par Vanhulle, Dorian
Référence Current Research in Egyptology (14: 19-22/03/2013: Cambridge)
Publication Non publié, 2013-03-20
Communication à un colloque
Résumé : The boat is one of the most common elements of the Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt (ca. 4500-2700 BC). Whether real boats or miniature models (made in clay, ivory and wood), representation used as potters marks, painted on vases or engraved inrock, the thematic of navigation holds a privileged place in the Predynastic documentation. Areas to which it refers are multiple: expression of power, politics and economics (trade and foreign contacts), funerary practices and daily life (hunting, communication, transport).This presentation will try to show that navigation, by papyrus raft first and, shortly after, by big wooden boat, was instrumental in developing the predynastic society and the Pharaonic state. Its almost ubiquitous presence reflects the strategic importance acquired by the Nile, but also by the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, as Egypt starts to take part into exchange networks outside the Valley and comes into contact with the Near East (evidenced by the presence in Egypt of lapis-lazuli, cylinder seals and Near-Eastern’s contributions in the architectural, artistic and intellectual domains). Navigation not only allowed the circulation of some goods and ideas across borders but, because not limited to Egypt, it was itself an “international” concept.