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Dr. Amy Calvert

About Dr. Amy Calvert

Dr. Amy Calvert is the Contributing Editor for Ancient Egyptian art. Amy holds a Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University and has been involved in several excavations in Italy, Egypt, and the U.S. She has acted as registrar in the field for the Osiris Temple Project with the Yale-University of Pennsylvania-New York University Expedition to Abydos and has worked at The British Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The quality of the carvings on the Middle Kingdom White Chapel is exceptional.

The White Chapel

by Dr. Amy Calvert

Mastaba tombs around Great Pyramid, Dynasty 4, Giza, Egypt (photo: Dr. Amy Calvert) — The ancient Egyptian desire to craft an ideal afterlife led to a later (incorrect) perception that they were obsessed with death.

Private tombs, portals to the afterlife

by Dr. Amy Calvert

Mask likely to be worn by a male priest playing the part of Anubis in a temple during mummification or burial ritual. Probably buried with the priest who had worn it in life. Anubis mask, 8–4 B.C.E., cartonnage, coarse linen, mud plaster mixed with straw, probably excavated in Thebes, Egypt, 24 x 36 cm (Harrogate Museums and Arts) — There was a huge range of experimentation that occurred over Egypt’s long history of mummification, some techniques being far more successful than others.

Mummification and funeral rites

by Dr. Amy Calvert

Painted wooden inner-coffin of Seni with lid, c. 1850 B.C.E. (12th dynasty), painted wood, findspot: Deir el-Bersha, Egypt (© The Trustees of the British Museum) — Mortuary texts represent an ongoing, ever-evolving tradition that provides valuable insight into the afterlife beliefs and goals of the ancient Egyptians

Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Mortuary Texts

by Dr. Amy Calvert

Anubis — Osiris, Isis, Horus, Ra, Hathor, Seth, Taweret—With more than 1,500 named deities, the Egyptian pantheon was complex and vast

Egyptian deities

by Dr. Amy Calvert

Seth, Egypt — Egypt’s mythic world, rich with creative imagery, was deeply informed by the natural world that surrounded them.

Creation myths and form(s) of the gods ...

by Dr. Amy Calvert

Large Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut (detail) — Egypt was a theocratic monarchy, where the king ruled by the command of the gods and served as intermediary between the people and the divine.

Egyptian Social Organization—from the Pharaoh to the ...

by Dr. Amy Calvert

Model scene of workers ploughing a field, Middle Kingdom, late Dynasty 11 – early Dynasty, 2010–1961 B.C., wood, 54 cm (MFA Boston) — In ancient Egypt, below the king were administrative officials, such as the vizier, overseers, scores of scribes, and regional governors who handled local resource management.

Egyptian Social Organization—from the Pharaoh to the ...

by Dr. Amy Calvert

The Rosetta Stone, 196 B.C.E., Ptolemaic Period, 112.3 x 75.7 x 28.4 cm, Egypt © Trustees of the British Museum. Part of grey and pink granodiorite stela bearing priestly decree concerning Ptolemy V in three blocks of text: Hieroglyphic (14 lines), Demotic (32 lines) and Greek (53 lines). — An introduction to the Late Period, and Ptolemaic and Roman Periods in ancient Egypt

Late Period and the Ptolemaic and Roman ...

by Dr. Amy Calvert

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, Dayr al-Baḥrī, Egypt, c. 1470 B.C.E. — An introduction to the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period in ancient Egypt

New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period, an ...

by Dr. Amy Calvert

senusret grid — An overview of the Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period in ancient Egypt

Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period, an ...

by Dr. Amy Calvert

Tutankhamun’s tomb, innermost coffin, c. 1323 B.C.E., 18th Dynasty, New Kingdom, gold with inlay of enamel and semiprecious stones, found in the Valley of the Kings in 1922 (Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, Cairo) — A overview of ancient Egyptian chronologies and time periods

Ancient Egyptian chronology and historical framework

by Dr. Amy Calvert

Giza plateau (photo: Ikiwaner CC BY-SA 2.0) — An overview of the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period

Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period, an ...

by Dr. Amy Calvert

den grid — A brief overview of the predynastic and early dynastic periods in ancient Egypt

Predynastic and Early Dynastic, an introduction

by Dr. Amy Calvert

saqqara grid — The Step Pyramid complex at Saqqara is the spark that leads to Egypt’s glorious Age of the Pyramids.

Step Pyramid complex at Saqqara

by Dr. Amy Calvert

Heads and torsos (detail), King Menkaure (Mycerinus) and queen, 2490–2472 B.C.E., greywacke, 142.2 x 57.1 x 55.2 cm (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, photo: Steven Zucker CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) — This serene statue of the pharaoh and the queen is from a temple of the Pyramid of Menkaure, undisturbed for millennia.

King Menkaure (Mycerinus) and queen

by Dr. Amy Calvert

Smallest of the Giza Pyramids, the Pyramid of Menkaure still rises to 213 feet—and was home to stunning sculpture.

Pyramid of Menkaure

by Dr. Amy Calvert

Carved from bedrock, the Great Sphinx is one of the largest statues in the world—does it have the face of a pharaoh?

Pyramid of Khafre and the Great Sphinx

by Dr. Amy Calvert

Largest of the Pyramids of Giza, the outer casing of this engineering marvel once shone bright white in the sun.

Pyramid of Khufu

by Dr. Amy Calvert

The Great Pyramids of Giza — Rising out of the Western Desert—the only remaining monument of the ancient Seven Wonders, the Great Pyramids.

The Great Pyramids of Giza

by Dr. Amy Calvert