Conference “Stone Canvas”: report and photos

PCMA Research Centre in Cairo and Institut français d’archéologie orientale (IFAO) co-organized an international conference “Stone canvas: towards a better integration of ‘rock art’ and ‘graffiti’ studies in Egypt and Sudan” . The conference finished on 12th of November at the IFAO.

Twenty-nine talks, covering the subject of rock art and graffiti from various periods of time as well as from different regions all over Egypt and Sudan, were delivered during those three days.

The 1st day at the IFAO was divided into three sessions: “Stone Canvas”, “Pictures, Texts and Archaeology in Sudan” and the last covering similar aspects in Egypt. On the same day, the keynote lecture, open to a public, was given by John C. Darnell, professor of Egyptology at Yale University. Speaking of the work of the Theban Desert Road Survey and the Elkab Desert Survey Project, the professor introduced the audience to the mindset of ancient Egyptians on the basis of rock art, rock inscriptions and other archaeological finds.

The second day at the PCMA brought up two topics: ‘Texts and Pictures in Cult Places’ and the other one narrowed down to the Theban Mountain area. It finished early, as was followed by a boat excursion on the Nile and a networking dinner with a view onto the river.

The third day, the last one of the conference, was dedicated to rock art and graffiti ‘across the boundaries’. The speakers were particularly focusing on motifs that can be encountered in various media, not just rock faces or temple walls. The overall discussion coped the conference, during which important topics for this field of research were raised.

Many thanks to Dr. Paweł Polkowski for organizing this event, the effect of continuous collaboration between the PCMA and IFAO. The conference and the planned proceedings have been integral part of his post-doc fellowship, granted by those two institutions.

Also, words of thanks to the participants who have traveled from all over the world to take part in the conference. Their exciting presentations will be now transformed into written articles and published in the conference proceedings, which are intended to be published as a joint effort of the PCMA and IFAO.

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• Organizacja tej konferencji została sfinansowana ze środków Ministerstwa Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego // This conference has been made as part of a project financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland