Ancient Egypt in Contemporary Africa: New Excavations at the Island Fortress of Uronarti

Laurel Bestock, Associate Professor of Archaeology and the Ancient World, Egyptology and Assyriology, and the History of Art and Architecture, Brown University
Ancient Egyptian kings conquered Lower Nubia-today northern Sudan-nearly 4,000 years ago, defending it with a string of monumental fortresses along the Nile River. Previously thought lost, when the construction of the Aswan High Dam flooded the area, one fortress, known as Uronarti, was recently rediscovered and is being excavated for the first time since George Reisner’s Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition worked there in the early twentieth century. Laurel Bestock will highlight recent archaeological finds at the site and discuss the intercultural encounters and lifestyles in this Egyptian colonial outpost.
Recorded: March 19, 2018