Invention and Innovation: The Social Context of Technological Change II, Egypt, the Aegean and the Near East, 1650-1150 B.C.

In September 2002, a second workshop on the theme of the social context of technological change was held at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge. Discussion has been the core of these meetings so far, with the aim being to relate the results of the specialist investigator to broad historical questions concerning the nature and development of ancient societies. The papers presented here address a wider context: geographically, with the inclusion of the Aegean and thematically, with papers on natural products and raw materials. The time frame remains the same in covering the Late Bronze Age/New Kingdom. The majority of the papers draw on Egyptian evidence, and illustrate a multiplicity of approaches to the problems set by ancient technologies: modelling, methodology of art history and archaeology applied to a problematic group of artefacts, integration of archaeological and textual sources, and the application of the results of scientific analysis to illuminate ancient technology.

Table of Contents

1. Hopeful monsters? Invention and innovation in the archaeological record (Andrew Shortland)
2. Identity and occupation: how did individuals define themselves and their work in the Egyptian New Kingdom (Ian Shaw)
3. Canaan in Egypt: archaeological evidence for a social phenomenon (Rachaeol Thyrza Sparks)
4. The provenance of Canaanite amphorae found at Memphis and Amarna in the New Kingdom : results 2000-2002 (Laurence Smith, Janine Bourriau, Yuval Goren, Michael Hughes and Margaret Serpico)
5. The beginnings of amphora production in Egypt (Janine Bourriau)
6. Natural product technology in New Kingdom Egypt (Margaret Serpico)
7. Minoaan and Mycenaean technology as revealed through organic residue analysis (Holley Martlew)
8. The production technology of Aegean Bronze Age vitreous materials (Marina Panagitaki, Yannis Maniatis, Despina Kavoussanaki, Gareth Hatton and Mike Tite)
9. Egyptian sculptos' models: functions and fashions in the 18th dynasty (Sally-Ann Ashton)
10. How to build a body without one: composite statues from Amarna (Jacke Phillips)

Janine Bourriau studied Egyptology at University College, London, home of the Petrie Collection, and this led inevitably to a career as curator in other Egyptian collections. She was Keeper of Antiquities in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge until 1990 when she left to pursue research and archaeological fieldwork, full time. She excavates in Egypt every year and has published numerous books and articles on Egyptology but is best known for her work on Egyptian ceramics. Jacke Phillips was educated at the University of Toronto and wrote her thesis on Egyptian objects found in Crete. She has continued to maintain an equal enthusiasm for Egypt and the Aegean and, through fieldwork, has expanded her interests to include the Sudan and Ethiopia. She has published widely but is best known for her work on cultural links through iconography and trade.