Photographing Tutankhamun: Archaeology, Ancient Egypt, and the Archive (Photography, History: History, Photography) - Hardcover

Riggs, Christina

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1350038520 ISBN 13: 9781350038523

Publisher: Routledge, 2018

Synopsis

Howard Carter kneeling before the burial shrines of Tutankhamun; life-size statues of the boy king on guard beside a doorway, tantalizingly sealed, in his tomb; or a solid gold coffin still draped with flowers cut more than 3,300 years ago. Yet until now, no study has explored the ways in which photography helped mythologize the tomb of Tutankhamun, nor the role photography played in shaping archaeological methods and interpretations, both in and beyond the field. This book undertakes the first critical analysis of the photographic archive formed during the ten-year clearance of the tomb, and in doing so explores the interface between photography and archaeology at a pivotal time for both. Photographing Tutankhamun foregrounds photography as a material, technical, and social process in early 20th-century archaeology, in order to question how the photograph made and remade ancient Egypt in the waning age of colonial order.

About this title

About the Author:

Christina Riggs is a Senior Lecturer in the department of Art History and World Art Studies, University of East Anglia, UK.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1350038520
• ISBN 13: 9781350038523
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272