Ancient Egyptian technology and innovation : transformations in pharaonic material culture / Ian Shaw.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 169-190) and index.

Introduction: towards an explicitly anthropological analysis of technologcial change and innovation in ancient Egypt -- Analysing Egyptian technological dynamics: was Egyptian technology underpinned and framed by 'science'? -- Writing: human communication as social technology -- Medicine, magic and pharmacy: the fusion of science and art -- Stone-working: the synthesis of traditional chaînes opératories and ideological innovations -- Mummification and glass-working: issues of definition and process -- Chariot production: technical choice and socio-political change -- Military hardware: the east Mediterranean knowledge economy and the emergence of the Iron Age in Egypt -- Technology embedded in urban society: finding the individual in the general -- Appendix 1. Measuring space -- Appendix 2. Measuring time -- Appendix 3. Astronomy and astrology.

The study of ancient Egyptian materials and technology is a vibrant one, with research being conducted by many scholars throughout the world. This book draws not only on traditional archaeological and textual sources but also on the results of scientific analyses of ancient materials and on experimental and ethno-archaeological information. Although the principal aim is to bring together the basic evidence for different aspects of change and evolution in Egyptian technology, it also examines wider cognitive and social contexts, such as the ancient Egyptian propensity for mental creativity and innovation. How rapidly did Egyptian technology change in comparison with other African, Mediterranean or Near Eastern states? The text includes consideration of those aspects of Egyptian society that made it predisposed (or not) to certain types of innovation, e.g. techniques of metalworking, transportation and construction.