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Egypt - Key Case Studies Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

A cheat sheet for archaeologists wanting to navigate the hell that is Egyptology - I see you and I feel you. This is for you, hope this does literally anything for you.

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

Uluburun shipwreck - Context

Near Southern Turkey, c.14th century BCE.
Bronze Age shipwreck, provides insight into maritim and terres­trial trade in Medite­rra­nean.
Site revealed copper ingots arranged in rows.
Computer modeling has allowed recons­tru­ctions of what the ship looked like and how its cargo was arranged - the wooden hull had deteri­orated and the ship is placed on a slope off which some artifacts tumbled over the years.
(Pulak, 2012)

Uluburun shipwreck - Cargo

10 tons of copper ingots, 1 ton of tin ingots (note that copper and tin together make bronze, kinda important in the Bronze Age), pottery storage jars, 24 stone anchors.
Much of the perishable cargo would have disapp­eared because of the aquatic enviro­nment.
Elite/­royal cargo?
- Faience beads, inlaid seashell rings, ostrich eggshell vases...
- Gold and silver jewelry.
The copper ingots
- Pure Cypriot copper (origin deduced from lead-i­sotope analysis).
- Ingots very carefully loaded into rows to minimise slippage.
The tin ingots
- Most lost due to corrosion, but chemical analysis reveals very pure tin.
- Tin = quite rare in Bronze Age Mediterranean.
- Lead-i­sotope analysis suggests origins in Taurus Mountains and a source near Afghan­istan.
The Cypriot pottery
- Included oil lamps, milk bowls...
- Cypriot wares found in very high concen­tration at Uluburun.
(Pulak, 2012)

Uluburun shipwreck - Copper Ingots

Uluburun and what it tells us about trade

Illust­rates Bronze Age trade routes which connect Egypt, Cyprus and the Aegean.
Royal gift exchange conducted directly by palatial instit­utions?
Long-d­istance trade = high risk endeavour which requires many prepar­ations
Some private merchants engaging in domestic trade, but most of long-d­istance = controlled by some form of elite group.
(Pulak, 2012)

The Uluburun Mouse

Dispersal of the house mouse is agreed to be linked to stowaway transport in grain and foodstuff cargo.
Before Uluburun, evidence resided in zooarc­hae­olo­gical evidence, without direct archae­olo­gical evidence.
Uluburun produced small mouse mandible.
Mouse also provides inform­ation about the route of the ship before its sinking.
Phenotypic analysis of the mandible suggests it most likely originated from Syria.
(Cucchi, 2008)
  

Amarna - Overview

New Kingdom (1550-1069 BCE).
Amarna = new capital city during the reign of Amenhotep IV (also known as Akhenaten).
Attempt to replace tradition with new religion.
Range of social status within city.
(Scarre, 2018)
  

References for your humble perusal

Cucchi, T. (2008) ‘Uluburun shipwreck stowaway house mouse: molar shape analysis and indirect clues about the vessel’s last journey’, Journal of Archae­olo­gical Science, 35(11), pp. 2953–2959. Available at: https:­//d­oi.o­rg­/10.10­16/­j.j­as.2­00­8.0­6.016.
Scarre, C. (2018) 'The Human Past: World Prehistory and the Develo­pment of Human Societ­ies', 4th edn. London: Thames and Hudson.
Pulak, C. (2012) ‘Uluburun Shipwr­eck’, in E.M. Cline (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean. Oxford University Press, p. 862-876. Available at: https:­//d­oi.o­rg­/10.10­93/­oxf­ord­hb/­978­019­987­360­9.0­13.0­064.