Current Research Postgraduates

Miss Maria Correas-Amador

(email at maria.correas-amador@durham.ac.uk)

Research Topic

Mud and organic structures in Ancient and Modern Egypt.

Abstract

For the past twenty years traditional Egyptian mud buildings have been gradually disappearing in favour of concrete structures, without any record or study of the former. Consequently, the information that could be drawn from them about the socio-cultural aspects involved in construction is continually lost, together with the means of construction themselves.
This information seems crucial not only to understand the past, but also to foresee the needs of the future; on one hand, it could potentially provide us with key clues to understand the fragmentary archaeological record from Ancient Egypt; on the other hand, at a time when sustainability is a top priority in the international agenda, it would inform us thoroughly about the traditional ways of tackling ecological and energy issues.

Since the transition from organic materials to concrete started taking place, no specific methodology has been developed which could be used by archaeologists working in Egypt when dealing with mud structures.

The ultimate aim of this study is to combine architectural, archaeological and ethnographic methods to understand the socio-cultural factors involved in the act of building and space distribution, and the reciprocal influence that domestic structures and community life exert over each other. This could be ultimately translated into the development of a methodology that could be systematically used by Egyptologists when facing mud and organic buildings; with better understanding of the archaeological record would come the deepening of knowledge of the process of mud and organic construction in Ancient Egypt, a largely neglected area of study.

Research Groups

• Landscapes of Complex Society Research Group