The Ancient Egyptians and the Natural World

The Ancient Egyptians and the Natural World: Flora, Fauna, and Science

Edited by Salima Ikram, Jessica Kaiser & Stéphanie Porcier | 2021

Paperback ISBN: 9789464260359 | Hardback ISBN: 9789464260366 | Imprint: Sidestone Press | Format: 210x280mm | 284 pp. | Language: English | 57 illus. (bw) | 128 illus. (fc) | Keywords: Ancient Egypt; mummy; Amarna; animal mummy; Egyptian Museum; lion; crocodile; ibis; women; dentition; Kom Ombo; rescue archaeology; human remains; skeleton; ostrich; donkey; archaeometry; CT scan; radiography | download cover

This book explores the interaction between animals, plants, and humans in ancient Egypt. It draws together different aspects of the bioarchaeology of Egypt: flora, fauna, and human remains. These come from sites throughout the country from Alexandria to Aswan, as well as material from museum basements.

The material presented here includes the results of new and previously unpublished excavations in the Delta and Thebes, in-depth studies of different species of animal mummies, an analysis of animal cults, tentative identifications of wild dogs in Egyptian art, a variety of diseases from which the ancient Egyptians suffered, studies on human remains using traditional as well as state-of-the-art technologies, and the different foods that formed the diet of the ancient Egyptians.

The studies blend traditional methodologies, often deployed in novel ways, such as examining the pelage of lions, as well as new 3D technologies used in the analyses of bioarchaeological material. The results of these studies deepen our knowledge of ancient Egypt, its inhabitants, and their interaction with their environment.

The present volume is the proceedings of the Conference on the Bioarchaeology of Ancient Egypt & the Second International Symposium on Animals in Ancient Egypt (Cairo, 2019).

Curatorial Training in Human Remains for the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
Hasnaa Askalany & Gehad Shawky Ibrahem

Hyperostosis frontalis interna in the Early Dynastic Period at Abydos, Egypt.
Brenda J. Baker & Ahmed Mohamed Gabr

Humans and Animals together in the Journey to the Afterlife. The Burial in Area R11 under the Temple of Millions of Years of Amenhotep II, Luxor, West Thebes – Italian Archaeological Project.
Fabio Bona, Giovanna Bellandi, Letizia Cavallini, Anna Consonni, Tommaso Quirino & Angelo Sesana

To Be or Not to Be a Dog Mummy: How a Metric Study of the Skull can Inform on Selection Practices Pertaining to Canid Mummification in Ancient Egypt.
Colline Brassard, Stéphanie Porcier & Cécile Callou

Newcomers in the Bestiary. A Review of the Presence of Lycaon pictus in Late Predynastic and Early Dynastic Environment and Iconography.
Axelle Brémont

Dévots et animaux sacrés.
Alain Charron

Tuberculosis at Tell-el Amarna: A Theoretical Exercise in the Economic and Social Effects of Chronic, Terminal Disease in Ancient Egypt.
Gretchen R. Dabbs

Burial Practices in the West Delta: Cases from Kom Aziza.
Shereen El-Morsi & Aya M. Salem

A Structure-from-Motion Pipeline for Bone Morphology 3D Analysis.
Margaret Farmer & Angelique Corthals

Lions and Science and Whorls, Oh My!
Karen Polinger Foster

Human and Faunal Remains in Egypt: A New Department and a New Approach.
Zeinab Hashesh & Ahmed Gabr

Creatures of the Sun, Creatures of the Moon: Animal Mummies from Lisbon’s National Archaeological Museum.
Salima Ikram, Carlos Prates, Sandra Sousa & Carlos Oliveira

Brief Notes about a Mummified Crocodile from the National Archaeological Museum (MANN) of Naples, Italy.
Ilaria Incordino & Cinzia Oliva

Faunal Remains at the Causeway of Sahura.
Mohamed Ismail Khaled & Mohamed Hussein Ahmed

Venerunt, Viderunt, Vicerunt: The Roman Conquest and the Non-Elite.
Jessica Kaiser

Interactions Between Teeth and Their Environment: A Study of the Effect on Age Estimation.
Casey L. Kirkpatrick

Discovery of an Unexpected Textile Fiber in a Fish Mummy from the Musée des Conflunces (Lyon) Collection.
Fleur Letellier-Willemin

Women’s Health Issues Reflected in Case Studies from Theban Tomb 16.
Suzanne Onstine, Jesus Herrerín, Miguel Sanchez & Rosa Dinarès

Analyse des gazelles momifiées de Kom Mereh/Komir (Haute Egypte) conservées au Musée des Confluences (Lyon, France).
Stéphanie Porcies & Louis Chaix

Did Egyptians Eat Donkeys? Reflections from Historical and Archaeological Data.
Mathilde Prévost & Joséphine Lesur

What I Have Learned: Assumptions Bad, Intersections Good.
Richard W. Redding

Biomolecular Stable Isotope and Carbon-14 Dates of Ancient Egyptian Food Offerings: A Case Study from a Provincial Cemetery of Deir el-Ballas.
Amr Khalaf Shahat & Victoria Jensen

Animal Butchering Technology in Old and Middle Kingdom Egypt: The Shift from Stone to Metal Tools.
Eleuterio Sousa & Haskel J. Greenfield

Anthropological Study of the Egyptian Mummy from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts Using Computed Tomography.
Sergey Vasilyev, E.B. Yatsishina, R.M. Galeev, S.B. Borustkaya, M.V. Kovalchuk, O.A. Vasilieva, O.P. Dyuzheva & V.L. Ushakov

Intentionally Burnt Human Remains from the Kom Ombo Temple Salvage Excavation.
Afaf Wahba