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Interpreting Inscribed Landscapes: Space and Identity in Egypt’s Eastern Desert

Vincent Morel, from Yale University, presents this Liverpool Egyptology Seminar.

Thursday 21 November 5pm (UK) | Rendall, seminar room 3 or Online | Open to the public, and University of Liverpool staff and students

This is a hybrid event, and we encourage in-person attendance which facilitates discussion and fosters a sense of community among the ‘Liverpool’ Egyptologists. As always there will be drinks and nibbles!

Abstract

Since the time of early modern explorers, extensive efforts have been dedicated to collecting and documenting Pharaonic expedition inscriptions across Egypt’s Eastern Desert.

These include inscriptions from mining and quarrying sites as well as along desert roads. Seminal publications (e.g. Green 1909; Couyat, Montet 1912; Goyon 1957; Žába 1979; Rothe, Miller, Rapp 2008) have provided a significant collection of epigraphic material from diverse archaeological sites, spanning from the central Eastern Desert to Lower Nubia.

Traditionally, these rock inscriptions have been studied out-of-context, primarily to enhance our understanding of Pharaonic expeditions—their chronology, prosopography, and logistical organization.

In line with recent trends in ancient graffiti studies advocating for a more holistic and integrative approach, this seminar will explore methodologies for analyzing and interpreting rock inscriptions as artifacts with a meaningful role within their desert environment.

Through case studies from the Old and Middle Kingdom at various sites, we will investigate what these texts reveal about ancient experiences of desert spaces and how such markings effectively “landscaped” these environments.

Old and Middle Kingdom inscriptions at Wadi Hammamat (Eastern Desert, Egypt) photo below courtesy of Vincent Morel:

A large flat rock with inscriptions carved into it.

Suggested readings

  • Enmarch, Roland 2011. Of spice and mine: The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor and Middle Kingdom expedition inscriptions. In Hagen, Fredrik, John Johnston, Wendy Monkhouse, Kathryn Piquette, John Tait, and Martin Worthington (eds), Narratives of Egypt and the ancient Near East: literary and linguistic approaches, 97-121. Leuven: Peeters.
  • Lloyd, Alan B. 2013. Expeditions to the Wadi Hammamat: context and concept. In Hill, Jane A., Philip Jones, and Antonio J. Morales (eds), Experiencing power, generating authority: cosmos, politics, and the ideology of kingship in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, 361-382. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. [Download]
  • Morel, Vincent 2023. Writing during Ancient Desert Expeditions. In Polis, Stéphane (ed.), Guide to the Writing Systems of Ancient Egypt, 284-287. Le Caire: Institut français d'archéologie orientale.