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Dr Margaret Maitland

@margaretmaitland.bsky.social
2.3K followers 295 following 66 posts

Egyptologist by training. Principal Curator of the Ancient Mediterranean at National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh. Researching inequality in ancient Egypt and histories of excavation/collecting/museums. She/her. linktr.ee/eloquentpeasant

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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A fascinating thread on Tolkien’s ancient Egyptian inspirations (also featuring a signet ring of Nefertiti from the collections of National Museums Scotland!)
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Leire Olabarria @leireolabarria.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
🚨JOB ALERT🚨 Teaching Fellow in Egyptology at the University of Birmingham Full time, fixed-term contract from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027 Application deadline: 6 July www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRX646/t...
jobs.ac.uk
Teaching Fellow in Egyptology at University of Birmingham
An opportunity for an academic position as a Teaching Fellow in Egyptology is available, as advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Apply now and explore other academic job openings.
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Leire Olabarria @leireolabarria.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Check out the open access special issue of Interdisciplinary Egyptology, titled "Egyptology in dialogue: Historical bodies in relations, comparisons, and negotiations". #EgyptologyInDialogue journals.univie.ac.at/index.php/in...
journals.univie.ac.at
Vol. 2 No. 2 (2025): Egyptology in Dialogue: Historical bodies in relations, comparisons, and negotiations (Interdisciplinary Egyptology Special Issue 2) | Interdisciplinary Egyptology
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Horus the Elder 𓅃𓅨𓂋 ♿ @horusofnekhen.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
On Thursday May 7th, I'll be delivering the final lecture in @arf-ucb.bsky.social's Lecture Series on Disability in the Ancient Middle East and Mediterranean. I'll be aiming to give a concise overview on our evidences for disability in Ancient Egypt, and the interesting questions they give us. 1/2
Poster for Kyle's talk on Disability in Ancient Egypt, happening on May 7th 2026 at 9:30am PDT / 5:30pm BST. On the left is a picture of Kyle sitting in front of an Egyptian shrine smiling, and on the right is an ancient Egyptian wall tile decorated with a fragmented image of the god Bes. In the bottom left corner is a QR code for the Zoom link.
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Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 01/04/2026
#OtD 1 Apr 1882 charcoal workers in Egypt on the Suez Canal went on strike, in the first recorded strike in the modern history of the country stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8026...
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
Excited to be organising this Egyptian community workshop in Edinburgh on February 7th with Lama Said & Mohamed Tonsy! Tomorrow is the last day to register ❤️ forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
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Victoria Reed @victoria-reed.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
The MFA has reached a first-of-its-kind ownership resolution for 2 vessels by the enslaved potter David Drake. This restitution to his family takes its place alongside other resolutions we've reached, but it's the first that addresses theft during slavery. www.mfa.org/press-releas...
mfa.org
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Resolves Ownership of Works by Enslaved Artist David Drake
BOSTON (October 29, 2025)—The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), has reached a historic agreement with the known descendants of David Drake (also k
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Anna Willi @annabwilli.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Come work with us!🏺 Together with my brilliant colleague Georgia Barker we are looking for a project curator to research how childhood is represented in the collections of our two departments at the British Museum, Egypt & Sudan and Greece & Rome. 👇👇👇 bmrecruit.ciphr-irecruit.com//templates/C...
bmrecruit.ciphr-irecruit.com
Project Curator: Hidden Stories of Childhood Greece and Rome; Egypt and Sudan Full-time: 41 hours per week (including one hour paid lunch break) Fixed term for 12 months £36,396 per annum Application deadline: 12pm (midday) on 17 October 2025
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
In case anyone was still in any doubt about the relevance of historical context to current conflict… Also a reminder, if you can, to see Egyptian artist Wael Shawky’s Cabaret Crusades and Drama 1882 at the Talbot Rice Gallery in Edinburgh until Sept 28! www.trg.ed.ac.uk/exhibition/w...
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
Just one of the many extraordinary objects found in an intact 17th dynasty royal burial excavated in Thebes/Luxor, Egypt and now displayed in National Museums Scotland www.nms.ac.uk/discover-cat...
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Dr Susan Greaney @suegreaney.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Funding for Arts and Humanities PhDs in the UK was always tight, now it is nearly non-existent. This will exclude even more scholars, leaving PhDs an option only for the wealthy.
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Georgia Andreou @gmandreou.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
We are fundraising to support #archaeology #students in #Gaza to settle their tuition fees & complete their degrees. We've worked with them at the #GAZAMAP project monitoring vulnerable #culturalheritage. Please donate and share: gogetfunding.com/help-gazan-s...
gogetfunding.com
Help Gazan students to complete their university degrees
The war in Gaza has devastated the region’s higher education infrastructure. Several universities have been damaged or destroyed, forcing students to continue their studies online under extremely diff...
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Great post offering insights the lives of girls in ancient Egypt! @julia-hamilton.bsky.social draws together administrative, archaeological, and artistic evidence in discussing girls’ working lives, wages, migration, and more: theconversation.com/work-wages-a...
Copy of an ancient Egyptian wall painting depicting two women shown with yellow skin, long black hair, wearing white dresses, squatting at a weaving loom
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Gabe Moshenska @gabemoshenska.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Brilliant and important research. Archaeology and nationalism have been entangled for centuries, still producing all sorts of poisonous bullshit.
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Great opportunity! Paid remote internships related to the ancient world 🏺
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Fantastically fun and inspiring podcast with the amazing @robertamazza.bsky.social examining papyrology’s problematic past, questionable practices of the present, and building a more ethical future peoplingthepast.com/2025/05/06/p...
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
Shocking to see Labour take anti-immigrant rhetoric to new lows, preferring to spread hate and blame rather than putting in the work to rebuild our society after years of Conservative cuts. This piece is a good reminder of the many important forms of migration and the UK’s responsibilities
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Apollo @apollo-magazine.com · 26/04/2025
A significant part of the Sudan National Museum’s collections come from the UNESCO campaign of the 1960s and ’70s to salvage ancient artefacts from areas to be flooded for dams. The looting of those collections is the undoing of those efforts, writes Rennan Lemos
buff.ly
The threat to Sudan’s cultural heritage | Apollo Magazine
Reports of looting at the Sudan National Museum were confirmed last month as government forces retook Khartoum. Rennan Lemos weighs up the potential losses
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Uroš Matić (Priv.-Doz.Dr) @urosmatic.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
I am especially excited because I will open this conference, organized by Romane Betbeze, with a key note lecture on intersectionality and #gender studies in #Egyptology. @humboldtuni.bsky.social @humboldt-foundation.de
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Dr. Alexandra F. Morris @disabledarchaeo.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
I'm excited to announce my co-editor & I are hosting a virtual author panel for "Disability in Ancient Egypt and Egyptology: All Our Yesterdays," on May 21st. Come listen and join our brilliant authors for a detailed discussion. More information & registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/qa-panel-w...
eventbrite.com
Q&A Panel with the Authors: Disability in Ancient Egypt and Egyptology
Join us for a virtual Q&A session with authors of the newly published "Disability in Ancient Egypt and Egyptology: All Our Yesterdays"
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Last few days to see the exhibition ‘Injecting Hope’ @ the National Museum of Scotland! I helped collect these beautiful masks during the pandemic, incl. one from the khayyamia workshop of Essam Ali in Cairo featuring a protective Eye of Horus (see alt text for more) www.nms.ac.uk/exhibitions/...
Top: Siapo (barkcloth) face mask, by Reggie Meredith Fitiao, American Samoa 2020

Left: Green cotton mask, workshop of Essam Ali,
Cairo, Egypt 2020
The Eye of Horus (wedjat) design is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection and healing.

Right: Iranian green silk mask, Bita Ghezelayagh.
London, UK 2021
This artist made masks using fabric she already had from earlier projects.

Bottom: Sockeye salmon skin mask with border of blue beads, Crystal Worl, Tlingit/Athabascan tribe, Alaska, USA 2020
The salmon skin used to create this mask was harvested by the artist and her family.
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Dr. Alexandra F. Morris @disabledarchaeo.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Come follow us on Bluesky, and also please let us know who else we should be following!
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Leire Olabarria @leireolabarria.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Friends, TOMORROW is your last chance to download this @cambridgeuparchaeo.bsky.social Element for free! cup.org/4iCMeQb
cup.org
Making Memories in Ancient Egypt
Cambridge Core - Egyptology - Making Memories in Ancient Egypt
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Duke University Press @dukepress.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
"On the Semicivilized" by @jeelyachar.bsky.social is a sweeping analysis of the coloniality that shaped—and blocked—sovereign futures for those dubbed barbarian and semicivilized in the former Ottoman Empire. Check out the intro for free! #Anthropology #MiddleEastStudies buff.ly/2L5s53D
Cover of On the Semicivilized: Coloniality, Finance, and Embodied Sovereignty in Cairo by Julia Elyachar. The cover features a dark, geometric background pattern from a brass decoration on an ancient door in Cairo. The title is displayed in elegant serif fonts, with "On the Semicivilized" in gold and the subtitle in white and italicized text. The author's name appears in pink in the bottom right corner.
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The Egypt Exploration Society @theees.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
We're delighted to welcome Leire Olabarria, Ass Prof in Egyptology @unibirmingham.bsky.social, as Chair of @theees.bsky.social! Read how Leire plans to contribute to our mission, making #Egyptology more inclusive and expanding our activities in London and Cairo. ⁠ ℹ️ www.ees.ac.uk/resource/gre...
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Antiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 18/03/2025
📰 Iron shackles found at an Ancient Egyptian gold mine reveal the brutal working conditions of those mining precious metals in the Ptolemaic period. #AntiquityResearch in the news via Phys.org phys.org/news/2025-03...
phys.org
Iron shackles found at Ghozza suggest at least some gold miners during Egypt's Ptolemaic period were slaves
A historian with Laboratoire HiSoMA, Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée Jean Pouilloux, in France, has theorized that iron shackles found at a dig site in Ghozza, Egypt, suggest that at least…
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
On International Women’s Day this Saturday at 2pm, I’ll be giving an online talk about the ‘Qurna Queen’ and our work reassessing this 17th Dynasty intact royal burial from Thebes, now held at National Museums Scotland. More info/booking with the Thames Valley Ancient Egypt Society: www.tvaes.org.uk
A museum display case with a gilded ancient Egyptian rishi coffin at the centre and about a hundred objects surrounding it including numerous ceramic vessels, wooden furniture and boxes, baskets, and stone vessels. ©️ National Museums Scotland
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Exciting reports of the discovery of the tomb of King Thutmose II, husband of female pharaoh Hatshepsut! Though the tomb is mostly destroyed, the excavation team still found items naming Thutmose & Hatshepsut, & fragments of the Amduat, a royal funerary text 🧵 1/4 www.theguardian.com/world/2025/f...
Ancient rock cut tomb entrance with black metal gateFragments of calcite jar inscribed with hieroglyphs
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Moudhy Al-Rashid (she/her) @moudhy.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Finally, an article on the decipherment of cuneiform that does justice to the many figures involved, the timeline, competition, and sheer philological grit. Fascinating and colourful synopsis of how we came to be able to read tablets from ancient Mesopotamia www.smithsonianmag.com/history/myst...
smithsonianmag.com
The Mystery of the World's Oldest Writing System Remained Unsolved Until Four Competitive Scholars Raced to Decipher It
In the 1850s, cuneiform was just a series of baffling scratches on clay, waiting to spill the secrets of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
What a brilliant discovery! ✨ A runic inscription on one of the many silver and gold objects in the Viking-age Galloway Hoard at National Museums Scotland has been discovered to read: ‘This is the community’s wealth’ www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
theguardian.com
Mystery behind Viking-age treasure find in Scotland may finally have been solved
A runic inscription on one of the Galloway hoard’s elaborately decorated arm rings has been deciphered
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Isabelle Vella Gregory @ivg.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
And it’s finally out - our paper on #photography #Sudan and #JebelMoya. It’s open access :-) It’s a collab between archaeologists and colleague from @wellcomecollection.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Capturing Empire Through the Lens: Colonial Narratives and Power Structures in Henry Wellcome’s Expedition to Jebel Moya, Sudan - African Archaeological Review
This paper explores the relationship between archaeology, photography, and colonialism at the site of Jebel Moya (Site 100), Sudan. We consider technical aspects of the photographic archive, the role ...
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Job alert! 📣 Project Curator - Animal Mummies exhibition, British Museum, deadline to apply February 16 bmrecruit.ciphr-irecruit.com//templates/C...
bmrecruit.ciphr-irecruit.com
Project Curator: Animal Mummies Exhibition Egypt and Sudan Full-time (41 hours per week) Fixed term (18 months) £29,734 per annum Application deadline: 12pm (midday) on 16 February 2025
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Apparently it’s #NationalHedgehogDay & now more than ever, the world is in dire need of hedgehogs, so of course I had to post this lil’ fella! 🦔 🏺 This hoglet is actually a faience aryballos flask for perfume/oil from a Greek colony in Egypt, c.550BC & now on display @ntlmuseumsscot.bsky.social
Ancient Egyptian aryballos flask in light green faience faded to grey, with the body in the form of a desert hedgehog with large ears squatting on an oval base, c.664 -332 BC, National Museums Scotland, A.1965.266A side view of the hedgehog aryballos
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
Fantastic news that the remarkable online resource for the Tutankhamun excavation archive is going to be updated - if you haven’t explored the historic photographs and objects cards before, go check them out! www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/discoveringT...
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Alice Stevenson @alicestevenson.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
Publication day 🥳 one outcome from my @britishacademy.bsky.social mid-career Fellowship now OA & free to download 👇. uclpress.co.uk/book/contemp...
uclpress.co.uk
Contemporary Art and the Display of Ancient Egypt
Artistic interventions are now a popular means of delivering fresh perspectives on museum displays, including in galleries devoted to ancient Egypt. Installations are commonly said to put the past and...
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Chiara Bonacchi @chiara-bonacchi.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
New paper co-authored with @acerbialberto.com and Marta Krzyzanska! What makes archaeological content spread on social media? Positive sentiment and expertise can win! @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social @edinburgharchaeo.bsky.social 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
On Sudan’s Independence Day, this is a valuable reminder of the historic colonial context of Sudan’s ‘invisible’ civil war & some recommendations for how archaeologists can start to address the power imbalances that still persist in Sudan (& Egypt) 👇
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
Happy New Year! Or in ancient Egyptian, wep renpet nefer! 🪷🐒 This faience flask was used in the new year festival at the start of flood season. It's decorated with baboons symbolising the god Thoth who calculated time & may have held Nile water, rather than anything stronger!
A mottled green lentoid-shaped flask with a neck shaped like a papyrus column flanked by miniature baboons, on a white background, dating to c600BC & on display at the National Museum of Scotland.
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Amnesty International UK @amnestyuk.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
1/5 A groundbreaking Amnesty report published today concludes Israeli authorities are committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. www.amnesty.org.uk/genocide-rep...
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Working Classicists @workingclassicists.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Just been informed of this upcoming lecture on prosthetics and assistive technology in ancient Greece and Rome by @jldraycott.bsky.social on 5th December. Looks absolutely fascinating and right up our street. It's free to register! www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
york.ac.uk
Prosthetics and Assistive Technology in Ancient Greece and Rome
The Paralympics highlighted assistive technology, but Jane Draycott explores its historical roots in classical antiquity prosthetics.
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Interesting article that while focussed on Asia offers parallels with colonial-era approaches to ancient Egypt & Sudan - presenting prehistoric cultures as more primitive & using strategic narratives to disconnect local people from their ancient heritage
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Alice Stevenson @alicestevenson.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Great to see this volume in the world. Edited vols like this take a lot of time & work so congrats to the editors (wrote my chapter while pregnant- now planning a 6th birthday party 🙃). Spotted a few other @uclarchaeology.bsky.social contributions too…
Photo of hardback book cover for OUP history of archaeology volume
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Uroš Matić (Priv.-Doz.Dr) @urosmatic.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
In Open Access since yesterday! Check out my paper on failed masculinity of Syrian princes in the Tale of the Doomed Prince 💫 www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/detail/index...
vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com
Die Welt des Orients 2024 Band 54
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
These online talks by Rune Nyord will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about the ancient Egyptian afterlife 👇
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Christina Riggs @christinajriggs.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
Turin's Museo Egizio has just celebrated its 200th anniversary (glimpse of one refurbished gallery below). But beyond the new spaces and PR blitz, its long history shows that Egyptian collections in Italy are marked by colonial practices and fascism, too. Great art in a gorgeous city, though. 📜🗃️🏺🇮🇹🇪🇬
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Really looking forward to this lecture at 6pm GMT! www.ees.ac.uk/whats-on/eve...
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Penny Bickle @pennybickle.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
More about our new paper here - interesting discussing how to express the diversity. In the end we went with freedom, following @davidwengrow.bsky.social and David Graeber www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
york.ac.uk
More equality in Neolithic society than previously thought, say researchers
Early Neolithic genetic data has helped archaeologists understand that there was likely more freedom and equality in Neolithic societies than previously thought.
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Dr Margaret Maitland @margaretmaitland.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Happy St Andrew’s Day! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 A year ago today, my predecessor Liz Goring & I published a collection of ancient Egyptian objects dug up in Fife over 3 decades- the only Egyptian artefacts ever claimed under Scots Treasure Trove law journals.socantscot.org/index.php/ps... & media.nms.ac.uk/news/story-o...
Finely carved red sandstone statue head of an Egyptian official with a broad face, goatee beard, and damaged nose dating to the mid-12th Dynasty. ©️ National Museums Scotland
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