Objects & Beliefs
A Canopic Jar Without Its Lid Still Has a Record to Read
A pottery canopic jar with a missing lid shows why condition notes matter when studying Egyptian objects through museum photographs.
Ancient objects, open questions
Notes from the collection
Objects & Beliefs
When a “Cosmetic Spoon” Has an Uncertain Use
An ivory spoon in The Met shows how a familiar catalogue label can coexist with uncertainty about an ancient object’s precise use.
Materials & Making
A Seven-Centimetre Spoon Opens a Much Larger Story
Meet a small cosmetic spoon from Ruiu’s burial and follow the museum record from its material and dimensions to the objects found beside it.
Reading the Past
The Missing Scale: What an Online Artefact Photo Cannot Tell You Alone
An enlarged image can reveal detail while hiding scale. Learn to read an Egyptian artefact photograph alongside dimensions, views and catalogue descriptions.
Reading the Past
Reading BCE Dates Without Turning a Range into a Single Year
Make sense of BCE date ranges on Egyptian museum labels, distinguish estimates from exact years, and avoid confusing an object’s age with its acquisition date.
Objects & Beliefs
An Egyptian Amulet Needs More Than a Shape to Tell Its Story
Explore why material, decoration and archaeological context matter when reading about an Egyptian amulet, instead of assigning a meaning from its outline alone.
Materials & Making
Papyrus Is a Writing Surface, Not the Name of a Script
Separate the material papyrus from the scripts written on it, then use a museum record to ask clearer questions about an ancient Egyptian document.
Objects & Beliefs
A Scarab Small Enough to Miss: Reading One Museum Record Closely
Look closely at a small faience scarab in The Met’s collection and learn how dimensions, material, date and motif each answer a different question.