Before Egypt exhibition (2019)

Garstang museum of archaeology
the front of an ancient egyptian ivory figurine

About Before Egypt

Before Egypt was an exhibition focusing on the Predynastic and Early Dynastic era of ancient Egyptian history; the time before pharaonic rule.

The exhibition was curated by the Garstang Museum of Archaeology and hosted by their sister museum the Victoria Gallery and Museum in 2019. It featured objects from both their collection and others around the UK.

The objects I photographed for the exhibition aren’t like those you’d usually imagine when you think of ancient Egypt. My subjects were predominantly ceramic and stone pots, along with flint and stone tools, ivory figurines, beads and greywacke cosmetic palettes.

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Please remember that all images here are © Julia Thorne and you must ask permission before using any of these photos, even for personal reasons. Commercial use may incur a fee. You can drop me a message via my Contact page.

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  • an ancient egyptian ceramic pot
  • an ancient egyptian ivory label with hieroglyphs
  • an ancient egyptian agate arrowhead
  • an ancient egyptian pot with wavy handles
  • an ancient egyptian flint tool
  • ancient egyptian greywacke knife
  • an ancient egyptian ivory amulet
  • the front of an ancient egyptian ivory figurine
  • the back of an ancient egyptian ivory figurine
  • detail of a small stone carved ancient egyptian crocodile
  • an ancient egyptian serpent on a pot
  • an ancient egyptian predynastic bird-headed palette
  • an incised serekh on a piece of ancient egyptian quartz
  • A wide, ceramic, plain ancient Egyptian bowl with a ripple burnish
  • A large ancient Egyptian Predynastic pot with painted decoration of animals and nature
  • A photo of the lug-handle of an ancient Predynastic pot using selective focus
  • A photo of an ancient Predynastic pot using selective focus
  • The composite focus-stacked photo of an ancient Egyptian pot
  • Detail of the holes in the top of a Predynastic Egyptian ceramic strainer jar
still want to know more …?

Read more articles about my work on this project.

My 5 scariest artefact photography sessions (so far)

Header image for the Before Egypt conservation blog post

Telling a story with photos: ceramics conservation for Before Egypt

A screenshot of Helicon Focus doing focus-stacking

What is focus stacking?

Photographing flint tools using a lightbox

header image for the predynastic blog post

Travelling back to the time before the pharaohs: the Predynastic Period