![]() ![]() Several of the characters in the book can be traced to the people Christie knew from a dig in Ur in what is now modern Iraq - including the murder victim, which McCall believes is based on the wife of archaeologist Leonard Woolley. "Agatha, who was very conscious of being fifteen years older than her husband, traveled everywhere with her moisturizer and it was just the right consistency for cleaning artifacts," said Henrietta McCall, author of "The Life of Max Mallowan: Archaeology and Agatha Christie."Ĭhristie's interest in archaeology, according to McCall, went deeper than support for her husband's work and even formed the backdrop to works such as "Murder in Mesopotamia," in which the culprit turns out to be an archaeologist. and she had a gift for piecing them together very patiently Obviously conservators now wouldn't use that but I don't think it's done (the pieces) any harm," he continued, adding that in fact it was quite resourceful of Christie to think of applying her Innoxa face cream to the fragile, dirty pieces.Ĭhristie was of course fascinated by puzzles. ![]() ![]() "Face cream in fact is quite a good thing to clean (artifacts) with. John Curtis, keeper of the Middle East collections at the British Museum says they make up "the finest collection of ancient carved ivories that have ever been found at an archaeological excavation" and are in good condition, possibly because of Christie's efforts. The ivories found by Mallowan and his team were originally made in what is now Syria and Lebanon and brought to Assyria as looted treasures. Nimrud was a city in the Assyrian kingdom, which flourished between 900-612 B.C. Now, 3,000-year-old ivory artifacts recovered by Mallowan between 19 from the ancient city of Nimrud, in what is now Iraq, and likely cleaned by his famous wife using cotton wool buds and face cream, go on display Monday at the British Museum in London. Travel by boat and on the Orient Express to far-flung places such as Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad inspired some of Christie's best-known works of detective fiction, including "Murder on the Orient Express," "Death on the Nile," and "Murder in Mesopotamia." Married in 1930 to eminent archaeologist Max Mallowan, Christie spent two decades living on excavation sites in the Middle East, writing her crime novels and helping out with her husband's work. London, England (CNN) - She is one of the best-known crime writers of all time but few know the extent of Agatha Christie's archaeological pedigree. Contribution to archaeology, including many photographs of digs, increasingly appreciated.Crime-writer was married to archaeologist Max Mallowan and helped on digs.Christie's archaeological pedigree not well known.Ancient Ivories cleaned by Agatha Christie on view at British Museum. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |