MineLife: Reconstructing the Social and Environmental History of Eastern Desert Mining Communities (2nd millennium BCE-2nd century AD)

Objective

MineLife is a groundbreaking project aimed at advancing research on Eastern Desert mining communities by integrating archaeological, textual, spatial, and environmental data from different historical periods. It proposes to create a new social history by examining mining landscapes and their interaction with human life over two millennia. The project focuses on four main objectives: 1. Reconstruct ancient Egyptian knowledge about the desert environment, capturing their understanding of its natural resources and changes over time. This will involve analysing ancient Egyptian and Greek texts, including inscriptions and administrative documents, to gather information on landscape features like wells, vegetation, and geographical landmarks. 2. Model the socio-environmental evolution of mining communities by studying settlement patterns and paleoenvironments. This will be achieved through remote sensing technologies, GIS, and analysis of soil samples. Story-maps will merge archaeological data with historical and environmental information to visualise mining settlements' spatial distribution and their relationship with the landscape. 3. Investigate how dietary habits evolved over time and differed across various regions of the Eastern Desert, thereby gaining a clearer insight into the living conditions within specific communities and among diverse human groups. 4. Examine long-term socio-environmental dynamics and culture-landscape relationships using an interdisciplinary approach. The project will combine textual, archaeological, spatial, and environmental data to understand mining communities' life conditions and survival strategies.