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Content archived on 2024-05-28

Trade Roads in Ancient Deserts: An Egyptian Case Study. The unrecognized Late Bronze Age commercial route between Mediterranean and Middle Egypt

Objective

This project focuses on the possibility that extensive trade and movements of goods imported both from the Eastern Mediterranean and the Oases of the Western Desert took place along a relatively unexplored and unsuspected NW-SE route between the Mediterranean coast of northwest Egypt and Middle Egypt, via the Western Desert and the Faiyum region during the Late Bronze Age – New Kingdom (1580–1065 BC). This would have effectively created an ‘alternative Nile valley’ trade connection, comprising a sea/land/river route to the west of the Nile Delta and northern Nile Valley. In order to explore this situation, the project will (1) analyse imported artifacts along the new route, focusing particularly on the maritime fortress site of Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham at the northwestern end of the route, and the roughly contemporary commercial port and royal city of Gurob, in the Faiyum region, at the southeastern end of the route, (2) undertake geo-archaeological study of the landscape with a specific focus on the eastern portion of the Faiyum region and (3) study areas of the desert via a detailed analysis of aerial photographs and satellite images. The principal goals of the current project are to obtain a complete and comprehensive study of the imported pottery corpus unearthed in the eastern Faiyum region and in the site of Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham; to study the Egyptian pottery found in the same archaeological contexts of the imported one; to carry out chemical analyses on the imported materials to achieve information on the areas of productions; to define precisely what were the trade connections in the northeastern Western Desert and to obtain important new data related to the role of the eastern Faiyum as a regional and interregional trade hub during the New Kingdom.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF
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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)

Coordinator

THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL
EU contribution
€ 221 606,40
Address
BROWNLOW HILL 765 FOUNDATION BUILDING
L69 7ZX LIVERPOOL
United Kingdom

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Region
North West (England) Merseyside Liverpool
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

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