Invention and innovation 2 Egypt, the Aegean and the Near East, 1650-1150 BC - Janine Bourriau

In September 2002, a second workshop on the theme of the
social context of technological change was held at the McDonald
Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge.
Discussion has been the core of these meetings so far, with the
aim being to relate the results of the specialist investigator to
broad historical questions concerning the nature and development
of ancient societies. The papers presented here address a wider
context: geographically, with the inclusion of the Aegean and
thematically, with papers on natural products and raw materials.
The time frame remains the same in covering the Late Bronze
Age/New Kingdom. The majority of the papers draw on Egyptian
evidence, and illustrate a multiplicity of approaches to the
problems set by ancient technologies: modelling, methodology of
art history and archaeology applied to a problematic group of
artefacts, integration of archaeological and textual sources, and
the application of the results of scientific analysis to illuminate
ancient technology.