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Anders Bettum
Hi there!
My name is Anders Bettum, and I am an Egyptologist, historian of religions and museum curator based in Oslo, Norway. I did both my MA and my PhD at the University of Oslo, focusing on the religious symbolism of mummies, coffins and sarcophagi from the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period Egypt. For a number of years now, I have worked as a curator and lately also as a research coordinator for the Oslo Museum, more specifically at a small but highly active department known as the Intercultural Museum. Focusing on immigration history, cultural diversity, and minority issues in contemporary Oslo, its subject matter is quite far removed from ancient Egyptian coffins. Nevertheless, trying to bridge these two academic interests has proved valuable for the development of a broad understanding of culture and a deep appreciation of the diversity, creativity, adaptability and productivity that constitutes humanity. Please feel free to browse through my publications in both fields; I hope they may be of use to you! -And if you visit Oslo, please come by "Interkulturelt museum" at Grønland, and check out our exhibitions!
Best wishes,
Anders
My name is Anders Bettum, and I am an Egyptologist, historian of religions and museum curator based in Oslo, Norway. I did both my MA and my PhD at the University of Oslo, focusing on the religious symbolism of mummies, coffins and sarcophagi from the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period Egypt. For a number of years now, I have worked as a curator and lately also as a research coordinator for the Oslo Museum, more specifically at a small but highly active department known as the Intercultural Museum. Focusing on immigration history, cultural diversity, and minority issues in contemporary Oslo, its subject matter is quite far removed from ancient Egyptian coffins. Nevertheless, trying to bridge these two academic interests has proved valuable for the development of a broad understanding of culture and a deep appreciation of the diversity, creativity, adaptability and productivity that constitutes humanity. Please feel free to browse through my publications in both fields; I hope they may be of use to you! -And if you visit Oslo, please come by "Interkulturelt museum" at Grønland, and check out our exhibitions!
Best wishes,
Anders
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Nå samles for første gang på 70 år kunnskapen om denne kulturen på norsk, i en bredt anlagt innføringsbok. Mot et geografisk bakteppe trekker egyptolog Anders Bettum opp de store linjene i den gammelegyptiske historien og gir smakebiter av egyptisk språk, religion, politikk og litteratur. Et av bokens mange høydepunkter er fortellingen om dechiffreringen av hieroglyfene, andre er møtet med en familie fra arbeiderlandsbyen Deir el-Medina og funnet av Tutankhamons grav.
Det gamle Egypt har stor plass i vår moderne bevissthet og historieforståelse. Det samme gjaldt også i antikken, som i likhet med ettertiden har tillagt de gamle egypterne en særlig visdom. Egypt har utøvd en magisk tiltrekningskraft på både vitenskapsmenn, antikvitetssamlere og gravrøvere, grupper det ikke alltid har vært like lett å skille mellom. Også slikt får vi vite mer om i denne boken, der forfatteren til slutt trekker tråder frem til dagens politiske situasjon hvor den nasjonalistiske faraonismen kniver med panarabisme og islamisme om forrang i egypternes identitetsfølelse.
The nested structure, which often has been compared with Russian dolls or Chinese boxes, is very characteristic for Egyptian elite burials. The core of the source material consists of 10 private coffin ensembles from the late 18th to the early 21st Dynasties. These objects have been studied in light of theories related to ‘wrapping’ as material culture.
The structure of the coffin ensembles follows a duality of symbolism which can be retrieved in the individual coffins: 1) as a representation of the deceased, 2) as a representation of the space in which the transformation or rebirth of the deceased was believed to take place. The burial of the child-king Tutankhamun is a case in point. His nest of coffins contained three anthropoid coffins and five rectangular sarcophagi shaped as shrines. Furthermore, his mummy demonstrates well how the nested structure seen in the coffin ensemble continued inside the mummy, where artificial façades or attires had been constructed between the layers of bandages.
In private coffins from the New Kingdom, the two main themes merge into one decorative scheme, where the primary decoration represents the mummy and the secondary decoration represents the mythological space surrounding it. This tendency to merge layers is typical. In the 19th Dynasty (inner) coffins, four such layers can be identified. This system created a flexibility that made it possible for people from lower social strata to copy the nested structure of elite coffin ensembles in a single coffin.
This paper demonstrates the use of the 'nesting principle' in various contexts, and explores the implications of the new-won knowledge to our understanding of coffin decoration, funerary rituals and the mythical environment of the Netherworld.
After Lot 14 arrived in Stockholm 28 November 1893, the four coffin-ensembles, consisting of 15 components, were divided between two museums in Sweden and one in Norway. The redistribution was ostensibly random, resulting in much confusion among scholars as to which components originally belonged together. The reconstruction of the ensembles has been further complicated by the frequent reuse of coffins which took place in the 21st Dynasty. Seven of the 15 components in Lot 14 show clear evidence of reuse. Traditional art historical methods are of limited help when trying to reconstruct the scattered ensembles from Bab el-Gusus. Only the historical record, to the extent that it has been preserved, can tell which components once belonged together.
Fortunately, in this case, the record has been preserved. This article offers a new and well-documented reconstruction of the four coffin-ensembles, thereby paving the way for the production of a useful catalogue. Of particular interest are the reconstructions of the full five-piece ensembles of Khonsumes (A 121) and Ankhsenmt (A7), and the rediscovery of the outer coffins belonging to these sets.
These coffins are unique in being the only surviving examples of burial containers of the non-elite from Amarna. Conservation and investigative work undertaken over several years, has preserved elements of the vegetable fibre mating, conserved the deteriorated remains and clarified details of the decorative schemes of the wooden coffins.
This poster will describe the different types of coffin and burial container excavated from the South Tombs Cemetery — focusing on materials, technology and iconographic style. It will show how, using the range of analytical techniques available to us in the field, we have been able to determine the pigment palette, the composition of plasters, joinery techniques, plus the species of woods used to construct the coffins.
The analysis is being used to provide fascinating insights into social construction, trade and family life during the Amarna period. There is still much conservation work to do on the coffins but even at this stage, as will be illustrated in this poster, the differences and also similarities in manufacture and style of the Amarna coffins to others of the New Kingdom are clear.
The book includes a catalogue with 45 entries with curatorial descriptions of the objects on display. Among these are 25 objects from the Egyptian collection, meny of which are previously unpublished.
Nå samles for første gang på 70 år kunnskapen om denne kulturen på norsk, i en bredt anlagt innføringsbok. Mot et geografisk bakteppe trekker egyptolog Anders Bettum opp de store linjene i den gammelegyptiske historien og gir smakebiter av egyptisk språk, religion, politikk og litteratur. Et av bokens mange høydepunkter er fortellingen om dechiffreringen av hieroglyfene, andre er møtet med en familie fra arbeiderlandsbyen Deir el-Medina og funnet av Tutankhamons grav.
Det gamle Egypt har stor plass i vår moderne bevissthet og historieforståelse. Det samme gjaldt også i antikken, som i likhet med ettertiden har tillagt de gamle egypterne en særlig visdom. Egypt har utøvd en magisk tiltrekningskraft på både vitenskapsmenn, antikvitetssamlere og gravrøvere, grupper det ikke alltid har vært like lett å skille mellom. Også slikt får vi vite mer om i denne boken, der forfatteren til slutt trekker tråder frem til dagens politiske situasjon hvor den nasjonalistiske faraonismen kniver med panarabisme og islamisme om forrang i egypternes identitetsfølelse.
The nested structure, which often has been compared with Russian dolls or Chinese boxes, is very characteristic for Egyptian elite burials. The core of the source material consists of 10 private coffin ensembles from the late 18th to the early 21st Dynasties. These objects have been studied in light of theories related to ‘wrapping’ as material culture.
The structure of the coffin ensembles follows a duality of symbolism which can be retrieved in the individual coffins: 1) as a representation of the deceased, 2) as a representation of the space in which the transformation or rebirth of the deceased was believed to take place. The burial of the child-king Tutankhamun is a case in point. His nest of coffins contained three anthropoid coffins and five rectangular sarcophagi shaped as shrines. Furthermore, his mummy demonstrates well how the nested structure seen in the coffin ensemble continued inside the mummy, where artificial façades or attires had been constructed between the layers of bandages.
In private coffins from the New Kingdom, the two main themes merge into one decorative scheme, where the primary decoration represents the mummy and the secondary decoration represents the mythological space surrounding it. This tendency to merge layers is typical. In the 19th Dynasty (inner) coffins, four such layers can be identified. This system created a flexibility that made it possible for people from lower social strata to copy the nested structure of elite coffin ensembles in a single coffin.
This paper demonstrates the use of the 'nesting principle' in various contexts, and explores the implications of the new-won knowledge to our understanding of coffin decoration, funerary rituals and the mythical environment of the Netherworld.
After Lot 14 arrived in Stockholm 28 November 1893, the four coffin-ensembles, consisting of 15 components, were divided between two museums in Sweden and one in Norway. The redistribution was ostensibly random, resulting in much confusion among scholars as to which components originally belonged together. The reconstruction of the ensembles has been further complicated by the frequent reuse of coffins which took place in the 21st Dynasty. Seven of the 15 components in Lot 14 show clear evidence of reuse. Traditional art historical methods are of limited help when trying to reconstruct the scattered ensembles from Bab el-Gusus. Only the historical record, to the extent that it has been preserved, can tell which components once belonged together.
Fortunately, in this case, the record has been preserved. This article offers a new and well-documented reconstruction of the four coffin-ensembles, thereby paving the way for the production of a useful catalogue. Of particular interest are the reconstructions of the full five-piece ensembles of Khonsumes (A 121) and Ankhsenmt (A7), and the rediscovery of the outer coffins belonging to these sets.
These coffins are unique in being the only surviving examples of burial containers of the non-elite from Amarna. Conservation and investigative work undertaken over several years, has preserved elements of the vegetable fibre mating, conserved the deteriorated remains and clarified details of the decorative schemes of the wooden coffins.
This poster will describe the different types of coffin and burial container excavated from the South Tombs Cemetery — focusing on materials, technology and iconographic style. It will show how, using the range of analytical techniques available to us in the field, we have been able to determine the pigment palette, the composition of plasters, joinery techniques, plus the species of woods used to construct the coffins.
The analysis is being used to provide fascinating insights into social construction, trade and family life during the Amarna period. There is still much conservation work to do on the coffins but even at this stage, as will be illustrated in this poster, the differences and also similarities in manufacture and style of the Amarna coffins to others of the New Kingdom are clear.
The book includes a catalogue with 45 entries with curatorial descriptions of the objects on display. Among these are 25 objects from the Egyptian collection, meny of which are previously unpublished.