Archaeology Magazine - March/April 1995 - 88

Magic
in
THE U.S. ARMY
IN THE WEST, 1870-1880
Uniforms , Weapons,
and Equipment
By Douglas C. McChristian
"McChristiantraces in detailed text
and rich illustrationthe entire spectrum of clothing, equipment, and
weaponsof the frontier army during
the decade of the 1870s... A book
not only for the collector and antiquarian but for anyone interestedin
the critical final years of conflict
betweenarmy and Indian."- Robert
M. Utley, author of Cavalier in I
Buckskin:George ArmstrongCuster
and the Western Military Frontier.
Contains223 illustrations.
$34.95(May)

Ancient

PLAINS INDIANS,
A.D. 500-1500
The Archaeological Past
of Historic Groups
Edited by Karl H. Schlesier
Using archaeological,ethnographic,
and linguisticresearch,this truly revolutionarybook traces Indian ethnic
continuityand culturaldiversityin the
Great Plains during the millennium
precedingEuropeanarrival.Contains
21 illus.,58 maps,and 15 tables.
$39.95Cloth;$19.95Paper

or
Fromyourbookstore,
University
of Oklahoma
Press
or write)
(Call1-800-627-7377,
Dept.MAY6
1005AspAve.
OK73019-0445
Norman,
Add:$2.50Post/hand.
Accept:MC/Visa/AE/Checks.
WriteforFREEcatalogs.
See readerservicep. 66

Religion
Egypt

By Robert S. Bianchi

Amulets of Ancient Egypt. By
Carol Andrews. 112 pages. London:
British Museum
Press, 1994.
Austin: University of Texas Press,
1994. $17.95
The Egyptian
Book of the
Dead. The Book of Going Forth
by Day. By Carol Andrews and
Ogden Goelet, Jr. 176 pages. San
Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1994.
$22.95.
Magic in Ancient
Egypt. By
Geraldine Pinch. 191 pages. London: British Museum Press, 1994.
Austin: University of Texas Press,
1995. $18.95.

and

Symbol and Magic in Egyptian
Art. By Richard H. Wilkinson. 224
pages. London: Thames & Hudson,
1994. $24.95.

I have often used the pages of ARCHAEOLOGYto deplore the dearth
of good general reference books on
Egyptology. These four volumes do
much to redress that grievance as it
relates to the subjects of magic and
religion. As these books make clear,
magic was part of daily life in ancient Egyptian society, and conjuring was the domain of specific
priests whose knowledge of hieroglyphs enabled them to pronounce
spells to achieve their desired effects.
I was particularly happy with
Amuletsof AncientEgypt by Carol Andrews, and highly recommend it to
all readers interested in magic, jewelry, amulets, statuettes, and the
like. Andrews' data are based almost exclusively on the collections

in the British Museum, and her
book is profusely illustrated with
plates keyed to the text. Virtually
every typology of amulet is disto
cussed, with indebtedness
Flinders Petrie, the first scholar to
attempt amulet classification. The
author calls attention to the polyvalent nature of Egyptian visual motifs
(a lioness-headed woman represents
an array of goddesses), noting difficulties in interpreting some images
(is it an antelope, oryx, ibex, or
gazelle?). The point is that approaches to ancient Egypt's material
culture cannot be pigeonholed into
neat categories.
In addition to establishing dates
for the appearance of individual
kinds of amulets, Andrews often
provides information about the material from which an amulet is
made and its significance. Some
were worn as jewelry, some were
made specifically for funerary use,
while others were inscribed with
nonsensical texts. Pages and pages
are, of course, dedicated to the
ubiquitous scarab and its many
functions.
The Egyptian Book of the Dead is a
remarkable volume. It is based on
the Papyrus of Ani, which, with the
exception of the Rosetta Stone, is
the most famous Egyptian object in
the collections of the British Museum. Its fame is due in no small part
to the quality of the illustrated vignettes that rank among the masterpieces of ancient Egyptian painting,
some rivaling in their technical accomplishment the wall paintings in
the Tomb of Nofertari in the Valley
of the Queens. In this regard, I
would call particular attention to
plate 1, where one can see how skin
tones were depicted in a somewhat
Archaeology

Archaeology Magazine - March/April 1995

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - March/April 1995