Egypt and Sudan

The archaeological objects from Egypt and Sudan in the Allard Pierson show how people lived in this part of the Nile Valley between about 7000 BC and about 1000 AD. Most of the material dates from the period when Egypt was ruled by Greek kings and Roman emperors, roughly from the fourth century BC to the fourth century AD. These objects from everyday life, temples, administrative centres and tombs cover a diverse field, ranging from protective amulets to funerary stelae. They play a role in multidisciplinary research the Allard Pierson is currently conducting. Examples include questions about crafts in ancient Egypt, what we can find out about animal species that lived there and provenance research.

In presentation and education projects, the collection connects to topics of self-representation, perspectives on mummified human remains in museum collections and access to scripts from antiquity. The core of the collection was formed by the German Egyptologist and collector Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing. The collection expanded from 1934 through donations and purchases from private individuals and the art market, as well as transfers from other museum and university institutions.

• Prehistoric and Early Dynastic tools and vessels (circa 7000-2707 BC)
• Amulets and inlays from the Amarna period (circa 1351-1333 BC)
• Stelae (standing stone slabs with inscriptions and/or representations) and wall reliefs from the New Kingdom to the Roman period (circa 1550 BC-395 AD)
• Sarcophagi from the Third Intermediate Period to Roman times (1070 BC-395 AD)
• Shabtis (funerary figurines) from the Late Period (664-332 BC) from Egypt and Nubia
• Mummified human and animal remains
• Figurines (e.g. of gods or objects) made of fired clay from Graeco-Roman Egypt (332 BC-395 AD)
• Greek and Coptic Papyri 
• Textile fragments from the 4th-10th centuries AD, mainly Coptic

All objects from the Egypt and Sudan collection can be found through the online Catalogue CataloguePlus. Some of the objects can be found through the Image Bank. More details on the background, content, acquisition and provenance of specific objects can be found in ArchivesSpace. Periodicals, reference works, bibliographies and printed catalogues on Egypt and Sudan and objects in the collection can be found in the Reading Room's Reference Library.

• Ben van den Bercken
  Curator of the archaeological collection Egypt and Sudan
  Send an e-mail: b.j.l.vandenbercken@uva.nl
  UvA staff page: Ben van den Bercken
  Phone number: +31(0)641034599