Yorkshire: the ancient connectionEgypt

How the silver coins of Cleopatra ended up in Barnsley

by Professor Joanne Fletcher

Following the 2022 centenary of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun,public fascination with ancient Egypt seems stronger than ever. And while it may seem far away both in time and distance, ancient Egypt is far closer than you might think.

With some fine collections of Egyptian artefacts right here in Yorkshire, its landed gentry and wealthy industrialists supported archaeological excavations in Egypt throughout the

19th century in return for a percentage of things being found.

Then donating such finds to their local museums, a wealth of ancient treasures can not only be found within the large collections of Leeds and Sheffield but in some rather less wellknown places too.

Take for example Harrogate, whose star object is a completely unique mask of the ancient Egyptian jackal god Anubis.

Originally worn by a priest during the early centuries BC, it formed the highlight of a private collection once displayed in a local farmhouse until bequeathed to Harrogate corpor ation in 1968.

And with the mask’s rediscovery in museum storage making international headlines back in 2002, celebrity milliner Stephen Jon es borrowed it for his exhibition of exotic headwear at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum with the mask now on permanent display in Harrogate’s Royal Pu mp Room Museum.

Likewise Barnsley, whose impressive collections of local history include silver coins produced by none other than the great Egyptian ruler Cleopatra and her Roman husban d Mark Antony.

Portraying a combination of Cleopatra’s warships and Anthony’ legionary standards, the coins were minted to pay the couple’s troops prior to the famous naval Battle of Actium in 31BC, and later buried for safekeeping during the 3rd century.

Only rediscovered in the 1940s during the construction of a Barnsley housing estate, the coins are now part of the ‘Experience Barnsley’ museum, current venue of ‘Tut ’22: the life of Tutankhamun’, an exhibition combining ancient artefacts with the magic of augmented reality capable of bringing Tutankhamun’s gold mask into the exhibition and in to classrooms.

And all displayed alongside the histories of little-known local people who nonetheless played a key role in rediscovering Egypt’s ancient past, Barnsley-born Harold Jones was the first to recognise the significance of the name ‘Tutankhamun’ which he’d begun to find in the Valley of the Kings during th e early 1900s.

Jones was also a friend of fellow archaeologist Howard Carter and his sponsor Lord Carnarvon, and after Jones died tragically young in the Valley of the Kings aged only 34, his funeral was arranged by Carter and Carnarvon who then built on Jones’ legacy to finally find the tomb of Tutan khamun in 1922.

Yet Jones is only one of a long line of Yorkshire folk who’ve made a huge contribution to the study of ancient Egypt, a subject which even began in Yorkshire in th e 17th century.

For as early as 1611, York-born scholar George Sandys visited Egypt and published the first accurate English account of the pyramids.

As for the earliest-known female Egyptologist, who first went to Egypt in 1836, this was schoolteacher Alice Holliday fro

And with her legacy slowly being pieced together in the archives of Scarborough Museums and Galleries, they are currently hosting ‘Resurrecting Ancient Egypt: a Monumental Yorkshire Journey’ until March, an exhibition reflecting the fact our county has more pyramids than any other part of England, the oldest obelisk erected in Britain and the only full-sized replica of an Egyptian temple i n the country.

And as an Egyptologist born in Barnsley, teaching in York and living in Scarborough, I’ve spent over 30 years researching the connections between our great county and the world’s most fascinating ancient civilization, a legacy we’re keen to make increasingly accessible through a combination of exhibitions, talks and TV documentaries.

So despite initial grumbles that such exotic artefacts ‘have nothing to do with local history’, these things were either found in the local area or were collected by local people for the enjoyment and enlightenment of their fe llow citizens.

As for inevitable complaints that in these cash-strapped times money should be ‘better spent elsewhere’, where better than in education, with school visits to local museums greatly increasing whenever ancient Egypt is available closer to home than a costly (and lengthy) trip to the B ritish Museum.

Yorkshire’s Egyptian trail

Professor Joann Fletcher of the Department of Archaeology at the University of York also chairs the board of Trustees at Scarborough Museums and Galleries, is a patron of Barnsley Museums & Heritage Trust and Lead Ambassador for the Egypt Exploration Society.

For more details about the Royal Pump Room Museum visit Royal Pump Room Museum opening times and prices – Harrogate Borough Council

For more details about the Tutankhamun exhibition visit www. experience-barnsley.com/whatson/tut-22-the-life-of-tutankhamun and see Tutankhamun: Life Not Death - Discover Ancient Egypt - History Hit

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