Fifteen "slab stelae" and stela fragments were found set into the exterior walls of Giza mastaba tombs in the reign of Khufu and his successors. Taken as a group, they provide one of the most important sources of Egyptian artistic and historical documents of the early Old Kingdom; several stelae even preserve remarkable amounts of color after nearly 5,000 years. This publication presents a fresh interpretation of the Giza stelae, with new color photography, "digital epigraphy" facsimile line drawings, new translations, original discovery photographs, and recent color images taken at Giza. In a departure from traditional scholarly works, the book is published in full color, with numerous charts and catalogues, information on all Giza tombs with slab stelae emplacements, the history of their excavation, previous scholarly research, and comparative and interpretive chapters. Appendixes include both color and line-drawing palaeographies of all hieroglyphs appearing on the stelae, and a collection of the enigmatic "linen lists" that adorn the Giza stelae and many other archaic and Old Kingdom monuments. Indexes complete the volume.

The Pyramid Age represents the first of several highpoints in ancient Egypt’s long history. But critical questions remain about the period, its social structure and economic organization, and the long-term implications of its artistic achievements. On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Journal of Egyptian History, The University of British Columbia, Harvard University, and Brill Academic Publishers, Boston, held a conference at Harvard University on April 26, 2012. A distinguished group of Egyptological scholars from around the world gathered to consider new perspectives on the Pyramid Age; the results are presented here.

Cultural Expression in the Old Kingdom Elite Tomb considers the material and immaterial culture left behind by the ancient Egyptian elite in their tombs starting some 5000 years ago. The book intends to understand this culture reflecting the intention of the ancient Egyptians. All these intentions are now inaccessible to us, a paradox indeed.

In The Decoration on the Cult Chapel Walls of the Old Kingdom Tombs at Giza Leo Roeten presents a method that evaluates the degree of interaction between the various decoration themes that are placed on the western wall of the cult chapels at the tombs of Giza. Diagrams resulting from that method show that during the 5th dynasty the focus of the mode of food supply for the ka of the deceased changed from primarily active to primarily magical. On the other walls of the chapel this change not only led to the loss of some secondary cultic functions like the inviting and guiding functions, but also to an increasing focus on scenes from the daily life of the tomb owner.

This publication discusses the pottery that was discovered by Zahi Hawass’s excavations at Giza, including the Cemetery of the Pyramid Builders, the Western Cemetery, and the settlement beneath the modern suburb of Nazlet el-Samman. It is a comprehensive study of Old Kingdom pottery that includes a typology for these recent finds, as well as discussing the interrelationship between pottery from cemetery and settlement contexts.

The volume will interest specialists as well as a wider public concerned with Egyptology."--BOOK JACKET.