Ancient Egyptian Technology and Innovation

This book examines the fundamental evidence for many different aspects of change and evolution in ancient Egyptian technology. It includes discussion of the wider cognitive and social contexts, such as the Egyptian propensity for mental creativity and innovation, and the pace of change in Egypt in comparison with other African, Mediterranean and Near Eastern states. This book draws not only on traditional archaeological and textual sources but also on the results of scientific analyses of ancient materials and on experimental and ethno-archaeological information. Case-studies analyse those aspects of Egyptian society that made it either predisposed or actively opposed to certain types of conservatism or innovation in material culture, such as the techniques of stone-working, medicine, mummification and monumental construction. The book also includes detailed discussion of the ways in which the practice and development of Egyptian technology interrelated with Late Bronze Age urban society as a whole, using the city at Amarna as a case-study.

Ian Shaw is a Senior Research Fellow in Egyptian Archaeology at the University of Liverpool, UK, and Visiting Professor in Egyptology at the Northeast Normal University, China. His authored and edited publications include The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000), Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology (2000), Ancient Egyptian Technology and Innovation (2012), Ancient Egyptian Warfare (2019) and The Oxford Handbook of Egyptology (2020).

Preface Acknowledgements List of illustrations Chronology Introduction: towards an explicitly anthropological analysis of technological change and innovation in ancient Egypt Analysing Egyptian Technological Dynamics - was Egyptian technology underpinned and framed by 'science'? Writing: human communication as social technology Medicine, Magic and Pharmacy: the fusion of science and religion Stone-working: the synthesis of traditional chaînes opératoires and ideological innovations Mummification and Glass-working: issues of definition and process Chariot Production: technical choice and socio-political change Military Hardware: the east Mediterranean knowledge economy and the emergence of the Iron Age in Egypt Technology Embedded in Urban Society: finding the individual in the general Conclusion Appendix 1: Measuring space Appendix 2: Measuring time Appendix 3: Astronomy and astrology Abbreviations Bibliography Index