Please check back often, as we are continously updating this page with more information. Unless otherwise noted, all talks are held at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeoolgy and Anthropology located in Philadelphia. Entrance fees are $7 for the general public, $5 for University Museum members and PennCard holders, and FREE for ARCE-PA members.
FEBRUARY 18, 2012
DR. LESLIE ANNE WARDEN, WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
"The Economy of the Old Kingdom"
3:30pm, Classroom 2, University of Pennsylvania Museum
The economy influences our daily lives, in everything from job creation to tax policy. The same is true in Old Kingdom Egypt (ca. 2600-2200 BC), which serves as an interesting example of how an early state met economic challenges and influenced its populace. Though the pyramids might seem to suggest that the royal house had completely dominated the country’s wealth, a closer look shows us the limitations of the royal house and the vibrancy of the private economic sphere. This talk will show what an ancient economy looked like and the diversity apparent within the Old Kingdom.
Leslie Anne Warden is an Assistant Professor of History at West Virginia University Institute of Technology and received her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Her research focuses on the economic history of the Old Kingdom, particularly analyzing central-provincial economic interactions using the ceramic corpus to address the topic at the provincial level where the texts shed very little light. he has done extensive archaeological fieldwork in Egypt, at sites such as Abydos, Mendes, and Kharga. Currently, she is the Head Ceramicist for the North Kharga Oasis Survey, where she supervises collection and analysis of a ceramic corpus ranging in date from the New Kingdom to the Late Roman Period.
MARCH 17, 2012
DR. NADINE MOELLER, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
ANNUAL KORSYN LECTURE
"New Evidence from the Hyksos Ruler Khayan at Tell Edfu"
3:30pm, Classroom 2, University of Pennsylvania Museum
During the 2010 fieldwork season at Tell Edfu several hundred new sealings have been discovered in connection with a late Middle Kingdom administrative structure. They were found in a sealed archaeological context, which is linked to the last phase of use of a columned hall that was part of the mayor’s residence at Edfu. Many of the sealings found in this context show the typical late 13th Dynasty motives but a large portion of them display the characteristics of the Tell el-Dab’a workshop and the Canaanite scarabs of the Second Intermediate Period. The most unexpected finds among this group were eleven sealings showing the cartouche of the Hyksos ruler Khayan of the 15th Dynasty. This is the first time that concrete evidence for a Hyksos king south of Gebelein has been found. This unique discovery opens many new questions about the nature of contact between the Hyksos and Upper Egypt prior to the armed conflict with the Theban kings of the 17th Dynasty. It also requires a serious reconsideration of the chronology of the Second Intermediate Period.
Since 2007 Dr. Moeller has been Assistant Professor in Egyptian Archaeology at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago. She has directed excavations at Tell Edfu since 2001. Between 2004-2007 she held the Lady Wallis Budge Junior Research Fellowship in Egyptology at University College, Oxford. She earned her PhD from Christ’s College, Cambridge in 2004, entitled ‘The Development of Provincial Towns from the End of the Old Kingdom until the Beginning of the Middle Kingdom’, under the supervision of B. J. Kemp. She has participated in numerous excavations in Egypt: Ramesside Tomb Project at Luxor, West Bank (University of Heidelberg), excavations at Elephantine Island (German Archaeological Institute), the First Intermediate Period settlement at Dendera (French Institute in Cairo), joined the Memphis pottery project directed by Janine Bourriau, University of Cambridge), the Old Kingdom town at Zawiet Sultan near Minya (University of Cambridge), excavated Old Kingdom mastaba tombs at Abu Rawash (French Institute in Cairo) and worked as archaeologist and topographer at the tomb of Merenptah (KV 8) in the Valley of the Kings (mission of The Louvre, Paris). She is currently working on her book project: ‘The Settlements of Ancient Egypt.’
APRIL 24, 2012
DR. AIDAN DODSON, UNIVERISTY OF BRISTOL
"Disintegrations: The Decline and Fall of Libyan Egypt"
6:30pm, Classroom 2, University of Pennsylvania Museum
Although the reign of Shoshenq I had briefly restored Egypt's international standing and internal cohesion, the following decades saw a gradual slide towards renewed disunity, accelerating with the re-establishment of an independent southern kingdom during the reign of Osorkon II. This new kingdom itself soon fell victim to power struggles between rival lines of kings and high priests, while the north fell into a network of kingdoms, principalities and mayoralities. It was only with the advent of a line of Nubian kings, emerging from the far south, that Egypt once again became something approaching a coherent political unit. Dr Aidan Dodson is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Archaeology & Anthropology at the Univeristy of Bristol, UK. He studied Egyptology at Durham, Liverpool and Cambridge Universities, receiving his PhD in 1995, and is Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. He is the author of over 250 articles and reviews, together with fifteen books, the latest of which, 'Afterglow of Empire: Egypt from the fall of the New Kingdom to the Saite Renaissance', is scheduled to be published by the American University in Cairo Press in April 2012. |
MAY 12, 2012
DR. ERIC H. CLINE, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
"Amenhotep III's Foreign Relations: The Material Evidence for Diplomacy in the Amarna Age"
3:30pm, Classroom 2, University of Pennsylvania Museum
During the reigns of Amenhotep III and Akhenaten, for much of the so-called Amarna Age, the Pharaohs of Egypt pursued diplomatic connections at the highest levels: with the kings of Hittite Anatolia, Assyria, Babylonia, Mitanni, and Arzawa, as well as numerous vassal kings in Canaan. Textual and archaeological evidence also indicates contacts with the Aegean during this time, perhaps also at the highest diplomatic levels. Trade and contact with all of these areas was undoubtedly also conducted at lower commercial levels as well, but it is the evidence for diplomatic connections upon which we will focus in this illustrated talk, including a re-examination of Amenhotep III’s “Aegean List” at Kom el-Hetan. Dr. Eric H. Cline is currently Chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and Director of the Capitol Archaeological Institute at The George Washington University, where he also has appointments in the Anthropology department, the History department, and the Judaic Studies Program. A former Fulbright scholar, he is an award-winning author, teacher, and adviser with degrees in Classical Archaeology, Near Eastern Archaeology, and Ancient History from Dartmouth College, Yale University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Author and editor of eleven books and almost 100 articles, he is a three-time winner of the Biblical Archaeology Society’s Publication Award for “Best Popular Book on Archaeology” and has had his books translated into Bulgarian, Hungarian, Serbian, and Korean. Students of Egyptology may know him best as the author of Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: International Trade and the Late Bronze Age Aegean (1994, reprinted 2009) and co-editor (with David O'Connor) of Amenhotep III: Perspectives on His Reign (1998), Thutmose III: A New Biography (2006), and Ramesses III: The Life and Times of Egypt's Last Hero (forthcoming). He has also co-authored (with Jill Rubalcaba), a volume on ancient Egypt for young adults, entitled The Ancient Egyptian World (2005). An experienced archaeologist, Dr. Cline has 28 seasons of field excavation and survey to his credit. He has worked in Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Greece, Crete, and the United States, including eight seasons at the site of Megiddo (biblical Armageddon) in Israel, where he is currently the Associate Director (USA). He is also currently Co-Director of the archaeological excavations at the site of Tel Kabri in Israel. |
OTHER EVENTS OF INTEREST
Interest in Egypt is a widespread and active phenomenon. Many events happen in and around Pennsylvania that are not affiliated with ARCE-PA but may be of interest to members. We will do our best to keep track of what's going on out there and list them here. Some will come to our attention at the very last minute, so keep an eye on this page! We'll also do our best to gather as much information as possible, but sometimes only limited details will be available. If you hear of anything that might be worth mentioning on this page, please let us know by e-mailing us. The following items are not affiliated with ARCE-PA.
