Monday, December 12, 2011

Poster: Rewriting History - A Look at Vandalism in 18th Dynasty Egypt

Institute of Archaeology, UCL

In history as today, vandalism is an act imbued with meaning. This is certainly true of two 18th-Dynasty Egyptian examples—that of the Pharaohs Hatshepsut and Akhenaten. Hatshepsut’s rise to power as king was at the expense of her young stepson—the rightful Pharaoh. Years after her death, vandalism in the form of the removal of any references or images associated with Hatshepsut’s kingship is evident. Akhenaten’s striking religious reforms landed him the same fate. Through analysis, we are able to ascertain the desired result of this vandalism: rewriting Egyptian history to include only that which was orthodox.

As part of their assessed work for the Principles of Conservation M.A. course at UCL, students are asked to design and produce a poster communicating aspects of conservation. The poster consists of two main parts: the poster itself and an accompanying paper. The topic year was "Deliberate damage, destruction and vandalism of cultural heritage." Students were asked to identify, examine and discuss an aspect of deliberate damage to cultural heritage of their choice.

For the entire poster page, some of which look at the general problems of graffiti and neglect, click here: UCL Principles of Conservation Posters

1 comment:

Stuart Tyler said...

Thanks Andrea. This will be worth a read, for sure.