Egypt

Abstract

This chapter situates Egypt within wider debates arising from the field of Islamic archaeology and provides an overview of the current state of our knowledge based on diverse categories of archaeological evidence. Its overall aim is to argue for more diverse intellectual approaches—socially and scientifically aware and theoretically embedded—to be incorporated into archaeological activity in the country in place of those more closely related to the discipline of art history. The chapter starts with a consideration of evidence from a chronological perspective, noting the current relative lack of focus on the Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman periods. An inevitably brief digression follows on rural archaeology, for which minimal evidence has been uncovered. Evidence for domestic activity, trade and production, and funerary practices is outlined with a particular focus on artifactual material. The chapter also considers the growth and development of urban centers, both capital and provincial, under Islamic rule. Overall, the chapter highlights a need for a more sustained focus on Egypt’s Islamic-era/medieval archaeology for its own sake, rather than as either the inheritance of the classical world or the foundations of the early modern state.