Object and Text: (Con)textualising Urban Amarna

The central purpose of this thesis is to examine the role of objects with writing – ‘text–objects’ – in the lives of the everyday Egyptians in urban Amarna (c. 1347–1332 BCE). The analysis and interpretation of Egyptian texts has long been central to Egyptology. It is only more recently that attention has begun to turn towards the artefacts that they are inscribed upon, and the ways texts intersect with objects. Through analysing three object groups: jewellery, ritual objects and household goods, this study highlights the diversity of methods in the production of text as a form of engagement with written culture. This thesis is situated in broader conversations surrounding literacy, materiality and urban life. This research explores the lived and material experience of text through the ways that people produced and engaged with text-objects in the urban landscape.