UWTSD Student to Present at International Conference in October

Jenna-Marie Heard, who is studying for an MArts in Archaeology at UWTSD, has been accepted to give a paper at the Egyptology Graduate Conference at Brown University. On 15th October she will be presenting her work, ‘Child’s Play or Goddess Worship? A Comprehensive Study of the Re-Discovery of Paddle Dolls from the Cyfarthfa Castle’, which she has undertaken as research towards her dissertation.

Jenna’s paper explores the function of Egyptian paddle dolls, which have often been argued to be either concubines or children’s toys. Using two previously undisclosed examples from Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery, Jenna will debunk theories that paddle were crafted in fulfilment of companionship for the afterlife or simply as child’s play, and, instead, show the evidence of Goddess worship, arguing that these paddle dolls may be equated to fertility figures.

More information about the conference and Jenna’s paper can be found at https://egyptologygradconference.wordpress.com/