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Boat Symbolism in Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt (ca 4500- 2600 B.C.). An Ethno-Archaeological Approach

par Vanhulle, Dorian
Référence Lady Wallis Budge Symposium 2017: Egyptology and Anthropology. Historiography, theoretical exchange, and conceptual development (25-26 July 2017: Christ College - Cambridge)
Publication Non publié, 2017-07-25

Communication à un colloque

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Résumé :

Boat is ubiquitous in artistic and artisanal productions during the Pre-Pharaonic period (ca 4500- 2600 B.C.). A recent study, conducted in the context of our PhD, showed that the boat was then used to express complex symbolic and ideological concepts. These concepts will be the core of the Pharaonic ideological system elaborated at the end of this crucial phase of Egyptian history. During subsequent millenaries, the boat is mostly used in iconography and literature as a vehicle for gods and kings. However, some texts prove that it still expresses allegorical meanings: Pharaoh is described as the rudder of the State in the “Pyramids Texts”, or as the captain of a ship in the “Tale of the Eloquent Peasant”. This last example suggests that the boat was, at least in some specific contexts, seen as an allegory of the society: the captain is the ruler, the sailors are the people while the boat embodies the State.A brief interest in other Neolithic coastal and riverine societies around the world, in particular in Southeastern Asia, Oceania and in Scandinavia, shows a similar importance of the boat. On the contrary to Egypt, these cultures have been the subject of numerous anthropological studies. If any direct comparative studies between such different contexts, separated both chronologically and geographically, are highly hazardous, it appears that similar cognitive reflexes can be postulated. Among them is the use of the boat as a marker of the community. In this function, a special boat was employed during community and military, but also political, diplomatic or ceremonial activities. Such a function in the first stages of the Predynastic period can be postulated, as it fits well with the future importance of the boat in artistic productions that conveyed ideological and religious discourses.