Lecture: The Resilience of Avaris: Adapting to Socio-Political Change in Bronze Age Egypt (Near Eastern Seminar Series)

Description

The first half of the Second Millennium BCE witnessed various socio-political shifts in ancient Egypt. From the rise and fall of the Middle Kingdom central administration, to that of several contemporaneous dynasties in the Second Intermediate Period, followed by the establishment of the New Kingdom. Yet, how did the communities of the Nile Valley respond to these shifts? One site in the Eastern Delta may offer some insight: Tell el-Dab’a, ancient Avaris. Using resilience theory as a metaphor, this talk provides an overview of the cycles of change as observed in the site’s material culture from the Middle Bronze Age to the early Late Bronze Age. It then relates these with social and political shifts in the region, addressing how different social groups (re-)negotiated their local, regional, and supra-regional ties, to explore the interplay between continuity, change and adaptation.

Period	16 May 2022
Held at	University of Sydney, Australia, New South Wales
Degree of Recognition	Local