Director of the Egypt Exploration Society to headline the Liverpool Egyptology Seminar 2017-2018
Dr Cédric Gobeil (Director of the Egypt Exploration Society, Field Director of the French Archaeological Mission of Deir el-Medina (IFAO), and Associate Professor in the History Department of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)) will present a paper on the archaeological activity at the Ancient Egyption site of Deir el-Medina.
Ahead of the event event, which will take place on Thursday 7 December at 5pm in Seminar Room 10 of the Rendall Building, Dr Gobeil says:
"The French institute of archaeology has worked in Deir el-Medina for close to a century. Over the years, an exceptional amount of discoveries have been made, both archaeological as well as epigraphic, covering practically all aspects of daily life in New Kingdom Egypt. The site has delivered so many documents that many are still unpublished or under study. For that reason, it might be thought that the site of Deir el-Medina has nothing more to offer or, at least, just a few residual shreds. The recent fieldwork started again under the impulse of a renewed team proved that this idea is far from being true. It confirms that this site still has to offer rich potentialities to complete the data already collected by B. Bruyère.
Thanks to the ongoing efforts made by our team working on up-to-date scientific issues according to modern archaeological standards and with the help of new technologies, we were able to reinvigorate the on-site work as well as the mission’s objectives in order to give new insights on some aspects of Deir el-Medina, which were until now poorly known or simply unknown. These aspects call for multidisciplinary approaches related to archaeology, epigraphy, osteology, topography, religion, domestic and funerary architecture, and give a good overview of what is yet to be done on the site.
While giving an update on the latest discoveries made by the French mission, this occasion will be the Chance to advertise the promising leads that our current or future projects will allow to explore in the years to come."
In order to foster discussion and questions from the audience, the speaker has recommended some preliminary readings to set up the research background for the talk.
- A. Austin et C. Gobeil, “Embodying the divine. A tattooed female mummy from Deir el-Medina”, BIFAO 116, 2017, p. 23-46.
- A. Dorn, “Die Lokalisation der ‘5 Mauern’/Wachposten (t3 5 jnb.t/n3 jnb.wt/t3 jnb)”, JEA 95, 2009, p. 263-268.
- D. Driaux, “Le Grand Puits de Deir al-Medina et la question de l’eau : nouvelles perspectives», BIFAO 111, 2011, p. 129-141.