'Holy Rubbish’? Early Egyptian Statuettes from the Hierakonpolis Main Deposit in the Ashmolean Museum

The spectacular ‘Main Deposit’ excavated by James Quibell and Frederick Green at Hierakonpolis in 1897–98 included hundreds of fragments of human statuettes carved from hippopotamus and elephant ivory. The cache represents men, women and children in a variety of poses and costumes, ranging from complete examples to the detached heads, arms, legs, feet and bases of many others. Debate continues concerning the date of their manufacture and the reason for their deposition. I will present a new study of the corpus, relating the Hierakonpolis pieces to comparative material from deposits found at other sites across Egypt. I also challenge the standard interpretation of such deposits as discarded temple offerings and propose an alternative explanation of the contexts in which they should be understood.



As a Lunch Table event, members of the Cluster are invited to join Liam for lunch in Hall at 12.30. The talk, beginning at 1.15 in the Levett Room, is catered with tea/coffee and cakes (all welcome).