The ‘Qurna Queen’: Reassessing a 17th Dynasty Intact Royal Burial. Online Zoom Lecture
Date: Saturday 8th March 2025 at 2.00 pm
By
Dr Margaret Maitland
Cost: Free for Members and £4 Visitors
Booking (booking opens nearer the time) Click here
Abstract
A recent re-examination of the burial group of the so-called ‘Qurna Queen’, excavated by Petrie on the Theban West Bank in 1908, has revealed new insights about these remarkable artefacts and what they can tell use about cultural connections between Egypt and Sudan. Over a hundred objects were found in the burial, now displayed at National Museum Scotland, but the identities of the woman and child remain a mystery. This talk will present the burial's rich and varied objects, and how they've been studied and interpreted over the past hundred years, including through scientific analysis. The ethnic identity of the woman has been the source of debate due to the presence of imported Nubian pottery. Other items from the burial, such as an inlaid headrest, a bovine-legged stool, and rare examples of net-bags are not so easily categorised as specifically 'Egyptian' or 'Nubian'. In the past, many of these objects were displayed typologically as exemplars ‘Egyptian’ craftmanship, but new studies suggest they indicate a more complex mutual influence and broader shared Nile Valley culture.
Biography
Dr Margaret Maitland is Principal Curator of the Ancient Mediterranean and Head of the Mediterranean, Africa, Americas, and Oceania Section at National Museums Scotland. Dr Maitland was lead curator for the Museum's Ancient Egypt Rediscovered gallery that opened in 2019, and the 2017 exhibition The Tomb: Ancient Egyptian Burial. In 2019, she was awarded an Art Fund Headley Fellowship for her research on Alexander Henry Rhind. She was previously a Future Curator trainee at the British Museum, where she co-curated the UK touring exhibition Pharaoh: King of Egypt. Her DPhil at the University of Oxford examined representations of social identity and hierarchy in elite Middle Kingdom culture.
