A Queen's Seat “Experimental archaeology” at the Harvard Semitic Museum
Harvard Magazine, July/August 2016
Much is still unknown about the world of the ancient Egyptian elites, whose lives are fossilized in the riches of the ruins at Giza —and reflected by the luminous throne that sits on the second floor of the Harvard Semitic Museum. Crafted from cedar wood, covered in delicate gold foil, and inlaid with turquoise-colored faience tile, the piece replicates a 4,500-year-old chair that belonged to Queen Hetepheres, the mother of King Khufu, who built the Great Pyramid at Giza. How the throne was used, or whether it was used at all, remains elusive. “Sometimes things are used in daily life and put into the tomb, and sometimes they’re dummy objects created for burial,” says King professor of Egyptology Peter Der Manuelian. “Whether it’s built for use in daily life or in the afterlife is always the question.”