Pennsylvania: The BORDERSCAPE Project – How the Egyptian state formation impacted and transformed the socio-spatial landscape of the First Nile Cataract region between the 4th and the 3rd millennia BCE

Abstract

The ancient Egyptian state, traditionally known as the earliest territorial polity of human history, developed in the Lower Nile region at the end of the 4th millennium BCE. Alongside the political transformations, the complex process of state formation instigated far-reaching and profound changes in the socio-economic structure of its territory. With the example of our modern nation-states and geopolitical borders in mind, we expect such changes to have especially marked its newly established borders. However, current scholarship has determined that the ancient Egyptian state did not function as our modern states do, and this, of course, has consequences on the nature of its borders. While many studies have discussed the ancient Egyptian borders in dynastic times, none has focused on understanding how they came into being. The BORDERSCAPE Project at the Polish Academy of Sciences has taken up the challenge by focusing on the ancient Egyptian southern border with Nubia, geographically corresponding to the First Nile Cataract region. The talk discusses the preliminary results of the project investigation of the time and nature of discontinuities in settlement patterns, land use and community structuring between the 4th and the 3rd millennia BCE.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Gatto is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures Polish Academy of Sciences, where she directs the BORDERSCAPE Project and the Division of Ancient Egyptian Borderlands. Previously she held research and teaching positions in Egyptology and Archaeology at the University of Leicester, University of Birmingham, Yale University and at the British Museum. In recent years, Maria has been a Visiting Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, a Visiting Professor of Archaeology at the University of Bologna, and a Guest Lecturer in Prehistory at the Sapienza University of Rome. Since 2017, she is an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the School of Archaeology and Ancient History of the University of Leicester. Since 2005 she is the PI and co-director of the Aswan-Kom Ombo Archaeological Project.

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