IFAO

Download the poster & the abstract

Scientific analytical methods have been applied in archaeological work in Egypt for many years. Laboratory facilities and c o -operations with local and foreign institutions make a wide range of research possible. But, despite the rapidly expanding range of technologies. facilities, and trained personnel working in Egypt the use. of archaeometric analysis is seldom anticipated prior to the start of an excavation project, it is rarely included in the planning process - it still remains an afterthought in many cases. Archaeometric methods are generally 11sed on an on demand basis. often several years after materials have been excavated, by which point the materials to be analyzed might already have been compromised through long established and unchanged excavation techniques, and therefore have been rendered unsuitable for analyses. Thus, the question arises, should fieldwork procedures be revised in general. in order to allow for the possibility to conduct a broader range of high-level scientific analyses that might enable Egyptian archaeologists to make greater contributions to the field of Egyptology and Archaeological science? Where does I can science start, where does it (have to) end? Which scientific research is acttually counted into the field of archaeometry? How much science is I could be /should be done. in archaeology? This lecture aims to address those issues using as an example the work done at various sites under the umbrella of the German

Archaeological Institute in the past years.