The archaeology of Egypt has long been overshadowed by the wealth of textual sources, from monumental to informal, further augmented by the relatively early translation of hieroglyphic egyptian and the initial emphasis on finds of museum quality. initially, egyptian archaeology was perceived as a technique to find more texts and objects, while archaeological observations were readily explained from the textual data. Only recently has the archaeology of egypt become a specialism in its own right, generating its own specific data, although often still haunted by legacies of the past. The latter also concerns the study of the pastoral nomads that regularly occur in the egyptian textual records, most famously the Medjay during the Middle Kingdom (1975-1640 B. C.) and the Blemmyes in Greco-Roman and Byzantine times (332 B. C.-A. D. 641). These groups are often associated with specific archaeological phenomena; the Medjay with the pan-graves, so called because they are shaped like a frying pan; the Blemmyes with eastern Desert Ware, well-burnished hand-made cups and bowls with incised decorations.
A recent study of eastern Desert Ware, which included chemical analysis of the ceramic matrix and the organic residues in the vessels, as well as ethnography and experimental archaeology, indicated that it was probably made and used by a group of pastoral nomads, but did not provide any evidence toward their identification nor an association with any specific group mentioned in the textual sources. Such is further hampered by the scholarly interest in the remains left in the eastern Desert by outsiders, miners, traders and quarry-men, while little research has been done on the pastoral nomads living in the area. The archaeological study of the latter requires a specialized approach, combining the study of ephemeral campsites and low-density surface scatters with data on the environment, the available resources, and the routes of the nomads. This methodology will be very similar for the study of pastoral nomads, mobile groups of hunter-gatherers, or sections of a settled population that have temporarily been displaced. Specialists in these fields should work together to come to an archaeology of mobility to increase our understanding of people on the move.
World History
