Latest news with #HelenStrudwick
CTV News
2 hours ago
- General
- CTV News
4,000-year-old handprint found on ancient tomb
A 4,000-year-old ancient Egyptian handprint has been discovered on a 'soul house' at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. (Joe Giddens/via CNN Newsource) A 4,000-year-old handprint has been discovered on a clay model used for offerings in an Ancient Egyptian tomb. Researchers from Cambridge University's Fitzwilliam Museum, in the United Kingdom, stumbled upon the imprint while preparing for an exhibition, which is set to open this fall. It was found on the base of a 'soul house,' a building-shaped clay model typically found in burials and said to have provided a place for the soul to live, according to a press release from the museum. The model has an open space at the front where food offerings, like bread, lettuce or an ox's head, could be placed. Dating back to about 2055–1650 BCE, the soul house underwent extensive examinations that revealed how it was made four millennia ago. It showed that the unnamed potter would have first created a framework of wooden sticks for the two-story building, which was then coated with clay. The firing process would have burnt the wood away. The handprint was found underneath the soul house and was most likely formed when the potter moved the model while the clay was still damp and before it was fired in a kiln. 'We've spotted traces of fingerprints left in wet varnish or on a coffin in the decoration, but it is rare and exciting to find a complete handprint underneath this soul house,' said Helen Strudwick, senior Egyptologist at the museum and curator of the exhibition. 'This was left by the maker who touched it before the clay dried,' she said in the release. 'I have never seen such a complete handprint on an Egyptian object before. You can just imagine the person who made this, picking it up to move it out of the workshop to dry before firing.' 'Things like this take you directly to the moment when the object was made and to the person who made it, which is the focus of our exhibition,' Strudwick added. Vast amounts of pottery have survived from the ancient Egyptian period as ceramics were widely used for functional objects and decorative pieces. It was common for pottery containing food and drink to feature in burials. While much is known about ancient Egyptian rulers like Tutankhamun, the stories of those who made some of the many artifacts discovered in their tombs is often overlooked. The ready availability of clay and low value of pottery is likely to have affected social status of potters, according to the museum. The soul house will be on display at the Cambridge museum as part of the 'Made in Ancient Egypt' exhibition, which aims to highlight the stories of artisans like the one who left this handprint behind. It opens on October 3. By Lianne Kolirin, CNN
CNN
8 hours ago
- Science
- CNN
4,000-year-old handprint found on ancient Egyptian tomb
A 4,000-year-old handprint has been discovered on a clay model used for offerings in an Ancient Egyptian tomb. Researchers from Cambridge University's Fitzwilliam Museum, in the United Kingdom, stumbled upon the imprint while preparing for an exhibition, which is set to open this fall. It was found on the base of a 'soul house,' a building-shaped clay model typically found in burials and said to have provided a place for the soul to live, according to a press release from the museum. The model has an open space at the front where food offerings, like bread, lettuce or an ox's head, could be placed. Dating back to about 2055–1650 BCE, the soul house underwent extensive examinations that revealed how it was made four millennia ago. It showed that the unnamed potter would have first created a framework of wooden sticks for the two-story building, which was then coated with clay. The firing process would have burnt the wood away. The handprint was found underneath the soul house and was most likely formed when the potter moved the model while the clay was still damp and before it was fired in a kiln. 'We've spotted traces of fingerprints left in wet varnish or on a coffin in the decoration, but it is rare and exciting to find a complete handprint underneath this soul house,' said Helen Strudwick, senior Egyptologist at the museum and curator of the exhibition. 'This was left by the maker who touched it before the clay dried,' she said in the release. 'I have never seen such a complete handprint on an Egyptian object before. You can just imagine the person who made this, picking it up to move it out of the workshop to dry before firing.' 'Things like this take you directly to the moment when the object was made and to the person who made it, which is the focus of our exhibition,' Strudwick added. Vast amounts of pottery have survived from the ancient Egyptian period as ceramics were widely used for functional objects and decorative pieces. It was common for pottery containing food and drink to feature in burials. While much is known about ancient Egyptian rulers like Tutankhamun, the stories of those who made some of the many artifacts discovered in their tombs is often overlooked. The ready availability of clay and low value of pottery is likely to have affected social status of potters, according to the museum. The soul house will be on display at the Cambridge museum as part of the 'Made in Ancient Egypt' exhibition, which aims to highlight the stories of artisans like the one who left this handprint behind. It opens on October 3. Discover your world Go beyond the headlines and explore the latest scientific achievements and fascinating discoveries. Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter.
CNN
8 hours ago
- Science
- CNN
4,000-year-old handprint found on ancient Egyptian tomb
FacebookTweetLink A 4,000-year-old handprint has been discovered on a clay model used for offerings in an Ancient Egyptian tomb. Researchers from Cambridge University's Fitzwilliam Museum, in the United Kingdom, stumbled upon the imprint while preparing for an exhibition, which is set to open this fall. It was found on the base of a 'soul house,' a building-shaped clay model typically found in burials and said to have provided a place for the soul to live, according to a press release from the museum. The model has an open space at the front where food offerings, like bread, lettuce or an ox's head, could be placed. Dating back to about 2055–1650 BCE, the soul house underwent extensive examinations that revealed how it was made four millennia ago. It showed that the unnamed potter would have first created a framework of wooden sticks for the two-story building, which was then coated with clay. The firing process would have burnt the wood away. The handprint was found underneath the soul house and was most likely formed when the potter moved the model while the clay was still damp and before it was fired in a kiln. 'We've spotted traces of fingerprints left in wet varnish or on a coffin in the decoration, but it is rare and exciting to find a complete handprint underneath this soul house,' said Helen Strudwick, senior Egyptologist at the museum and curator of the exhibition. 'This was left by the maker who touched it before the clay dried,' she said in the release. 'I have never seen such a complete handprint on an Egyptian object before. You can just imagine the person who made this, picking it up to move it out of the workshop to dry before firing.' 'Things like this take you directly to the moment when the object was made and to the person who made it, which is the focus of our exhibition,' Strudwick added. Vast amounts of pottery have survived from the ancient Egyptian period as ceramics were widely used for functional objects and decorative pieces. It was common for pottery containing food and drink to feature in burials. While much is known about ancient Egyptian rulers like Tutankhamun, the stories of those who made some of the many artifacts discovered in their tombs is often overlooked. The ready availability of clay and low value of pottery is likely to have affected social status of potters, according to the museum. The soul house will be on display at the Cambridge museum as part of the 'Made in Ancient Egypt' exhibition, which aims to highlight the stories of artisans like the one who left this handprint behind. It opens on October 3. Discover your world Go beyond the headlines and explore the latest scientific achievements and fascinating discoveries. Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter.
eNCA
16 hours ago
- Science
- eNCA
UK museum finds 4,000-year-old handprint on Egypt tomb
LONDON - British researchers have discovered a rare handprint on a 4,000-year-old Egyptian artefact. The ancient handprint was found by museum conservators on the base of an Egyptian soul house -- a clay offering tray in the shape of a building which may have been used in tombs for laying out food offerings or as a dwelling for souls. The unique discovery was made after the piece, crafted between 2055-1650 BC, was examined by conservation staff in preparation for a new exhibition. "I have never seen such a complete handprint on an Egyptian object before," said Helen Strudwick, senior curator and Egyptologist at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. The handprint was left by the maker of the soul house, when they picked it up before drying and firing the clay. "When you see something like this, you feel very close to the person who left their mark on an object," Strudwick said, describing the finding to AFP as an "exciting moment". "You can see all the fingers, and also where the heel of the hand rested," she said. The rare artefact will be on display at the museum's Made in Ancient Egypt exhibition, which opens on October 3. The exhibition will focus on the makers of Egyptian artefacts such as jewellery, ceramics and sculptures. It is important to understand how the ancient objects were made "in order to look after them properly," the curator said. The museum in southeast England has been researching how the artefacts were created since 2014, but little is known about the potters who worked in Ancient Egypt. Since pottery was seen as having a low value, Egyptian potters may have been accorded a lower social status than other craftspeople. "We can't really say anything about the identity of the person from the handprint. It is quite small -- about the same size as my own hand," said Strudwick. "If this is a man's handprint, it's possible that -- given the scale of it -- he was a younger person, or it may be that a more junior person in the workshop was responsible for moving these objects out to dry," she speculated. Strudwick says the history of Egyptian craftspeople was often overlooked by researchers. But with new research methods, "we are able to know more and more about how they worked, lived and how they wanted to be remembered for all time," she said. The exhibition will include a large loan of antiquities from the Louvre museum in France, the most significant of its kind to visit the UK in almost 20 years.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Rare 4,000-year-old Egyptian handprint found
A 4,000-year-old handprint has been found on an ancient Egyptian tomb offering by curators preparing for an exhibition. The discovery was made by University of Cambridge researchers on a "soul house", a type of clay model in the shape of a building, typically found in burials. Curator Helen Strudwick said the complete handprint, which dates to 2055 to 1650BC, was "a rare and exciting" find. The ceramic will go on display as part of the university's Made in Ancient Egypt exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum opening on 3 October. Ms Strudwick, senior egyptologist at the Fitzwilliam Museum, said: "We've spotted traces of fingerprints left in wet varnish or on a coffin in the decoration, but it is rare and exciting to find a complete handprint underneath this soul house. "This was left by the maker who touched it before the clay dried. "I have never seen such a complete handprint on an Egyptian object before." The exhibition concentrates on the people who made the ancient Egyptian crafts. While ceramics were widely used and vast amounts of pottery survive, there are relatively few details known about the potters themselves, in comparison to other ancient Egyptian craftsmen. The ready availability and generally low value of pottery may have affected their status, according to the museum, which cited a text known as the Teaching of Khet, comparing potters to pigs who wallow in mud. Soul houses may have acted as offering trays or provided a place for the soul of the deceased to live within the tomb. They had an open front space where items of food were laid out, in this example loaves of bread, a lettuce and an ox's head. Analysis of the item suggested the potter who made it first created a framework of wooden sticks and then coated it with clay to make a building with two storeys supported by pillars. During firing the wooden framework burnt away, leaving empty spaces in their place. The handprint found underneath was probably made when someone, perhaps the potter, moved the house out of the workshop to dry before firing in a kiln, according to the researchers. The stories of Egyptian rulers, like Tutankhamun, have received a great deal of attention but the makers of the artefacts themselves are often overlooked. Made in Ancient Egypt aims to show who these people were, how they thought of themselves and what other Egyptians thought of them. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. More on this story Ancient Egyptian history may be rewritten by DNA bone test Researchers help uncover ancient Egyptian city Scientists may have solved mystery behind Egypt's pyramids Related internet links Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge Solve the daily Crossword
