2012 - 2013 Archives - Calgary SSEA

Lecture: Aspects of the New Kingdom Egyptian Military in the Levant

Posted in 2012 - 2013, Event, Featured, Lecture

Date: 7:30 – 9:00 pm, 03-May-2013

Cost: Meetings are Free to members, Guests $5 – Students with ID $2

Description:

Warfare in the New Kingdom has been described as nothing short of a revolution . New Kingdom armies appear to have been, for the first time in Egyptian history, composed of a large body of soldiers who served full-time in the military and were organized on a state scale. The motivation for this change is thought to have been activated in the wars with the Hyksos and maintained its momentum throughout the 19th and early 20th Dynasties. Some scholars have argued that with the introduction of the chariot, scaled armour and composite bow, Egypt transformed itself into a cohesive military power and that the Egyptians held a tactical advantage over their Canaanite neighbours.

This lecture will look at the nature of the New Kingdom Egyptian presence in the Levant and its relationship with its residents. To examine this research question, this lecture will look at data from fortification sites in the Levant, in conjunction with data detailing the logistical considerations of the Egyptian military at this time and its weapon capabilities.

About the speaker:

Nicholas Wernick is a Calgarian completing his PhD in Egyptian Archaeology at the University of Liverpool. The topic of his thesis is ancient Egyptian militarism in the Late Bronze Age and what the nature of ancient Egyptian imperialism in the Levant was like during the New Kingdom. In addition to his PhD work, he has been published in academic journals and Ancient Egypt Magazine.

Location:

Room EDC 287 in the Education Block at the University of Calgary.

Lecture: Death, Decay, and Dentists in Early Ancient Egypt

Posted in 2012 - 2013, Event, Featured, Guest Speaker, Lecture

Date: 7:30 – 9:00 pm, 05-Apr-2013

Cost: Meetings are Free to members, Guests $5 – Students with ID $2

Description:

Dentists practised in ancient Egypt from at least as early as the Old Kingdom and developed a variety of treatments for toothaches, including the application of the still-warm body of a dead mouse to the offending tooth! But many of their treatments were ineffective: tooth decay is the most common pathological condition observed in ancient Egyptian skeletons, and medical papyri indicate that the resulting bad breath was a frequent complaint. Indeed, while the majority of individuals lost only their teeth to advanced dental decay, others may have lost their lives.

This talk will describe cases of severe tooth decay and other diseases of the teeth and jaws (such as “tartar” build-up and temporomandibular joint arthritis) that were prevalent in ancient Egyptian populations and will discuss these conditions in the context of food preparation and consumption. Particular attention will be paid to the Predynastic period and to the early stages of social stratification. In addition, a case will be described in which her teeth tell us that a woman at Mendes probably used her teeth as “tools” in the preparation of reeds for the construction of mats, baskets, or possibly coffins.

About the speaker:

Nancy Lovell joined the faculty of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alberta in 1988, with four seasons of field experience at sites of the Indus Valley Civilization. But, after making her first trip to Egypt in 1989, she began bioarchaeological research on ancient Egyptians. In addition to directing the excavation of a Graeco-Roman period cemetery at Mendes during the 1990s, she has examined predynastic and archaic period human skeletons that were excavated by Petrie, Reisner, and other archaeological luminaries and that are now curated at museums and universities around the world. Her main research interests lie in the health of ancient Egyptians, particularly in the context of their social-cultural and physical environments.

Location:

Room EDC 287 in the Education Block at the University of Calgary.

Lecture: The Armoured Warrior – Military Technology and Armour in New Kingdom Egypt

Posted in 2012 - 2013, Event, Featured, Guest Speaker, Lecture

Date: 7:30 – 9:00pm, 01-Mar-2013

Cost: Meetings are Free to members, Guests $5 – Students with ID $2

Description:

This presentation will examine the rise of the armoured warrior in New Kingdom Egypt. Significant social, political, and economic changes occurred between the Middle and New Kingdom periods that prompted the great changes to the military establishment in New Kingdom Egypt. In a response to the incursion of the Hyksos into Lower Egypt, a standing army was developed and new military technology was adopted, and adapted, perhaps from the Hyksos themselves. This presentation will look at the development and early use of a three-part technological system which involved chariots, composite bows, and organic body armour.

About the speaker:

Dr. Hulit began his studies in archaeology at the University of Lethbridge receiving his BSc in 1994, and continued on to an MA in Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium in 1996. His research into the military economics, materials and manufacturing of the Ancient Near East continued at Durham University in northern England where he studied for several years, receiving his PhD in 2002. He has had a deep interest in armour, manufacturing, and experimental archaeology which caught the interest of both H.M. Royal Armouries museum in Leeds, England and the National Geographic. He was fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel to Egypt in 2004 to participate in the filming of a National Geographic documentary where he was able to further test his hypotheses on the use of armour in New Kingdom Egypt. Dr. Hulit currently works as a Collections Technician and researcher with the Medicine Hat Museum at the Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre in Medicine Hat, Alberta and is conducting research for an upcoming 2014 exhibit on the First World War.

Location:

Room EDC 287 in the Education Block at the University of Calgary.

Lecture: The Second Intermediate Period and the Early New Kingdom

Posted in 2012 - 2013, Featured, Lecture

Date: 7:30 – 9:00pm, 01-Feb-2013

Cost: Meetings are Free to members, Guests $5 – Students with ID $2

Description:

The ‘collapse’ of the Middle Kingdom in ancient Egypt led into a period in which the northern Delta (and possibly further South) was ruled by kings of Asiatic ancestry. Dubbed the “Second Intermediate Period” (c. 1650 – 1550 BCE), it was a phase in which the native Theban rulers managed to take back the country and institute reforms that led to the strong 18th Dynasty (1550 – 1295 BCE). Julius will illustrate the developments of these tumultuous time through the use of pharaonic art.

About the speaker:

Julius Szekrenyes is the Calgary Chapter’s SSEA president. He has had a life-long interest in Ancient Egypt and has taught Ancient Egyptian history at U. of C. Continuing Education for 15 years.

*Note: Nick Wernick sends along his regrets that he could not present at this lecture. However, please note that he is rescheduled for our lecture in May.

Location:

Room EDC 287 in the Education Block at the University of Calgary.

Lecture: The Merneptah Sarcophagi Restoration Project

Posted in 2012 - 2013, Event, Featured, Guest Speaker, Lecture, Society News

Date: 7:30 – 9:00pm, 23-Nov-2012

Cost: Meetings are Free to members, Guests $5 – Students with ID $2

Description:

The tomb of the Nineteenth Dynasty pharaoh Merenptah is unique in having contained four stone sarcophagi as part of that ruler’s burial equipment. Three red granite boxes and lids, each of different shape and decreasing size, were set one within the other. The third or innermost of the granite sarcophagi held a fourth sarcophagus carved from travertine (“Egyptian alabaster”), which in turn, held the coffined and mummified remains of Merenptah.

After the tomb was robbed late in the Twentieth Dynasty, the priesthood of Amen in Thebes reburied the king’s remains in KV 35, the tomb of Amenhotep II. Eventually, a decision was made to re-use material from the abandoned burial equipment, particularly the stone sarcophagi. The boxes of the two outermost sarcophagi were broken up to extract the third sarcophagus for re-use in Tanis for the burial of Psusennes I of the Twenty-first Dynasty. Remains of the two smashed boxes as well as their intact lids were discovered by Howard Carter when he cleared the tomb of flood debris in 1903. Edwin Brock began an investigation of the sarcophagi remains in 1982 and subsequently found more fragments during clearance operations which he carried out in the tomb between 1987 and 1990. Recent clearance work in the tomb by a mission from the Louvre yielded more fragments of granite and some of travertine from the sarcophagi, as did excavations by the SCA outside the tomb.

From March 2011 to May 2012 a project affiliated with the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto was carried out to document and reconstruct the outer sarcophagus box of Merenptah. Although only one-third of the original first sarcophagus box remained in fragments it was still possible to reconstruct the appearance of the original monument. Outlines of the missing decoration were added to the infill of the gaps to form a visual bridge between the reassembled fragment groups. The cartouche-shaped second lid was moved from its previous position in the center of the chamber and re-positioned on metal supports. The lid for the first sarcophagus box was found by Carter in the antechamber above the burial chamber, where it had been deposited by workers recycling the burial equipment. This was also raised onto metal supports and mirrors were placed beneath both lids so that visitors might better view the decoration on the hollowed undersides.

This presentation will illustrate the various phases of the project, including the moving of the second sarcophagus lid, hauling massive stone blocks up the hillside to the tomb entrance to be lowered into the burial chamber, and the installation of the massive groups of reassembled fragments of the outer box. It will show evidence for the method of lowering the massive granite sarcophagi into the tomb and how the sarcophagi were later destroyed.

About the speaker:

Edwin Brock has worked nearly thirty years in Egypt After completing studies at the University of Toronto, he served ten years in Egypt as director of the Canadian Institute in Egypt. He served as staff Egyptologist for five years with the Theban Mapping Project, worked as archaeological consultant with the American Research Center’s Valley of the Kings Flood Protection Project and as archaeological monitor for two USAID-funded engineering projects in the areas around Karnak and Luxor temples for sewerage installation and lowering ground water. He has worked extensively in the Valley of the Kings, including carrying out a reconstruction of one of the sarcophagi of Ramesses VI. Outside of Luxor he has worked on archaeological projects in the Dakhlah Oasis, at Memphis and in the eastern Delta.

Location:

Room EDC 287 in the Education Block at the University of Calgary.