LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOlOGY. EGYPT AND THE ... - CFEETK - CNRS

Programme and abstracts volume
PANAGIOTAKOPULU Eva 1 , BUCKLAND Paul 2
Insects and survival in the desert: archaeoentomological investigations at
Kom el Nana Byzantine monastery, Middle Egypt
1 University of Edinburgh, School of GeoSciences, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, United Kingdom
2 20 Den Bank Close, Sheffield, United Kingdom
Presenting author: Eva Panagiotakopulu
E-mail: Eva.P@ed.ac.uk
Tel: +44 1316502531
The desiccating environment of the Egyptian desert leads to the preservation of fossil insects.
Recent palaeoenvironmental work at the Byzantine monastery at Kom el Nana, built over part
of the New Kingdom city at Amarna, has provided new insights into how the community
survived. Away from the Nile and outside artificially irrigated areas, the landscape of Middle
Egypt today is dominated by desert, and in the past, any settlement had to rely upon imported
commodities. Modern agriculture has had serious impact upon the archaeology of sites on the
desert fringe, and the remains of the monastery have been damaged as a result of the
construction of irrigation channels and with the rising water table, organic sediments no
longer survive. The results from the archaeoentomological research show that the landscape
around Kom el Nana was very different from today. The insect faunal remains include a suite
of pests of stored products, and elements which imply the proximity of fruit trees and water.
The possibility of the use of irrigation by the monks, either by drawing water from a well or
by channels from the Nile, is discussed in light of the palaeoecological evidence.
PARASCHOU Theodoros 1 , GHILARDI Matthieu 2 , PSOMIADIS David 1, 3
Pyroclastic deposits from the Thera volcano (Greece) and its hazards for
the surrounding islands
1 Department of Physical and Environmental Geography, School of Geology, Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki, 541 24, Thessaloniki, Greece
2 CNRS CEREGE UMR 6635, Europôle méditerranéen de l'Arbois BP 80, 13 545 Aix en Provence Cedex 04,
France
3 Stable Isotope Unit, Institute of Materials Science, NCSR Demokritos, 153 10, Agia Paraskevi, Greece
Presenting author: Theodoros Paraschou
E-mail: thodoris.parashou@gmail.com
Tel: +30 2286061286
There is a growing body of literature on the fact that many square meters areas around huge
volcanoes contain great amount of pyroclastic materials. Furthermore, the sequence of
pyroclastic sediments (lava fragments, pumice and ash) has been observed up to 60km away
from the island volcanoes and has travelled beyond the level of the sea as a pyroclastic flow
or pyroclastic surge. This study will seek to illustrate if and how the pyroclastic deposits that
occur around the nearest islands of the Thera volcano (Santorini Island) which is connected
with the 3.6 ka BP eruption, is related to the collapse of Mediterranean civilizations.
The island of Anafi which is nearest to Santorini Island (20km) has been the recipient of a big
amount of ash and pumice sediments. Studies illustrate that there are 10 different sites of ash
and pumice layers in Anafi which have thickness of less than 1 meter. Interestingly enough,
one of them represents thickness of more than 3 meters. On the other hand, pumice and ash
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