Reading trail · 4 steps
Objects for the afterlife
A self-contained story, with no link to the Levant: a culture with its own chronology, an amulet from a tomb, a figurine from a tomb, and a question about what a museum shows and what it does not. Four steps.
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Two small objects found in tombs, both in documented excavations, both on display today in the same museum in New York. The trail starts with the culture their records attribute them to, passes through the two pages, and ends with the question that cannot be avoided when tombs are discussed: how the buried are displayed.
The amulet has no photograph here: its record has no image. The shabti has the museum's collection photograph (CC0). Both pages show what the record says and link to it.
The steps
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Step 1 · Civilization
Ancient Egypt: a culture with a chronology of its own
Middle Kingdom, Second Intermediate Period, New Kingdom: Egypt's period names are Egypt's. The site shows them as the museum records word them and does not measure them by the Levant scheme.
Open this stepWhy this step
The starting point: a culture with a chronology of its own. "Middle Kingdom" and "New Kingdom" are names from the museum records, not from the Levant timeline; the culture page explains why the site has not adopted an Egyptian scheme.
Per source 4 · Verified -
No photographText frame in place of a photograph
Scarab amulet from Lisht
- Material
- Blue-green glazed faience
- Dimensions
- l. 1 cm (3/8 in)
- Date as given by the source
- ca. 1981-1640 BCE
- Record number
- 33.1.50
- Held by
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The source record has no image
Step 2 · Object
Scarab amulet from Lisht
A one-centimetre amulet of glazed faience found in the debris of a tomb at Lisht South. The record documents an exact findspot and a display in Gallery 109; what it lacks is an open photograph.
Open this stepWhy this step
A small object with a big findspot: a one-centimetre amulet found in the debris of a tomb at Lisht South in the museum's own excavations. The step shows what the record of an excavated object can say, and why there is no photograph here.
Per source 1 ·From Egypt, Memphite Region, Lisht South, tomb of Senwosretankh, debris, MMA excavations, 1932-33
·On view ... Gallery 109
· Verified -
Detail of the photograph: Shabti from the tomb of SennedjemThe Metropolitan Museum of Art · 86.1.23 · Funds from various donors, 1886 · CC0 · Source · CC0 1.0 Step 3 · Object
Shabti from the tomb of Sennedjem
An uninscribed limestone figurine found in the tomb of Sennedjem at Deir el-Medina in the excavations of 1885-86. The museum dates it to the reign of Ramesses II and displays it in Gallery 126.
Open this stepWhy this step
An object placed with the dead: an uninscribed figurine from the tomb of Sennedjem at Deir el-Medina. The record gives the tomb, the excavator and the year, and notes that other objects in the collection came from the same tomb.
Per source 2 ·Tomb of Sennedjem (TT 1), Egyptian Antiquities Service/Maspero excavations, 1885-86
·On view ... Gallery 126
· Verified -
The shabti from the tomb of Sennedjem: an object placed with the dead, not human remains - the distinction this article is about. The museum's collection photograph, at its original size. Detail of the photograph: Shabti from the tomb of SennedjemThe Metropolitan Museum of Art · 86.1.23 · Funds from various donors, 1886 · CC0 · Source · CC0 1.0 Step 4 · METHOD GUIDE · ETHICS
A mummy is not an exhibit: how museums display human remains
Tomb objects raise a question that cannot be avoided: what to do with the people buried with them. One written policy, from 2025, shows how a museum answers it in writing, section by section.
Open this stepWhy this step
The end: the question that tomb objects raise. What separates an object placed with the dead from a remain of the dead, and how a museum justifies in writing every display of human remains. Based on the British Museum's written policy of 2025.
Per source 3 · Verified
Places on the trail
Where it was found
- LishtFindspot per the record
- Deir el-MedinaFindspot per the record
- EgyptThe culture’s area per the records
Schematic map: simplified coastlines, not to scale; positions follow the cited records.
End of the trail
End of the trail
From here, continue to an object, a period or another trail.
Back to the overviewSource
Sources and further reading
The research and references behind this page. Rights to external content remain with their owners.
- 1
Scarab Amulet, collection record 33.1.50
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Checked
- 2
Shabti, Tomb of Sennedjem (TT 1), collection record 86.1.23
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Checked
- 3
British Museum Policy: Human Remains in the Collection (approved 20 March 2025)
The British Museum · 2025 · Checked
- 4
Egypt, 2000–1000 B.C. (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, chronology)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Checked
