egypt (SI). The majority of the finds are dated to periods well after the pharaonic era (4th century AD onwards), save for a few finds from the New Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom. The majority of fi...

The present work is the result of the First International Chariot Conference, jointly organised by the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC) and the American University in Cairo (AUC) (30 November to 2 December 2012). The intention of the conference was to make a broad assessment of the current state of knowledge about chariots in Egypt and the Near East, and to provide a forum for discussion.A wide variety of papers are included, ranging from overviews to more detailed studies focusi...

The ancient Egyptian city of Tell el-Amarna (or Amarna, ancient Akhetaten) was the short-lived capital built by the controversial Pharaoh Akhenaten, probably the father of the famous Tutankhamun, and abandoned shortly after his death (c. 1336 BCE). It is one of the few Pharaonic cities to have been thoroughly excavated and is a rich source of information about the daily life of the ancient Egyptians.This volume, the first of two, presents the leatherwork excavated at the site by these various...

The Ancient Egyptian Footwear Project (AEFP) is a multidisciplinary, ongoing research of footwear in ancient Egypt from the Predynastic through the Ottoman Periods. It consists of the study of actual examples of footwear, augmented by pictorial and textual evidence.This volume evaluates, summarises and discusses the results of the study of footwear carried out by the AEFP for the last 10 years (which includes the objects in the major collections in the world, such as the Egyptian Museum in Ca...

One hundred years ago, Howard Carter, working for Lord Carnarvon, made one of the most important archaeological discoveries of all times in the Valley of the Kings (Luxor, Egypt): the nearly intact tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun (ca. 1335-1325 BC). In addition to the king’s body, the tomb contained well over 5000 objects, which were recovered, conserved and recorded by Carter and his team. The fabulous treasures, such as the gold coffins, funerary mask, jewellery, as well as the ...

This pioneering volume brings together specialists from contemporary craft and industry and from archaeology to examine both the material properties and the cultural dimensions of leather. The common occurrence of animal skin products through time, whether vegetable tanned leather, parchment, vellum, fat-cured skins or rawhide attest to its enduring versatility, utility and desirability. Typically grouped together as 'leather', the versatility of these materials is remarkable: they can be sof...