Archaeology of the Ancient Near East - (course II) lecture 2800-ABEAST-B

The class shows the most important archaeological sites in Egypt and Nubia, dating from the 11th millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD. The course will show what traces were left in the archaeological material by various historical, social and cultural processes. It discusses different aspects of the Egyptian and main Nubian cultures – funerary rites, religious systems, economy, material culture, visual arts.

Egypt:
1. State and society. Royal ideology, formation of the state, administration, crises of the state.
2. Religion. Theological systems: Heliopolitan, Memphite and Hermopolitan, divine triads.
3. Writing and literature. Major religious text corpora: Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, Book of the Dead. Beginnings of literature.
4. Visual arts. Sculpture, painting, relief. Canon of art. Architecture
5. Various types of artefacts as sources of information on various aspects of Egyptian civilization And Egyptian archaeology in chronological order:
6. Neolithic Period
7. Upper and Lower Egyptian Cultures
8. Unification of Egypt and Archaic Period
9. Old Kingdom
10. First Intermediate Period
11. Middle Kingdom
12. Second Intermediate Period
13. New Kingdom
14. Third Intermediate Period
15. Late Period
16. Greco-Roman Period – an introduction

Nubia:
1.Geography and climate-Neolithic cultures
2. Group A – pre-Krema cultures
3.Kerma horizon: Krema, Group-C and Pan-grave cultures
3. Napatan period
4. Meroitic period