Graduate Student, Archaeology
Christ's
Thesis Title: Immigration in late Egyptian history: a bioarchaeological approach
|
Kate Spence
Jay Stock Rhiannon Stevens |
About
My PhD research aims to assess the level of immigration that occurred during the Late Period and Ptolemaic Period in Egypt (c. 664 BC – 30 BC), through the analysis of skeletal variation supported by stable isotope analysis. The scale and diversity of immigration into Egypt is thought to have increased substantially during these periods, which were dominated by foreign rule; first by Libyan and Persian kings and then by Hellenistic Greek rulers. To test this hypothesis, I am using landmark-based geometric morphometrics to assess the level of cranial, and thus genetic, variation present in skeletal population samples from the Late and Ptolemaic Periods. It is well understood that overall craniometric variation correlates with largely neutral genetic variation, with only certain regions of the skull having been subject to natural selection or developmental plasticity. Cranial morphology, especially aspects of cranial vault shape, is therefore useful for inferring population history. My methods will mainly focus on quantifying aspects of cranial shape thought to be highly heritable, but will also investigate those which are thought to be more culturally influenced. I am focusing on skeletal remains from two regions in the north of Egypt, Giza and Saqqara, where immigration into Egypt is likely to have been the highest. This data will be compared with that for earlier populations to investigate whether the variation observed represents an increase in genetic variation, an indicator of immigration. Statistical outliers, who could potentially be immigrants, will also be identified. I will then carry out targeted oxygen and/or strontium isotopic analysis on a sample of individuals from the Late and Ptolemaic Period populations to see if specific immigrants can be identified and to investigate the type and diversity of regions that potential immigrants could have come from. Ultimately, this research will not only be of interest to the field of Egyptology, but will also assist our understanding of human migration and contact across the whole Mediterranean during the Classical periods and in the periods leading up to them.
Contact Information
| Homepage: |
