![]() ![]() Many objects can be grouped by place of excavation such as Abydos, El Mahasna, Oxyrhynchus, Serabit el-Khadim, and by broad chronology such as Pre-dynastic, 18th Dynasty, Ptolemaic Dynasty. As a result, nearly the entire Egyptian collection is incredibly fragmented and random. And nearly 400 artefacts generously donated to the Museum by Ernest Wunderlich are equally haphazard, mostly purchased in antique shops and auctions. It is also worth mentioning that British archaeologist John Garstang, who supplied the Australian Museum with over 100 Egyptian artefacts, operated in a similar manner. This eccentric distribution was devised for various reasons, but the funding arrangements and hence commercial imperative was an important factor in shaping museum collections and, in some measure, archaeological thinking. As a result, it is likely a few ceramic pots from one grave would be scattered over five continents. ![]() And sometimes a piece of fabric has been cut to smaller fragments to give different subscribers a sample. Most of the objects seem to have assumed interchangeable value to the recipient and distributor alike each pot, shabti or pendant was as good as any other, regardless from which tomb they were recovered. Since its conception the EEF focused on digging for objects and distributing them widely to subscribing organisations around the world, including those in United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, India, Japan, and Australia. ![]()
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