Published:31/12/2025Language:FRENCH / ENGLISHPages:202, Illustrated throughout in black & white and colour.BAR Number: S3248Series: BAR International Series

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Wood and Woodcraft in Egypt from Antiquity to Islamic Times

Name: Wood and Woodcraft in Egypt from Antiquity to Islamic Times
SKU: Wood and Woodcraft in Egypt from Antiquity to Islamic Times
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Proceedings of the first NetWood conference (June 2021)

Edited by Julien Auber de Lapierre, Gersande Eschenbrenner Diemer and Valérie Schram

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Description

This volume offers a renewed perspective on the study of wood in ancient Egypt—a material long underestimated in Egyptology despite the country’s exceptional preservation conditions. It stems from the online conference NetWood: Wood Networks in Egypt from Antiquity to Islamic Times (June 2021), which brought together specialists from various disciplines to foster interdisciplinary and diachronic dialogue on this material.

The twelve contributions gathered here provide fresh insights through previously unpublished evidence and innovative approaches. The first section examines wood resources and supply networks, challenging modern perceptions of Egypt’s landscapes and highlighting the complex interplay between local and imported materials. The second focuses on craftsmen and workshops, illuminating practices of production, craft skills, and organization. The final section presents new documentary and archaeological corpora of wooden objects, underscoring the material’s versatility and its enduring economic, social, and cultural significance from Pharaonic to Islamic times.

About the Editor

Julien Auber de Lapierre holds a PhD in art history. He is in charge of the Catalogue Général of the Coptic Museum in Cairo for wooden objects, and published the first volume of the collection in 2018 (IFAO, Cairo).

Gersande Eschenbrenner Diemer is an Egyptologist and wood anatomist at the University of Jaén. She leads the Medjehu Project, investigating ancient Egyptian woodcraft and its economic, artistic, and social dimensions.

Valérie Schram is a papyrologist and CNRS researcher. Her work includes a monograph on trees and wood in Greco-Roman Egypt based on Greek papyri.

List of Contributors: Julien Auber de Lapierre, Dina Ishak Bakhoum, Judith Bunbury, Anna Giulia De Marco, Roberto A. Díaz Hernández, Jean-Charles Ducène, Gersande Eschenbrenner Diemer, Françoise Laroche-Traunecker, Aleksandra Pawlikowska-Gwiazda, Roberta Petrilli, Lisa Sartini, Valérie Schram, Claude Traunecker.

Reviews

‘These papers are an important contribution to our knowledge of woodworking in ancient Egypt. This should just be the beginning of introducing Egyptian wood studies as a mainstream subject into the academic curriculum. It will encourage researchers to look at innovative ways to explore the subject and set professional standards when discussing terminology and identifying constructional techniques.’ Dr Geoffrey Killen

‘I am not aware of any other publication which treats woodwork in ancient Egypt with the same scope, scientific quality and interdisciplinary research. The book is not only original but covers an extensive timespan, thus making it possible to better understand the changes in the use of wood from the Early Bronze Age to Late Antiquity’ Dr Juan Carlos Moreno García, Sorbonne Université