Ancient Egypt in 50 Discoveries
COMING IN SEPTEMBER 2025
Ancient Egypt is as popular as its image is enduring and recognisable. But the concept of ‘ancient Egypt’ has been formed from a kaleidoscope of fragments and finds. This book explores some of these fascinating remains – on archaeological sites and in museums in Egypt and around the world – to understand the people who made, used, and then found and interpreted them.
- ISBN: 978-0-85698-258-3 (paperback); 978-0-85698-272-9 (eBook)
- Published: Forthcoming, September 2025
- Size: 234 × 156 mm
- Pages: 254
Contents:
Introduction | Preface | Chapter 1: Pre- and Early Dynastic Period | Chapter 2: The Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period | Chapter 3: The Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period | Chapter 4: The New Kingdom | Chapter 5: The Third Intermediate and Late Periods | Chapter 6: The Graeco-Roman Period
Praise for this book
A compendium of superb scholarship and discovery. Ancient Egypt in 50 Discoveries is a wonderful box of delights of scholarship and discoveries. This is a brilliant book and Ancient Egypt bursts from its pages in all its variety and complexity. Fascinating and unmissable.
A fascinating exploration of how our understanding of ancient Egypt is fundamentally grounded in its material culture as revealed by archaeology – and how much of that archaeology stands to the credit of the Egypt Exploration Society.
This small book reflects the huge impact the Egypt Exploration Society has made at both a local and international level. By showcasing artefacts in collections far beyond the usual museums, these are further enhanced by the society’s rich archive of photographs, from the face of the builder of the Great Pyramid to everyday lives in the city of Nefertiti and Tutankhamun. And the book certainly lives up to its subtitle ‘Highlights from the first century of the Egypt Exploration Society’, its content and accessible format further evidence that this very special organisation remains at the forefront of Egyptology well into the 21st century too.
Ancient Egypt in 50 Discoveries takes the reader on a stroll though the past pausing to examine the stuff that ancient lives were made of, unusual artefacts unearthed during the 19th century excavations of the Egypt Exploration Society. Like the best strolls, this one is leisurely and the companions memorable, authors of succinct, informed commentaries situating an exceptional collection, whose assembly has itself become an Egyptological artefact, in the updated histories of Egypt and its study.
I wish I’d written this book!
Drawing on the objects, but also the archival material that shows how they were discovered, Ancient Egypt in 50 Discoveries tells the story both of ancient Egypt and of a very important part of the history of Egyptology.
How do we know what we know about the ancient past in Egypt? This is the book to answer that question.
This book represents a valuable overview of key discoveries from ancient Egypt in the history of the Egypt Exploration Society. But it provides more than a list of artefacts; it situates and contextualises them within a broader framework and also engages with the colonial attitudes and socio-political structures that led to their removal from Egypt.
