Assessing the standardisation of Egyptian shabti manufacture via morphology and elemental analyses. (October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Whitford, Michelle F.; Wyatt-Spratt, Simon; Gore, Damian B.; Johnsson, Mattias T.; Power, Ronika K.; Rampe, Michael; Richards, Candace; Withford, Michael J.
• Is Part Of: Journal of archaeological science. Volume 33(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-10
• Subjects: 3D scanning -- Batch-production -- Faience -- Mass-production -- Mould-made -- PCA -- XRF spectrometry; Archaeology -- Periodicals; Archaeology -- Research -- Periodicals; 930.1
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102541
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2352-409X

Abstract

Highlights: Mass-production is an oversimplified description of Egyptian shabti manufacture. Morphological and compositional analyses were used to assess object standardisation. Different degrees of standardisation indicate different production methods. Abstract: Ancient Egyptian shabtis have been described as mass-produced, mould-made objects. We analyse the morphology and elemental composition of three sets of seven shabtis using 3D scanning, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and principal component analysis clustering. The morphology and elemental composition of the shabtis allow us to conclude that these object types were made with different degrees of morphological and compositional standardisation indicating different manufacturing methods. We suggest that mass-production is an oversimplified label to describe shabti manufacturing as our findings demonstrate evidence of batch-processing methods.