Reflections in Time: investigating the social role of mirrors in Ancient Egypt through metallurgical analysis

虽然最近的论文已经开始建立埃及金属文物的成分数据库(9-11)，但这些数据库仅限于严格实用的物品(即碗、剃刀、凿子)，而不是象征性地装载镜子。我的项目将专注于起源于英国收藏的埃及镜子。我将分析来自埃及各地的跨越法老时期的出处镜子，重点是个别地点的历时差异以及不同地点的当代地点之间的差异。我将应用一种新的最小破坏性采样方法，以重建它们原来的颜色和制造技术，并探索成分的变化，以及这些变化可能提供哪些关于技术技能、生产成本、功能及其社会意义的见解。

Although recent papers have begun building a compositional database of Egyptian metal artefacts (9-11), these have been limited to strictly utilitarian objects (i.e. bowl, razor, chisel) without the symbolic loading of mirrors. My project will focus on Egyptian mirrors originating in UK collections. I will analyse provenanced mirrors that span the Pharaonic period from various locations throughout Egypt, focusing particularly on diachronic differences at individual sites and differences between contemporary sites in different locations. I will apply a novel minimally destructive sampling method, in order to reconstruct their original colour and manufacturing techniques and explore changes in composition and what insights such changes may provide regarding technical skill, production cost, functionality, and their social significance.