“Nubian” Archers in Avaris: A Study of Culture-Historical Reasoning in Archaeology of Egypt: “Nubian” archers in Avaris: A study of culture-historical reasoning in archaeology of Egypt

Uroš Matić

doi:10.21301/EAP.v9i3.8

Authors

Uroš Matić Institut für Ägyptologie und Koptologie, Westfälische-Wilhelms Universität, Münster

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21301/EAP.v9i3.8

Keywords:

archaeology of Egypt, culture-historical archaeology, archaeological culture, race, “Nubian” archers, Avaris (Tell el Dabca)

Abstract

The archaeology of Egypt is in world archaeological circles widely regarded as non-theoretical in a negative sense. The consequence of such a state of the discipline are often uncritical uses of concepts and models which were under heavy critique in archaeology since the 1960s. This paper examines the culture-historical reasoning in archaeology of Egypt by analysing the arguments provided for the presence of “Nubian” archers in Avaris (Tell el-Dab^ca). Their presence in Tell el-Dab^ca is often argued with the presence of Nubian pottery, arrowheads and skeletal remains. This paper analyses the way these finds of different date and contexts, are brought together in a coherent archaeological narrative. It is argued that the finds were identified as Nubian and mutually related because of the cultural-historical reasoning taken as an unquestionable interpretative model, a hidden theory.

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“Nubian” Archers in Avaris: A Study of Culture-Historical Reasoning in Archaeology of Egypt