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May/June 2008: Peter Lacovara

Telling the Stories of Civilizations

The Michael C. Carlos Museum’s current exhibition, Lost Kingdoms of the Nile: Nubian Treasures from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, features some of the most significant archaeological treasures ever found in Africa consisting of over 250 objects in gold, silver, bronze, ivory, stone, and ceramic from 3000 BC to 350 AD. The Nubian kingdoms, straddling what is now southern Egypt and the northern part of Sudan, would still be undiscovered if not for the archaeologists who excavated in Nubia from 1913 to 1932 sponsored by Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Lost Kingdoms is now on view at the Carlos until August 31, 2008. For more information about the exhibition and related events, please visit www.carlos.emory.edu/lost-kingdoms-of-the-nile.

Overseeing this exciting exhibition is Dr. Peter Lacovara, the senior curator of ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern art at the Carlos Museum. His responsibilities include acquisitions, exhibitions, and publication activity. For example, in 1999 Lacovara spearheaded the acquisition of a collection of ancient Egyptian materials from a small museum in Niagara Falls, Canada, and oversaw the reinstallation of the Carlos Museum's galleries to display those objects side by side with the museum's prior holdings. Recent special exhibitions Lacovara curated include: Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College, London;The Collector's Eye: Masterpieces of Egyptian Art from the Thalassic Collection, Ltd.; Ramesses I: The Search for the Lost Pharaoh; and From Pharaohs to Emperors: New Egyptian, Near Eastern, and Classical Antiquities at Emory.

A cum laude history graduate of the University of Chicago, Lacovara also earned his doctoral degree in Egyptian archaeology at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Lacovara formerly served as assistant curator in the Department of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston. Lacovara was also a research assistant at the Field Museum of Natural History and the acting registrar at the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago. In trips spanning the last fifteen years he has excavated at locations such as the Valley of the Kings at Thebes, Abydos, the Giza Plateau, Deir el Ballas, and the Sphinx/Isis Temple. He was appointed curator of ancient art at the Michael C. Carlos Museum in 1998.

Lacovara took some time from his various duties to discuss the Lost Kingdoms of the Nile exhibition, which is on display throughout the summer.

Q: Why is Lost Kingdoms of the Nile considered a landmark exhibition?
A: It is the first ever exhibition of Nubian objects in the South and draws from the world's best collection of this material -- the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Most often you’ll hear a lot about ancient Egypt, but very few know about the strength and splendor of the Nubian kingdoms. It’s very important to tell the stories of these kingdoms in order to get a better picture of what was happening along the Nile. These discoveries have also provided history and context for many Sudanese. They can appreciate their own heritage and its distinction from that of ancient Egypt. There are now many well trained and skilled Sudanese archaeologists.

Q: What was challenging about setting up the Lost Kingdoms exhibition?
A: These are little known cultures and people are unfamiliar with them so we had to be careful to tell many stories at once in a clear and coherent manner. The stories are numerous – stories of different cultures and their relationships with Egypt. There are stories of excavation, of interpretation, of the different functions of specific objects. It is also difficult to establish what objects are local inventions, what are imported, and what have been inspired by ancient Egyptian art. Luckily, I had worked a lot with Nubian archaeology in Boston, so I was very familiar with these issues and was able to integrate them in the exhibition design.

Q: Tell us about your favorite objects in the Lost Kingdoms exhibition?
A: The Kerma pottery is so very beautiful and finely crafted. Also some of the costume elements -- the leather tassels and the gold thread. It is amazing that they have survived from almost three-thousand years ago.

Q: What factors are necessary to make a great exhibition of ancient art?
A: Great artwork, a good story, and most of all a great designer! The Carlos Museum is fortunate to have an outstanding exhibition designer. Usually setting up an exhibition is like writing a book. You come up with an idea, preferably something that hasn’t been done before. You do the research, find the objects-- hopefully ones that are the best are also available -- and of course, you look for the most visually appealing objects you can find. The objects have to be arranged in a specific way to reflect the act of reading a book. The exhibition is laid out in a well thought-out narrative that follows a sequence of events, one leading to the other.

Q: What is your role in the Nubian rescue expeditions in southern Egypt and northern Sudan?
A: Responding to a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) appeal in the early 1960s when Egypt built the High Dam to improve irrigation, more than sixty expeditions mobilized to excavate and document hundreds of sites, recover thousands of objects, and relocate temples to higher ground. Through some generous donations, the Carlos is helping sponsor some of the rescue archaeology going on in the Sudan in areas that will be flooded by the construction of a new dam.

Q: Which of the recent Egyptian/Nubian acquisitions are you most proud of?
A: Thanks to the generosity of Thalia Carlos we were able to acquire a relief of Mentuemhet, the mayor of Thebes under the Nubian pharaohs, a very important individual in the history of Egyptian art and archaeology.

Q: What do you like to do for fun?
A: When I do have spare time I restore old houses. In fact, I’m fixing one up in Albany right now. I suppose restoring old houses is like archeology, in that you imagine what the place really looked like before it fell into ruins and then build it back up again to reflect some of its previous glory.

Photo Credits:
1. Peter Lacovara, curator at the Carlos Museum, in front of Egypt’s Pyramids of Giza
2. Criosphinx on a column, Nubian, Napatan Period, Reign of Piankhy (Piye), about 743-712 BC, Gilt silver, stone, 7.2 x 1.8 x 1 cm (2 13/16 x 11/16 x 3/8 in.) Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
3. Relief of Mentuemhet, Egyptian, Dynasty 25, 760-656 BC, Limestone, Carlos Collection of Ancient Art
4. Shabti of Senkamanisken, Nubian, Napatan Period, Reign of Senkamanisken, about 643-623 BC, Stone
Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition

Edited by Priyanka Sinha
Communications Manager
Michael C. Carlos Museum

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