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Dung on the Wall. Ontology and Relationality in Qurna: The Case of TT123

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2021

José Roberto Pellini*
Affiliation:
Brazilian Archaeological Program in Egypt Faculty of Anthropology and Archaeology Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Avenida Presidente Antonio Carlos 6627 Pampulha Belo Horizonte Minas Gerais 31270-901 Brazil Email: [email protected]

Abstract

Based on the identification of modern dung remains on the TT123 tomb wall, I propose to think of TT123 in new ways, looking for other possible realities besides those produced by the processes of recognition, identification and categorization that dominate the archaeological interpretive process. The idea is to seek to understand TT123 from new traditions and new knowledge to produce something new. The idea is not to ask what TT123 means, but to understand how it works within the different possible encounters in which it is inserted. More than offering just another point of view in relation to those with epistemic privilege, I will try to demonstrate that other realities are possible and that such alternative realities can have political and material consequences. An alternative reality is not reality, it is only a potential reality.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

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