Articles by Nicholas Picardo
Clay Figurines in Context: Crucibles of Egyptian, Nubian, and Levantine Societies in the Middle Bronze Age (2100–1550 BC) and Beyond edited by Gianluca Miniaci, Cristina Alù, Camilla Saler, Vanessa Forte, 2024., 2023
In recent times the interest in figurine studies has flourished. The University of Pisa conferenc... more In recent times the interest in figurine studies has flourished. The University of Pisa conference Clay Figurines in Context which took place on October 17-19, 2022 highlighted the many and varied ways in which one aspect of this area of research can be explored – the neglected category of figurines that are peculiarly hand-modelled in the humblest of materials, Nile mud or clay. Figurines depicting humans in clay fall into two main groups: those modelled with a recognisable human form and those that are flat plaques, more or less rectangular or squared in shape. The latter form of object stands outside the accepted figurine typology. Known as plaque figurines, they are non-standard, highly stylised and wholly abstract – unusual, strange, peculiar. To date there is no co-ordinated study of plaque figurines. The small corpus of hand-formed clay plaque figurines from the state-planned town site of Wah-sut at South Abydos has yielded a range of figurines. Found in association with the residential quarters close to and including the settlement’s commanding mayoral residence, the plaques stand out as a homogeneous group. Presented here is a detailed catalogue together with a discussion of comparative material from other sites and a preliminary discussion of the potential significance of some of the decorative features on the best preserved of the plaque figurines.
Expanding our Data from the Old-Middle Kingdom Western Delta
Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt
The Kom el-Hisn Provincialism Project (KHPP) began new excavations at the site of Kom el-Hisn, Ba... more The Kom el-Hisn Provincialism Project (KHPP) began new excavations at the site of Kom el-Hisn, Baheira governorate in 2016. Our work specifically targets the Old–Middle Kingdom settlement remains with the aim of studying the activities and population of the site’s late third/early second millennium inhabitants from a local, bottom-up perspective. Previous understandings of the kom have interpreted it as part of a centralized government system. Indeed, authority and personal agency in the provinces is a subject of much recent discussion; discussion to which the excavations at KHPP aim in the long term to contribute. To date, limited new exposure at the site has extended our knowledge of the site’s date, differential settlement zones, and introduced new methodologies for object analysis.
'Where Did THAT Come From?!' The Giza Project’s Development of Citation and Referencing Documentation for 3D Archaeological Visualizations.
Rita Lucarelli, Joshua Roberson, and Stephen Vinson, eds. Ancient Egypt – New Technology: The Present and Future of Computer Visualization, Virtual Reality and Other Digital Humanities in Egyptology. Harvard Egyptological Studies 17. Leiden: Brill, pp. 373-427 , 2023
ABSTRACT:
Within a broader mission to comprehensively integrate archival data for the site of Gi... more ABSTRACT:
Within a broader mission to comprehensively integrate archival data for the site of Giza, the Giza Project at Harvard University has applied over a century’s-worth of archival resources to produce 3D models of the Giza Plateau and many of its major monuments. As technology has expanded the options for documentation and communication of archaeological information to both academic and popular audiences, it has been challenging to adequately preserve fundamental standards of academic transparency and citation for 3D media. Whether intended as visualizations of selected data or as detailed visions of ancient milieus, 3D digital models—along with other media that incorporate them—often include significant elements of reconstruction. Once released, often they become disassociated from the sources and thought processes that informed their creation. By conceiving of 3D archaeological reconstructions as “new data” that integrate with “old data,” the Giza Project has developed referencing protocols and documentation that promote necessary, reasonable, and accessible standards of transparency and citation for 3D archaeological reconstructions and visualizations.
In Laura Battini, Aaron Brody, and Sharon R. Steadman, eds. No Place Like Home: Ancient Near Eastern Houses and Households. Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 6-20, 2022
ABSTRACT:
As a starting point for modeling ancient Egyptian society the all-encompassing state h... more ABSTRACT:
As a starting point for modeling ancient Egyptian society the all-encompassing state has by now proved insufficient as a stand-alone framework. To be fair, surveying ancient Egyptian history invites lofty vantage points: the rise of a seemingly monolithic state administration of the Old Kingdom that fostered the ‘pyramid age’; a pervasive bureaucracy promoting Middle Kingdom prosperity; and a cosmopolitan
New Kingdom as a ‘world power’ of the ancient Near East. Nonetheless, increasingly, research trends have narrowed the frame from large-scale, top-down models to hone in on the large-scale influences of smaller-scale social groups and processes—what Juan Carlos Moreno García aptly describes as "social sectors and networks of power scarcely documented in official sources but indispensable for the actual running of the state." While official state agenda and bureaucracy may have been a day-to-day reality in areas of concentrated state interest and presence, its direct effects on the lives of the non-elite, non-administratively employed populace likely were far fewer and cyclical in nature. Less formal, administratively invisible relationships, dependencies, and obligations were the practical mechanisms through which people met fundamental needs and addressed fundamental problems. One emergent trend of inquiry into these smaller orders of social organization and connectedness is the application of household archaeology theory, territory seldom accessed by Egyptology and Egyptian archaeology. Complementing growing interest in household archaeology in the study of ancient Egypt is a body of research that looks to the interpretive potential of ‘social house’ theory for the Egyptian archaeological record, highlighting its value not only within domestic contexts but also beyond. This chapter highlights the potential for social house models to add useful granularity to interpretations of social relationships and extended household networks fundamental to ancient Egyptian society as an important complement to other approaches, both old and new.
Household Studies in Complex Societies: (Micro) Archaeological and Textual Approaches. Edited by Miriam Müller. Oriental Institute Seminars 10, 2015, pp. 243-287.
Conclusions drawn from the archaeology of settlements and domestic buildings have played a pivota... more Conclusions drawn from the archaeology of settlements and domestic buildings have played a pivotal role in interpreting social and administrative processes of Middle Kingdom Egypt. This is especially true for the late Twelfth Dynasty. Studies of this period have approached these topics mostly from the top-down vantage points of state agendas and globally defined social structures. Consequently, the late Middle Kingdom is frequently characterized as a time of intensive state control, from the highest royal offices down to the town and even household levels, a view reinforced by a dramatic expansion of administrative offices and titles in the historical record. Per this model, elite households in state-established settlements could act as nodes of a national regulatory system, particularly with respect to subsistence infrastructure. When the late Twelfth Dynasty pharaoh Senwosret III established a royal tomb and mortuary temple at South Abydos, he also provided local personnel with a newly founded, formally planned town that exemplifies several of the late Middle Kingdom trends identified above. Both the royal mortuary institution and the town itself carry the abbreviated name of Wah-sut (short for Wah-sut-Khakaure-maa-kheru-m-Abdju, “Enduring-are-the-Places-of-Khakaure-True-of-Voice-in-Abydos”). Archaeological investigation has been undertaken at Wah-sut by the Pennsylvania-Yale-Institute of Fine Arts, NYU Expedition to Abydos since 1994.
This paper applies the concept of “house societies” to this state-sponsored town with emphasis on the bottom-up perspectives of individual houses, especially the structure known as Building E (excavated by the author). This approach highlights aspects of the material record that reflect facets of household identities that, like the king’s mortuary institution, were intended to be perpetuated across multiple generations of household membership. Special attention is devoted to distinguishing “extroverted” versus “introverted” expressions of identity, as well as the extent to which Wah-sut’s institutional character influenced each. This household perspective may then be gauged against contemporary archaeological and textual records. The results provide insight into the dynamics between such “hybrid households” – domestically oriented groups situated in an overtly institutionalized setting – and the broader social and economic milieus with which they interacted.
Funerary texts of pharaonic times indicate clearly that decapitation was one of the ancient Egypt... more Funerary texts of pharaonic times indicate clearly that decapitation was one of the ancient Egyptians’ most feared dangers during the post-mortem transition from earthly life
to the afterlife. This theme is surveyed briefly to determine if similar concerns were held prior to the appearance of such religious literature. The result is a reconsideration of a
unique corpus of Old Kingdom statuary: the reserve heads. Proceeding from a review of past interpretive studies, this article posits that several anomalous and oft-debated characteristics
of the reserve heads are best understood by considering them in light of the theme of decapitation. Moreover, a reexamination of some fundamental assumptions about Old Kingdom religious beliefs, the disparities between royal and non-royal views of the hereafter, and the so-called “democratization of the afterlife” supports the hypothesis that the reserve heads reflect an emergent conception of a non-royal ba.
"Headrest and Base of Headrest” [exhibition catalogue entry]
Book Reviews by Nicholas Picardo
Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 11 , 2016
With Asiatics in Middle Kingdom Egypt: Perceptions and Reality, Phyllis Saretta assumes the diffi... more With Asiatics in Middle Kingdom Egypt: Perceptions and Reality, Phyllis Saretta assumes the difficult task of bringing new perspective to pivotal times that preceded the dramatic manifestation of the Hyksos in Egypt that defines the Second Intermediate Period. She does so essentially by isolating them from the topic of the Hyksos altogether. With the introductory first chapter, she outlines the aim of her study: to track Egyptian attitudes towards the people(s) whom the ancient Egyptians called aAmw. Saretta wishes to move beyond what she regards as the prevailing trend of past analyses, namely the prioritization of political (thus official, royal) ideology as the overwhelmingly influential force that shaped Egyptian perceptions of Asiatics. She proposes instead a diachronic, integrative approach that ascribes equal weight to multiple evidentiary lines.
Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 57, 2021
Review of Julia Budka & Johannes Auenmüller, eds. From Microcosm to Macrocosm. Individual Househo... more Review of Julia Budka & Johannes Auenmüller, eds. From Microcosm to Macrocosm. Individual Households and Cities in Ancient Egypt and Nubia. Leiden: Sidestone Press, 2018. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 57 (2021), pp. 332-338.
Papers by Nicholas Picardo
Using theoretical perspectives of Victor Turner -- especially his metaphorical concept of the Soc... more Using theoretical perspectives of Victor Turner -- especially his metaphorical concept of the Social Drama -- this thesis identifies the focal criteria by which instances of cultural performance, broadly speaking, may be sub-classified as social, ritual, or theatrical. This classificatory framework is applied to a prominent modern acting method. The acting "System" of Konstantin Stanislavsky is evaluated first as presented in Stanislavsky's own instructional texts. The somewhat less idealized practices of many modern actors who subscribe to the System is then assessed similarly. This study concludes that these two approaches to the same acting method yield distinctly different performance experiences and that, in actuality, they represent separate categories of performance.
Excyclopedia Articles/Entries and Similar by Nicholas Picardo
All Things Ancient Egypt: An Encyclopedia of the Ancient Egyptian World. (Edited by Lisa Sabbahy)
All Things Ancient Egypt: An Encyclopedia of the Ancient Egyptian World. Lisa Sabbahy, ed. Santa... more All Things Ancient Egypt: An Encyclopedia of the Ancient Egyptian World. Lisa Sabbahy, ed. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2019.
Entries for:
• “Abydos”
• “Giza”
• “Houses”
• “Sphinx, Great”
30-Second Ancient Egypt: The 50 Most Important Achievements of a Timeless Civilisation Each Explained in Half a Minute. (Edited by Peter Der Manuelian)
Entries:
• The Desert and the Oases, p. 18.
• Construction, p. 36.
• Biography Profile: Snefr... more Entries:
• The Desert and the Oases, p. 18.
• Construction, p. 36.
• Biography Profile: Snefru, p. 42.
• Settlements, p. 48.
• Palaces, p. 50.
• Meketre Models, p. 60.
• Biography Profile: Senwosret III, p. 64.
• Transportation, p. 82.
• Osiris and Resurrection, p. 100.
• Food, p. 140.
• Love, p. 152.
World History Encyclopedia, Vol. 3: Era 2: Early Civilizations, 4000–1000 BCE. (Edited by Kevin M. McGeough)
Entries/Articles:
• Egyptian Law, pp. 162–164
• Egyptian Domestic Architecture, pp. 218–221... more Entries/Articles:
• Egyptian Law, pp. 162–164
• Egyptian Domestic Architecture, pp. 218–221
• Egypt–The Dead Among the Living, pp. 280-281
• The Medjay–Nubian Police in Egypt, pp. 304–305
• Gender in Ancient Egypt, pp. 169–172
• The Egyptian Afterlife, pp. 274-276
• The Deified Dead in Ancient Egypt, pp. 282–283
• The Middle Kingdom, pp. 426–427
World History Encyclopedia, Vol. 4: Era 2: Early Civilizations, 4000–1000 BCE. (Edited by Kevin M. McGeough)
Entries/Articles:
• The First Intermediate Period, pp. 424–426.
• Egyptian Execration Texts, p... more Entries/Articles:
• The First Intermediate Period, pp. 424–426.
• Egyptian Execration Texts, pp. 555-556.
• Egypt and Nubia–Cataract Fortresses, pp. 574-575.
• Egyptian Literature: Love Poetry, p. 655.
Conference Presentations by Nicholas Picardo
“‘Where Did THAT Come From?!’ The Giza Project’s Development of Citation and Referencing Standards for 3D Archaeological Visualizations
Digital 3D modeling techniques have increasingly become vehicles not only for documenting archaeo... more Digital 3D modeling techniques have increasingly become vehicles not only for documenting archaeological information but also for communicating it to academic and popular audiences alike. Whether intended as visualizations of selected data or as detailed visions of ancient milieus, 3D digital models—and derivative media that make use of them—often include elements of reconstruction. However, once released, these products tend to take on lives of their own, disassociated from the often substantial source materials (e.g. primary documents; empirical data; excavated artifacts) and intellectual processes (e.g., decisions made; theories applied; extrapolation from parallels; informed speculation; artistic necessity) that factored into their creation. As such, they are effectively born-digital academic works that often lack the full spectrum of appropriate citation. Although ideal in concept, in practice the thorough, step-by-step summary of every aspect of model (re)construction is cumbersome for both creators and consumers. As a result, development of documentation standards has been slow to go beyond minimal annotation or caption, traditional bibliography, and/or a basic slate of "movie credit" attributions, even for scholarly applications. Within its broader mission to comprehensively integrate archival data for the site of Giza, Egypt, the Giza Project at Harvard University has employed archival sources to build 3D models of the Giza Plateau and its major monuments. Giza Project models and media will be used to introduce protocols and reference standards (developed as part of efforts funded by an NEH-HCRR grant) that accommodate a reasonable, necessary level of transparency and citation for 3D archaeological visualizations.
The Social and Cultic Significance of Soul Houses from Settlements
Ceramic offering trays and their more elaborate counterparts, the so-called “soul houses,” have b... more Ceramic offering trays and their more elaborate counterparts, the so-called “soul houses,” have been excavated both in cemeteries as well as at settlement sites. Because the majority of them have come from cemetery contexts, they are almost always categorized as equipment of funerary cult. Without clarification, however, this classification offers little to explain their less frequent, but still numerous occurrences in settlements and houses. This paper adopts concepts of household archaeology, especially notions of household identity, to consider the social significance of offering trays and soul houses at residential sites in order to clarify their full range of functions and ideological importance.
The cultic use of an offering tray or soul house likely began among the living, with its own period of use effectively paralleling the lives of Egyptians from house to grave. Consequently, this shared lifespan between objects and individuals/households is consistent with the desire for posthumous preservation of identity that is manifested more explicitly in some other, more familiar ancient Egyptian cultic practices.
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Articles by Nicholas Picardo
Within a broader mission to comprehensively integrate archival data for the site of Giza, the Giza Project at Harvard University has applied over a century’s-worth of archival resources to produce 3D models of the Giza Plateau and many of its major monuments. As technology has expanded the options for documentation and communication of archaeological information to both academic and popular audiences, it has been challenging to adequately preserve fundamental standards of academic transparency and citation for 3D media. Whether intended as visualizations of selected data or as detailed visions of ancient milieus, 3D digital models—along with other media that incorporate them—often include significant elements of reconstruction. Once released, often they become disassociated from the sources and thought processes that informed their creation. By conceiving of 3D archaeological reconstructions as “new data” that integrate with “old data,” the Giza Project has developed referencing protocols and documentation that promote necessary, reasonable, and accessible standards of transparency and citation for 3D archaeological reconstructions and visualizations.
As a starting point for modeling ancient Egyptian society the all-encompassing state has by now proved insufficient as a stand-alone framework. To be fair, surveying ancient Egyptian history invites lofty vantage points: the rise of a seemingly monolithic state administration of the Old Kingdom that fostered the ‘pyramid age’; a pervasive bureaucracy promoting Middle Kingdom prosperity; and a cosmopolitan
New Kingdom as a ‘world power’ of the ancient Near East. Nonetheless, increasingly, research trends have narrowed the frame from large-scale, top-down models to hone in on the large-scale influences of smaller-scale social groups and processes—what Juan Carlos Moreno García aptly describes as "social sectors and networks of power scarcely documented in official sources but indispensable for the actual running of the state." While official state agenda and bureaucracy may have been a day-to-day reality in areas of concentrated state interest and presence, its direct effects on the lives of the non-elite, non-administratively employed populace likely were far fewer and cyclical in nature. Less formal, administratively invisible relationships, dependencies, and obligations were the practical mechanisms through which people met fundamental needs and addressed fundamental problems. One emergent trend of inquiry into these smaller orders of social organization and connectedness is the application of household archaeology theory, territory seldom accessed by Egyptology and Egyptian archaeology. Complementing growing interest in household archaeology in the study of ancient Egypt is a body of research that looks to the interpretive potential of ‘social house’ theory for the Egyptian archaeological record, highlighting its value not only within domestic contexts but also beyond. This chapter highlights the potential for social house models to add useful granularity to interpretations of social relationships and extended household networks fundamental to ancient Egyptian society as an important complement to other approaches, both old and new.
This paper applies the concept of “house societies” to this state-sponsored town with emphasis on the bottom-up perspectives of individual houses, especially the structure known as Building E (excavated by the author). This approach highlights aspects of the material record that reflect facets of household identities that, like the king’s mortuary institution, were intended to be perpetuated across multiple generations of household membership. Special attention is devoted to distinguishing “extroverted” versus “introverted” expressions of identity, as well as the extent to which Wah-sut’s institutional character influenced each. This household perspective may then be gauged against contemporary archaeological and textual records. The results provide insight into the dynamics between such “hybrid households” – domestically oriented groups situated in an overtly institutionalized setting – and the broader social and economic milieus with which they interacted.
to the afterlife. This theme is surveyed briefly to determine if similar concerns were held prior to the appearance of such religious literature. The result is a reconsideration of a
unique corpus of Old Kingdom statuary: the reserve heads. Proceeding from a review of past interpretive studies, this article posits that several anomalous and oft-debated characteristics
of the reserve heads are best understood by considering them in light of the theme of decapitation. Moreover, a reexamination of some fundamental assumptions about Old Kingdom religious beliefs, the disparities between royal and non-royal views of the hereafter, and the so-called “democratization of the afterlife” supports the hypothesis that the reserve heads reflect an emergent conception of a non-royal ba.
Book Reviews by Nicholas Picardo
Papers by Nicholas Picardo
Excyclopedia Articles/Entries and Similar by Nicholas Picardo
Entries for:
• “Abydos”
• “Giza”
• “Houses”
• “Sphinx, Great”
• The Desert and the Oases, p. 18.
• Construction, p. 36.
• Biography Profile: Snefru, p. 42.
• Settlements, p. 48.
• Palaces, p. 50.
• Meketre Models, p. 60.
• Biography Profile: Senwosret III, p. 64.
• Transportation, p. 82.
• Osiris and Resurrection, p. 100.
• Food, p. 140.
• Love, p. 152.
• Egyptian Law, pp. 162–164
• Egyptian Domestic Architecture, pp. 218–221
• Egypt–The Dead Among the Living, pp. 280-281
• The Medjay–Nubian Police in Egypt, pp. 304–305
• Gender in Ancient Egypt, pp. 169–172
• The Egyptian Afterlife, pp. 274-276
• The Deified Dead in Ancient Egypt, pp. 282–283
• The Middle Kingdom, pp. 426–427
• The First Intermediate Period, pp. 424–426.
• Egyptian Execration Texts, pp. 555-556.
• Egypt and Nubia–Cataract Fortresses, pp. 574-575.
• Egyptian Literature: Love Poetry, p. 655.
Conference Presentations by Nicholas Picardo
The cultic use of an offering tray or soul house likely began among the living, with its own period of use effectively paralleling the lives of Egyptians from house to grave. Consequently, this shared lifespan between objects and individuals/households is consistent with the desire for posthumous preservation of identity that is manifested more explicitly in some other, more familiar ancient Egyptian cultic practices.