Oxbow Classics in Egyptology
Publisher: Oxbow Books

This series comprises facsimile re-issues of typological catalogues produced by W.M. Flinders Petrie based on his vast collection of Egyptian artefacts. Mostly excavated by Petrie during many seasons of campaign in the last years of the 19th and early decades of the 20th century, they now reside in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology at University College, London. Published between 1898 and 1937, and long out of print, the catalogues were re-issued in facsimile by publishers Aris and Philips in the 1970s alongside titles newly commissioned, based on more recent examination of elements of the Petrie Collection by contemporary experts. The Oxbow Classics in Egyptology series makes a selection of these important resources available again in print for a new generation of students and scholars, for whom the archaeology of Egypt continues to fascinate. Multi-disciplinary investigation and research continues unabated, encompassing methodologies, scientific and data processing techniques, theoretical approaches, and even whole paradigms that were unheard of in the 1970s and undreamt of when Petrie was working in Egypt. Yet all the titles included in this series continue to be invaluable sources of basic data, providing an unparalleled resource that can easily be cross-referenced with the actual materials they describe and discuss. They remain within the Petrie Collection where they may be accessed and re-examined as new research flourishes. As historic documents, the Petrie catalogues stand as exemplars of the craft of typological classification, the backbone of modern archaeology – much of which, though refined by absolute dating and another 100 years of research, still stands the test of time.

(Print binding: Paperback | Format: 297 x 210 mm, except where stated otherwise)

The Tomb and Beyond Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 144
ISBN: 9798888570876
Pub Date: 10 Jun 2024
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Description:
The tombs, with their scenes, inscriptions, objects and human remains, represent our richest source of information for the understanding of Egyptian beliefs and practices, art and architecture and of many aspects of daily life. Detailed, scholarly reports on individual cemeteries and tombs are abundant but in this fully illustrated, more general work, reproduced in this facsimile edition, Kanawati provides an invaluable introduction to, and overview of, the key elements of Egyptian tombs from Predynastic to the Late Period. ¬The Egyptian dead enjoyed a continued existence in both the Netherworld and the land of the living – the individual possessing multiple entities that experienced different destinies after death.
The Tomb of the Vizier Rē‘-wer at Saqqara Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 88
ISBN: 9798888570890
Pub Date: 10 Jun 2024
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Description:
The tomb of Re‘-wer lies in the south-eastern corner of the mortuary temple of King Teti, first King of the 6th Dynasty, beside the pyramid of Teti, in the Old Kingdom necropolis at Saqqara. Excavations in 1906–7 and in the early 1920s were not published and the tomb was re-excavated and partly restored in 1975–7. It comprised a paved courtyard within a temenos containing the rectangular chapel tomb, with surviving structure built of fine quality limestone blocks in inner and outer walls.
The Tomb of Amenemhab Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 136
ISBN: 9798888570852
Pub Date: 10 Jun 2024
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Description:
This volume is a facsimile reissue of the full publication of the tomb identified as that of Amenemhab, a middle ranking priest of Amon. ¬The tomb lies within the lower enclosure of the major cemetery of Elwet Sheikh-Abdel Qurnah in ¬Thebes. It is cut into a perpendicular cliff of limestone and shale and is one of the private, so-called house-like chapel tombs of local dignitaries, mainly dating to the Ramesside Period.
RRP: £34.95
Domestic Plants and Animals Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
ISBN: 9798888570791
Pub Date: 15 May 2024
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Description:
This facsimile edition of a much acclaimed volume brings back into print a major study of the evidence for the domesticated plants and animals exploited by the ancient Egyptians. The rise of agriculture must be amongst the most important steps that humans have taken on their long road to the present day and marked the beginning of sedentary life from the Neolithic onwards and the development of civilization. Of the earliest civilizations, Ancient Egypt remains a particularly useful field of study: the physical remains are preserved by the dry desert environment and the Egyptians have left us with an abundance of written and pictorial records which go back over 5000 years.
Gizeh and Rifeh Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 166
ISBN: 9798888570814
Pub Date: 15 May 2024
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Description:
This is a facsimile reissue of Flinders Petrie’s 1907 account of excavations at Gizeh and at Dier Rifeh in Upper Egypt, just south of Asyut. At Gizeh excavations focused on a cemetery lying on a ridge about 1 km south of the Great Pyramid while work at Rifeh extended from a well-known Coptic village for about 5 km southwards to beyond the village of Zowyeh, and mostly investigated several cemeteries in the plain of primarily XIth–XVIIth Dynasty date. The area contained numerous Coptic settlements and the ruins of Coptic monasteries at Balyzeh and Ganadleh were excavated, producing many fragments of Coptic manuscripts.
The Late New Kingdom in Egypt (c. 1300–664 BC) Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 176
ISBN: 9798888570838
Pub Date: 15 May 2024
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Description:
The period of Egypt’s Ramesside empire is best known for its foreign wars and monumental buildings but the chronological history of many of its rulers and pre-eminent priests and their genealogies was poorly understood. While it was not possible to fi x the chronology exactly, a combination of known dates or date ranges, such as for the accession of Ramesses II, and the determination of family trees that extended over a large period, enabled Bierbrier to present a much closer definition of the span of individual dynasties and their key figures than had been possible previously. That volume is reissued here in facsimile.
Stone and Metal Vases Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 86
ISBN: 9798888570739
Pub Date: 15 Apr 2024
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Description:
This facsimile edition of Flinders Petrie’s 1937 typo-chronological catalogue of Egyptian stone vessels and Egyptian and Greaco-Roman metal vessels has been long out of print. It was a first attempt by Petrie to take an overview of the vessels recovered from numerous locations housed in major collections of the time, principally his own in University College London and over 700 items in Cairo Museum. Dating was derived from a variety of sources, the most important being that of royal names either on the vessels themselves or on associated materials in tombs.
The Gateway of Ramesses IX in the Temple of Amun at Karnak Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 74
ISBN: 9798888570753
Pub Date: 15 Apr 2024
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Description:
Amin Amer’s 1999 study of the Gateway of Ramesses IX at Karnak, Egypt, is presented here in a facsimile reissue. The Gateway is a little-known major work, part of the great temple at Karnak, built by one of the last kings of the Egyptian empire after a long period that saw little building work in the temple complex. The rather modest, by Karnak’s standards, construct lies at the northern end of the court ‘of the Cachette’, north of Pylon VII, and leads into the southern end of the narrow court of Pylons III and IV, presenting an impressive entrance to the main temple of Amun.
The Mammals of Ancient Egypt Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 228
ISBN: 9798888570777
Pub Date: 15 Apr 2024
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Description:
Various attempts have been made to systematize the mammals depicted in Egyptian tomb paintings, inscriptions, carvings, figurines and other objects, and as mummies, but there are many discrepancies, variable spellings and names, including now obsolete Latin names, and mis-identifications. The Egyptian artists themselves sometimes used the wrong hieroglyph or drew some parts of animals incorrectly. Dale Osborn’s comprehensive reassessment, presented here in a facsimile reissue, catalogues around 100 separate species, ranging from hedgehogs to hippopotami, Anubis Baboons to Zebu cattle, that can be identified in Egyptian art from prehistoric, through Pre-Dynastic to Late Kingdom times.
Amarna City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 154
ISBN: 9798888570265
Pub Date: 15 Jul 2023
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Description:
Tell el-Amarna is the modern name for the ancient Egyptian city of Akhenaten, situated in a bay of hills formed by the cliffs of the eastern desert about halfway between Cairo and Luxor. The city was founded in the 14th century BC by the Pharaoh Akhenaten to be a royal palace for himself and his wife Nefertiti, the capital of all Egypt, and the center of the state cult of the Sun God in the form of Aten (sun disc), which became an obsession of the Pharaoh. The city contained temples, palaces, state buildings and great private mansions, but was abandoned by Akhenaten’s successor, his son Tutenkhamen.
Brick Architecture in Ancient Egypt Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
ISBN: 9798888570302
Pub Date: 15 Jul 2023
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Description:
First published in 1979, this facsimile edition of Jeffrey Spencer’s comprehensive study provides a detailed account of the brick architecture of ancient Egypt. Part I provides introductory information on brick manufacture, early use of brick in Egypt and explains the corpus of brick bonding systems. Part II provides an account of the surviving brick buildings, discussed by type, with special reference to technical and structural matter.
The Birds of Ancient Egypt Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 222
ISBN: 9798888570289
Pub Date: 15 Jul 2023
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Description:
Hailed as a sumptuously produced and finely illustrated outstanding contribution to ancient Egyptian studies, this facsimile reprint of Patrick Houlihan’s 1986 comprehensive study makes a welcome return in the Oxbow Classics in Egyptology series. Animals of all kinds are amply illustrated in Egyptian art, none more so than birds, in both secular and religious contexts and in hieroglyphic scripts. A great variety of bird species has for millennia made twice yearly migrations passing over Egypt, which is also an important overwintering area for many.
Naqada and Ballas Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 188
ISBN: 9798888570203
Pub Date: 15 Jun 2023
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Description:
Facsimile edition of the 1974 reissue of Flinders Petrie’s 1896 account of the excavation (mainly) of tombs in the area around Ballas and Naqada on the edge of the Egyptian desert, 30 miles north of Thebes. Several areas of the ancient towns of Deir and Nubt – the latter identified as the center of Set worship – and more tombs were investigated. At each cemetery, traditionally furnished Old and Middle Kingdom tombs were examined and many proved to have been plundered and reused in antiquity.
Ancient Egyptian Figured Ostraca Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 128
ISBN: 9798888570241
Pub Date: 15 Jun 2023
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Description:
This facsimile reissue of Anthea Page’s 1983 catalogue makes this important source material available again in print for a new generation of students and scholars. The catalogue documents 82 ostraca held in The Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology collection in London.Ostraca are flakes of limestone or broken sherds of pottery used essentially as 'notepads' for private letters; laundry lists; records of purchases; roughly inscribed images of people, birds, and animals; and copies of literary works.
Illahun, Kahun and Gurob Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 98
ISBN: 9798888570227
Pub Date: 15 Jun 2023
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Description:
Flinders Petrie undertook excavation and survey of ancient Egyptian towns in the Faiyum oasis, south-west of Cairo, in 1888–90. The work included opening of a pyramid at Illahun and excavation of a nearby cemetery, excavation and planning of over 2000 chambers of the city of Kahun, excavation of a Ptolemaic cemetery at Gurob, and work at the temple site at Medinet Gurob. This facsimile volume presents brief descriptions of the work with a focus on the artifacts and inscriptions recovered and recorded with an attempt to establish a chronology of occupation in the oasis.
Corpus of Prehistoric Pottery and Palettes Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 68
ISBN: 9798888570180
Pub Date: 15 Mar 2023
Imprint: Oxbow Books
Description:
Facsimile edition of the 1974 reissue of Flinders Petrie’s 1921 corpus of prehistoric pottery and slate palettes from pre-dynastic, prehistoric Egypt. The pottery corpus was produced separately to accompany the catalogue of Egyptian artifacts in the volume Prehistoric Egypt and comprises hundreds of line drawings illustrating the shapes, forms and types of decoration. It was intended to be a ‘graveside’ aid for use during excavation, with the intent that it be used with record cards to classify and date pottery that could then be returned to the grave.