Ancient Egyptian Technology and Innovation

215 Pages·2012·3.65 MB·English

by  Ian Shaw

Ancient Egyptian Technology and Innovation
BLOOMSBURY EGYPTOLOGY
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Bloomsbury Academic
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BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in 2012 by Bristol Classical Press
an imprint of Bloomsbury Academic
Reprinted by Bloomsbury Academic 2013
© Ian Shaw, 2012
Ian Shaw has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as Author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: PB: 978-0-7156-3118-8
ePDF: 978-1-4725-1959-7
ePub: 978-1-4725-1960-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Series: Bloomsbury Egyptology
Typeset by Ray Davies
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Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgements viii
List of illustrations ix
Chronology xiii
 1. Introduction: towards an explicitly anthropological analysis
of technological change and innovation in ancient Egypt 1
 2. Analysing Egyptian technological dynamics: was Egyptian
technology underpinned and framed by ‘science’? 11
 3. Writing: human communication as social technology 24
 4. Medicine, magic and pharmacy: the fusion of science and art 39
 5. Stone-working: the synthesis of traditional chaînes opératoires
and ideological innovations 55
 6. Mummification and glass-working: issues of definition
and process 77
 7. Chariot production: technical choice and socio-political
change 92
 8. Military hardware: the east Mediterranean knowledge
economy and the emergence of the Iron Age in Egypt 110
 9. Technology embedded in urban society: finding the
individual in the general 127
10. Conclusions 151
Appendix 1. Measuring space 157
Appendix 2. Measuring time 160
Appendix 3. Astronomy and astrology 163
Abbreviations 167
Bibliography 169
Index 191
 Ancient Egyptian terms 199
 Assyrian terms 200
v
This book is dedicated to Barry Kemp, Janine Bourriau and John
Ray, who taught me Egyptian archaeology, texts and material
culture in the 1980s, and have continued to inspire me with their
work ever since.
vi
Preface
My overall approach in this book is similar to that of Serafina Cuomo
in her recent study of technology and culture in the Greco-Roman
world (Cuomo 2007); thus, my initial discussions of the general sources
and problems of science and technology in Egypt (in the first three
chapters) are followed by a series of case-studies seeking to understand
certain aspects of the dynamics of ancient Egyptian technology, culture
and society. The case-studies deal with various specific technical
areas: medicine, writing, stone-working, monumental construction,
mummification, glass-working, and weapons manufacture. Like Cuomo
(2007: 5), I have tried to organise each chapter around one or more
areas of debate, using particular technological topics to provide more
general theoretical insights into the cultural dynamics of technology and
innovation in ancient Egypt.
Although the principal aim of this book is to bring together the basic
evidence for many different aspects of change and evolution in Egyptian
technology, it will also include some consideration of the wider cognitive
and social contexts. What was the Egyptian propensity for mental
creativity and innovation? how rapidly did Egyptian technology change
in comparison with other African, Mediterranean or Near Eastern states?
The various chapters will include consideration of those aspects of
Egyptian society that made it predisposed (or, in other instances, actively
opposed) to certain types of conservatism or innovation in material
culture. Examples are also given of the idea that technological change
is not necessarily a continuous succession of innovations – it can also
involve maintaining the status quo or even entirely viable and justifiable
reversions to earlier techniques and equipment. The penultimate chapter
is a 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.
vii
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Nick Reeves for initiating this book, and deborah
Blake for ensuring that it finally appeared. I would also like to thank
over ten years of Liverpool University undergraduate and postgraduate
students for helping to maintain my enthusiasm for ancient Egyptian
technology and material culture. Thanks to Ann for several of the line
drawings.
Parts of Chapters 7, 8 and 9 have previously appeared as Shaw 2001,
2010b, and 2004 respectively.
viii
List of Illustrations
Figures
1.1. Lower Palaeolithic handaxe from the desert near Thebes; this
artefact is typical of the earliest phase of tool use in the Nile
valley, c. 400,000-300,000 BP (Garstang Museum, University of
Liverpool, E6581). 4
1.2. Bird’s eye view of a ground loom, from the Middle Kingdom tomb
of Khnumhotep III (Bh3) at Beni hasan (after Newberry 1893:
Pl. XXIX). 5
1.3. Protodynastic figurine of a baboon in efflorescence-glazed faience,
holding a cone on its knee, from hierakonpolis, h. 52mm
(courtesy of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology,
University College London, UC11002). 6
1.4. Scene from the tomb of Ty at Saqqara (no. 60), showing a potter
using a wheel to fashion a vessel (Nicholson and Shaw 2000: fig.
5.3). 8
1.5. vertical looms depicted in the 18th-dynasty tomb of Thutnefer at
Thebes (no. A6) (TT104; after davies 1929: 234, fig. 1).
1.6. Blue and yellow core-formed glass vessel probably dating to the 9
reign of Thutmose III, one of the earliest examples of worked
glass in Egypt. (harrow School, hE121; photo: IS) 9
1.7. Scene showing a carpenter turning wood on a lathe, in the early
Ptolemaic tomb of Petosiris at Tuna el-Gebel (Nicholson and
Shaw 2000: fig. 15.21) 10
2.1. Problem no. 10 in the Moscow mathematical papyrus, showing the
method for calculating the area of a semi-circle (after Peet 1931:
Pl. XIII). 17
2.2. Problem no. 57 in the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus: the height of
a pyramid is calculated from the base-length and the sḳd (slope)
(after Chace et al. 1929: pl. 79). 20
ix