O rosto misterioso : memória material num objecto anónimo de uma sacerdotisa de Amon (Ataúde A.4 da Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa)

• Main Author: Rogério Sousa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade do Porto 2011-01-01
• Series: CEM: Cultura, Espaço & Memória
• Subjects: Anthropomorphic coffin; 21st Dynasty; funerary equipment; Egypt
• Online Access: http://ler.letras.up.pt/uploads/ficheiros/10428.pdf

An anonymous object tends to be viewed as an object devoid of memory. In the case of theanthropomorphic coffin belonging to an Egyptian priestess of Amon from the 21st dynasty, the identity of itsowner has been lost forever. However, as an object, this coffin reflects a centuries-old funerary tradition and itis an authentic repository of a collective material memory that, at the time it was built, was already thousandsof years old. Each of its elements was integrated into the coffin in accordance with a sequence and a codingthat we could say «phylogenetic», in the sense that, when it was inscribed on the object, it repeated thematerial evolution of the coffins themselves. However, given the importance of funerary material culture inancient Egypt, this process could not be static on the contrary, each new object was always a fresh opportunityto update the design of coffins. Looked at from this perspective, the anonymous coffin A4 of the Sociedade deGeografia de Lisboa is an object of memory that contains within it an ancient material memory that wepropose to recover in this paper.