UCL Institute of Archaeology

The Material Cultures of Prehistoric and Dynastic Egypt Research Network will host a seminar series this term, with an event at the UCL Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology on 14 May.

Laure Pantalacci (University of Lyons) will give a seminar at the museum hosted by the research network entitled 'Scribes and craftsmen: the noble art of writing in clay' and all are welcome!

Abstract

From the late seventies onwards, the French excavations in Balat (Dakhla oasis) uncovered several hundreds of clay tablets, a type of artefact virtually unknown in pharaonic Egypt, except in the very specific context of Amarna.

Writing on such objects, as well as reusing them, required a particular skill; thus the scribes had to develop a manual ability quite different from their colleagues working in the Nile Valley. Keeping and handling clay-archives must also have been much more tricky than storing papyrus-rolls. For a full description of each piece of writing, we have to consider not only what is written, but also how it is written. The paper will present observations about local writing and archival practice, and set them against the background of contemporary evidence from the Nile Valley.

Future seminars in the series include:

• Wednesday 6 June 2012, 5-7pm, UCL Institute of Archaeology (Room 410)
  Andreas Effland (University of Hamburg): '"I cleared the god's path to his tomb" - Recent research on the ritual landscape of Abydos'

Previous seminars in the series include:

• Thursday 8 March 2012, 5-7pm, UCL Institute of Archaeology (Room 209)
  Robert Schiestl (DAI): 'Connecting floating islands, cities and their hinterland. Regional survey around Buto, Egypt'
  

Any enquiries about the seminar series may be directed to Richard Bussmann.