Asyut

This paper aims at providing an overview of the so-called “Asyut Treasure” and of the discussions concerning its context and chronology. Recent researches have enlightened the vicissitudes of its distribution among important European and American museums. The reconstruction of its selling on the antiquities market has reinforced the doubts about the affiliation of all the pieces to one single deposit. However, technical and stylistic details speak in favour of a common source of at least some of the jewels. As it is the case of many traded archaeological findings, it is difficult to determine with certainty the provenance and coherence of the ensemble, but new parallels and analysis on manufacturing techniques may help better understand the connections among its components.