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Inlays range among the most aesthetically pleasing and technically challenging glasses produced in the Ptolemaic period. Despite the central role of this phase in the history of glass technology, little is known about the recipes and the technological knowledge of the Egyptian artisans. This paper will thus focus on the study of the materials from the secondary workshop of Tebtynis (Fayum oasis, Egypt). We report the first multi‐methodological study comprising textural, chemical, and mineralogical analyses (optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy‐dispersive system, electron probe microanalysis, and μ‐Raman spectroscopy) on a set of 81 colorless, white, blue, and green samples carefully selected among the 800+ glasses from the craft area now stored at the Museo Egizio, Turin (Italy). Our study offers the biggest compositional database of well‐dated Ptolemaic glasses currently available in the literature, highlighting some interesting novelties regarding the silica and alkali sources, and the coloring and opacifying techniques employed. The results suggest a specialized craft of traditional origin, but open to innovation and experimentation, as expected from transitional phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the most comprehensive study of speiss from the Late Bronze Age world published so far, and the first detailed study of speiss from the Nile Valley overall. It combines the results of XRD, optical microscopy, SEM-EDS, trace element (ICP-OES and ICP-MS) and lead isotopic analysis to fully characterise two fragments of speiss from the 18th Dynasty capital Amarna in Egypt, now in the British Museum collection. This multi-analytical approach enables us to link these unique finds to production and consumption evidence in the wider region. Our results show that speiss was being (indirectly) imported to Egypt during the Amarna Period, likely from Anatolia, thus providing the first strong evidence for speiss being a long-distance exchange commodity in the Bronze Age world. This is further related to similar finds in the region, indicating the inclusion of speiss within broader well-known (maritime) trade networks. This paper opens a wider debate regarding the importance of speiss and arsenical copper alloying during the Late Bronze Age, a period in which arsenical alloys have long been presumed to become marginalised and replaced by tin bronze alloys. At least two likely spheres of speiss production, the Aegean and Anatolia, are identified and similarities in their archaeological consumption contexts is considered indicative of the metallurgical function of speiss. By relating these results to copper alloy compositions, workshop remains and wider evidence for long-term craft practices, this paper provides a novel perspective from which to consider Late Bronze Age metal stocks circulating in the Nile Valley and the wider Eastern Mediterranean region, and the role of speiss therein. • Ferrous speiss from the 18th Dynasty Egyptian capital Amarna. • First detailed characterisation of speiss from the ancient Nile Valley. • Evidence for long-distance exchange of speiss during the Late Bronze Age. • Considering slow transitions from arsenic to tin bronze alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs a historiographical approach to review the allied fields of Egyptology and Egyptian Archaeology in relation to studies of disability and bodily differences in ancient Egypt. We incorporate critical disability studies and embodiment theories to consider whether ableism is prevalent across these disciplines. The focus of this study has been inverted from 'identifying' disability. Instead our primary driving question is: are Egyptological approaches to bodily differences and disabilities contributing to a production and maintenance of ableism in Egyptology? Here we first identify ableist narratives within numerous methodologies highlighting the need to reconsider existing approaches, terminologies, models, and assumptions regarding studies of disability in the ancient past. We then challenge readers to recognise ableism as a form of inequality in the existing scholarship, and in turn, call for better awareness of assumptions relating to bodily norms, terminologies, and inclusivity in ancient world studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper presents the first combined elemental composition and lead isotope (LI) ratio data for Middle Kingdom Egyptian copper alloy artefacts and significantly extends our knowledge on copper smelting remains from the Sinai Peninsula. It further provides the first precise LI ratio and trace element data for two Classic Kerma daggers. Forty-one samples have been analysed from artefacts housed at the Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels. An important part of this assemblage consists of ore, “slag” and raw metal from workshops associated with 12th Dynasty mining expeditions in the southern Sinai Peninsula. These offer a unique insight into Middle Kingdom copper production chains and the associated waste materials, and form an essential reference group for provenance studies. The other part of the assemblage encompasses finished artefacts from different sites in Egypt—the first ever to be characterised for LI ratios for this period—as well as two daggers from Kerma, Nubia. This study illustrates the need for a careful approach to provenance research of early Egyptian metals, tailored to the particular technologies attested there. Based on the wide range of artefact LI ratios overlapping with those of arsenic-poor Sinai ores on the one hand, and the discrepancy in arsenic content between these ores and artefacts on the other hand, a two-step process for the production of arsenical copper alloys is identified. This suggests some technological continuity with respect to earlier pharaonic periods. The sources for primary copper production, however, likely changed over time: a narrower range of Sinai mines appears to have been exploited compared to preceding periods, and the recycling of circulating metal gained importance in the overall provisioning system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper responds to a need to address the colonial history of collections of Egyptian archaeology and to find new ways in which Egyptian audiences can assume greater agency in such a process. The 'Egypt's Dispersed Heritage' project presents a model of engagement whereby foreign museum collections become the inspiration for Egyptians to express their own feelings about the removal of their heritage abroad using idioms and traditional storytelling of cultural relevance to them. A series of online comics confronting contentious heritage issues, including the display of mummified human remains, eugenics, looting and destruction, is discussed. It is argued that this approach is not only more relatable for Egyptian communities, but moreover provides space for the development of grass-roots critique of heritage practices, both in the UK and in Egypt. Museums have a responsibility to take on board these critiques, curating not just objects but relationships forged amongst them in historical and contemporary society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Egyptian landscape over the millennia has been affected by geomorphological and urban changes that have also involved the hydrological scenery, with the consequent transformation of areas around watercourses. This paper aims to highlight the possibilities derived from the consultation of Napoleonic cartography for the study of the Egyptian landscape through GIS platforms, providing an innovative methodology for its georeferencing. The strengths of this resource, joined to the traditional research methods, will be illustrated through the case of the ancient island of iw-rd located in the 16th nomos of Upper Egypt.