LFU:online

Broadening and deepening of general knowledge by dealing with exemplary topics, i.e. societies and languages of the Middle East and the Mediterranean as well as their interactions.

The most important monuments and evidence at a series of sites in the Nile Delta will be presented and discussed with power point slides. The lecture will start with an overview of the physical and historic geography of the Delta and will scrutinize site by site the remains from the Neolithic until the Late Period. Special focus will be given on foreign cultural influence, foreign immigration and cultural interference. This course has the objective to foster the awareness that cultures in the past were the product of complicated historical processes which were created by migration, trade, warfare and environmental impacts. Among the sites to be discussed will be: Merimde, Ma‘adi, Buto, Tell el-Farkha, Tell el-Dab‘a, Tell el-Retaba, Tell el-Maskhuta, Tell-Hebwa, Tell el-Yahudiya, Qantir, Tanis, Kom el-Hisn, Bubastis und Mendes. Included into the discussion will be overviews of contemporary cultural situations in the neighbouring Levant. 

Representative power-point illustrations will provide for the students the illustrative background for the discussion of the antiquities of the Nile Delta. Every participant will have the opportunity to upload these images from a university portal. The most important literature will be made available by handouts. After the presentation of each site there will be opportunity to discuss in a seminar atmosphere the pertinent antiquities in order to clarify situations which were not properly understood. This will be also an opportunity for participants to present their personal views of the nature of the site.

The examinations will proceed in writing defined by questions. Support may be given by power-point illustrations. General knowledge of the physical geography and historical topography of the Nile Delta are principal requirements. The successful candidate also has to show a knowledge of the most important publications and the essential monuments of the most important sites. Several dates near the end of the semester and afterwards will be offered for the exams.

Introductory literature:
M. Bietak, Tell el-Dab‘a II. Der Fundort im Rahmen einer paläogeographischen Untersuchung des ägyptischen Ostdeltas, Wien 1975. –  E.C.M. Van den Brink (ed.), The Archaeology of the Nile Delta: Problems and Priorities, Amsterdam 1988. – Idem,The Nile Delta in Transition: 4th-3rd Millennium B.C., Tel Aviv 1992.

Further literature will be announced in the course.

online registration