Third Workshop of the EGYLandscape Project
Third Workshop of the EGYLandscape Project: Nature and Land
Institut Français d’Égypte, Alexandria, Egypt 3-5 September 2019
The third workshop of the EGYLandscape Project was held in Alexandria, Egypt. It was a great opportunity for the project team to gather together after the disruption of the pandemic and the virtual 2020 workshop. The three-day workshop featured three parts: a training, paper presentations, and a field trip to Rosetta.
The training session, which was open to graduate students and recent PhDs from Egyptian universities, started with a project overview by our leaders Albrecht Fuess (University of Marburg) and Nicolas Michel (Aix-Marseille University). The first training session — “Geography and History: Exploring Middle Egypt Through a Variety of Sources” — was led by Nicolas Michel and Magdi Guirguis (Kafr al-Sheikh University) and explored the different source material, from texts to maps, available for the study of Middle Egypt. After lunch, Ghislaine Alleaume (Aix-Marseille University / IREMAM) led session two — “Maps as Tolls for Studying the Western Delta” — which taught participants about the ways in which maps could be used, both conventionally and otherwise, as a source for the study of regional history. Finally, in the last session, colleagues from the Centre d’études Alexandrines (CeAlex) talked about their work in surveying and mapping Lake Mareotis, which served as a great case study to wrap up the days sessions.
The second day of the gathering featured papers from our team members on topics ranging from land-use and weather to flora, fauna, and engineering during the Mamluk and Ottoman periods. Like the previous workshops, it was a great opportunity to catch up on each other’s in-progress research, discuss idea, and learn.
On the workshop’s final day, participants made an excursion to the city of Rosetta (Rashid). There they visited to mouth of the Nile, where its one branch flows into the Mediterranean, the historic citadel, where the Rosetta Stone was found, some beautifully restored homes in the old city center, and two historic mosques.