Revealing the Invisible Majority: “Hegemonic” Group Artefacts as Biography Containers of “Underprivileged” Groups

The author proposes new theoretical frameworks to approach the concept of "object biography" in ancient Egypt. The traditional reconstruction of Egyptian history has a strong "top-down" character, depending on written sources that encompass historical narratives from an elite formal perspective, but a large sector of the population, especially those who represented the motor of a society, such as artisans, craftsmen, farmers, workmen, remain largely invisible. Often scholars attempt to write social history starting from the linear biographies contained in objects, usually resulting in another elite narrative. However, the objects do not only encapsulate the biographies of their owners/commissioners/users but also those of their producers, from raw-material extraction to their final manufacture. Thus, removing the concept of a unique and authoritative biography contained within a single object, the invisible layers of population, which were believed mostly lost for ancient societies - and especially for Egypt - can become visible again.