Gregory Mumford

University of Alabama at Birmingham, Anthropology, Faculty Member

University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa, Anthropology, Adjunct

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BRIEF BIOGRAPHY: Although I was born in Canada (1965), I grew up in Nairobi, Kenya (1965-1976), Niagara Falls, Canada (1976-77), and Pretoria, South Africa (1977-1980), during which I accompanied my parents on frequent trips to archaeological sites, museums, and public lectures in these and other countries (e.g., Ethiopia; Tanzania; Uganda). Upon returning to Canada I completed my schooling in Vancouver (1980-1983), and then went to the University of Toronto where I pursued a long-held childhood dream to become both an archaeologist and an Egyptologist. During my studies I expanded my interests to study both Ancient Egypt and its neighbors (including Nubia, the Aegean, Anatolia, Syria-Palestine, and Mesopotamia) and began focusing upon international relations between these regions from Prehistory through the Pharaonic period (5,000-332 BCE). My other academic and related interests include architecture/drafting and the medieval period (particularly the Vikings), two career options that I considered seriously, but have maintained mainly as side interests (e.g., I incorporate them into some courses and archaeological projects), plus World War II (e.g., biographies; battles; technology; etc.), the Inca, Maya, Zimbabwe culture (including the Swahili coast), Khmer Empire (Cambodia), and many other things. I have participated in a broad range of archaeological excavations and surveys from 1985 to the present, including in British Columbia (Canada), Newfoundland (Canada), Alabama (U.S.A.), and multiple sites and regions throughout Egypt: I direct projects at Tell Tebilla (NE Delta) and Markha Plain (SW Sinai) in Egypt; I have participated variously in prehistoric through Roman-Coptic period projects at East Karnak (Luxor), Tomb of Merenptah (Valley of the Kings), Amarna and its vicinity (Middle Egypt), Dakhleh Oasis (Western Desert), Mendes (NE Delta), Tell Kedwa/Qedwa (NW Sinai), and Tell Borg (NW Sinai). I have taught a number of courses at Wilfrid Laurier University (1995), UCLA (1999-2000), the University of Toronto (periodic teaching from 1999-2005), and the University of Wales Swansea (2005-2006), and am now based --as an associate professor-- at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (2006/7-present). I also work frequently with my spouse, Dr. S. Parcak, on several joint projects, including co-directing a few archaeological projects (e.g., Point Rosee, NL), and assisting on others (e.g., el-Lisht, Egypt [i.e., as a co-director/field director with lead directors: S. Parcak and M. Youssef; A. Okasha]), and assisting in a photogrammetry and documentation project regarding a colossal statue of Amenhotep III at Karnak (2022+).
Address: 1402, 10th Avenue South.,
Room 3160, University Hall,
Department of Anthropology,
College of Arts and Science (CAS),
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB),
Birmingham, AL 35294-1241, USA

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FORTHCOMING (Pending/Submitted works): by Gregory Mumford

FORTHCOMING: “Middle Kingdom: Government, Economics, and Trade" (G. Mumford), pp. xx-xx in Susan Hollis (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Egypt and the Hebrew Bible (6,000-8,000 words; for submission 15 June, 2018)

Susan Hollis (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Egypt and the Hebrew Bible. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

“Middle Kingdom: Government, Economics, and Trade,” pp. xx-xx in Susan Hollis (ed.), The Oxford H... more

Submitted: Working title: "Middle Kingdom: Egypt and the Levant," (by G. Mumford) pp. xx-xx in Susan Hollis (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Egypt and the Hebrew Bible (8,000+ words; submitted February 2024; pending 2025).

The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Egypt and the Hebrew Bible (tentative title)

FORTHCOMING BOOK: Working title: Egypt’s Trade with the Red Sea and Neighbouring Regions: including both Egyptian and Levantine roles in the transmission of “Red Sea” products to the Near East and Mediterranean Area (by G. Mumford; [near completion]; pending Nov./Dec. submission)

IN-PROGRESS BACKGROUND: Relatively few details are known regarding the emergence and development ... more IN-PROGRESS BACKGROUND: Relatively few details are known regarding the emergence and development of commercial and other relations between Egypt, Subsaharan Africa, the Red Sea, and Southwest Arabia. Unfortunately, the details become murkier the further back in time one goes. In very broad and simple terms, one might propose that economics and politics have often gone hand-in-hand in creating an impetus behind commercial and other relations between separate polities, not to mention the added input and needs of different rulers, their personalities, subjects, territories, and relations with other peoples and nations. This can be illustrated via the much better documented complexities during the more recent “Age of Discovery,” which incuded a search for sea routes to the East in order to obtain spices, silk, and other costly products without requiring the payment of high tarrifs to middlemen. If one heads further back in time, the Nabataeans represent another well-known example, forging an exceedingly wealthy nation in the semi-arid regions of southern Transjordan via implementing a careful water management system and dominating the spice trade with Southwest Arabia. Although the Roman Empire failed in an attempt to gain direct control of this region (Arabia Felix), its merchants voyaged widely to the Red Sea, East Africa, and India. This extensive Roman period commerce with the East grew out of the preceding Hellenistic era. Several centuries earlier, Alexander the Great defeated and took over the Persian Empire for various personal, political, and economic reasons, ushering in an expansion of Hellenism throughout the Near East and direct access to eastern products, including aromatics from Subsaharan Africa, Arabia, and India. However, earlier archaeological and textual-pictorial sources suggest that Alexander’s brief-lived empire represents a continued expansion and outgrowth of the successively increasing, first millennium BC, Near Eastern imperialism; this included the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian empires, each of which incorporated a focus on controlling the Negev and Arabia to obtain the aromatics and other products of Arabia. One might step back yet again to less secure footing to the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel, Judah, and Edom, which seem to have wrestled occasionally with one another, and sometimes with Egypt (e.g., Biblical Shishak/Sheshonq I; Necho II), in order to control access to the Red Sea trade amongst other objectives. This study extends further back in time, beginning with Predynastic Egypt, in an attempt to guage Egypt’s intial and changing roles in the Red Sea trade in relation to Subsaharan Africa, Arabia, and its Near Eastern and East Mediterranean neighbours during the pharaonic period. In each of these quite different time periods, the Red Sea trade plays a significant, albeit fluctuating, role, in conjunction with many other complex factors, in the changing policies and objectives of Ancient Egypt’s rulers.

FORTHCOMING: Working title: "Assessing the development and placement of Early Dynastic through early Old Kingdom tombs at North Saqqara, using staellite remote sensing and other data" (by S. Parcak, G. Mumford, and C. Childs; in-progress; for submission in summer 2015)

FORTHCOMING: Working title: "Revealing and assessing the settlement area at Tanis using satellite remote sensing" (by S. Parcak and G. Mumford; in-progress [near completion]; pending May submission)

by Gregory Mumford and Sarah Parcak

FORTHCOMING: Working title: "The application of satellite remote sensing in detecting and clarifying selected subsurface architecture from the Early Dynastic through Late Period at North Saqqara" (by S. Parcak, C. Childs, and G. Mumford; in-progress [near completion]; pending May submisison)

by Gregory Mumford and Sarah Parcak

DRAFT: "Digital Environmental Archaeology: Satellite and aerial remote sensing applications and their potential in African archaeology," pp. xx-xx (chp. 14) in Xinyuan Wang et. al. ,(eds.), Manual of Digital Earth (article by S. Parcak and G. Mumford; approx. 6,500 words; submitted)

Manual of Digital Earth

ABSTRACT (in-progress): The African continent encompasses a vast area of approximately 30,420,000... more ABSTRACT (in-progress): The African continent encompasses a vast area of approximately 30,420,000 square kilometres and great diversity in geology, topography, hydrology, soils, flora, fauna, climate, cultures, and history, with many and varied changes in these individual categories over time. In addition, the archaeological study of Africa is equally varied, ranging from intensely studied individual regions and time periods (e.g., Olduvai Gorge [Tanzania]; pharaonic through Ptolemaic-Roman period Egypt) to moderately through relatively little or more recently investigated regions (e.g., pre-Aksumite Ethiopia versus the prehistory of Nigeria and West Africa in general); past cultures also varied greatly, from past peoples, who left few easily visible remains (e.g., early hominids; ancient hunter-gatherers), to past-recent people dwelling within obscured landscapes (e.g., Mubuti pygmies in dense forests), and other past societies with more visible, albeit often sub-surface or buried remains (e.g., Aksumite, Zimbabwe, and other cultures). In the face of rapidly growing populations, widespread urban and rural development, looting, and other factors, which vary from region to region in Africa, archaeologists and archaeology face a multitude of problems and challenges in re-dressing the many gaps in our knowledge regarding different parts of Africa, and its early hominid remains through many past cultures. One tool that offers a partial but invaluable cost-effective and time saving aid in detecting little known and previously unknown surface and sub-surface sites is satellite remote sensing, LiDAR, and other aerial-based surveys. This paper highlights the successful application of various aerial and space-based remote sensing techniques in several parts of Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa, including Egypt, Tunisia, and Kenya, and proposes potential promising approaches in other selected regions of Africa. UPDATE: I have no idea what has happened to this submission (from several years ago). The manuscript and volume do not appear to have materialized, unless it was translated into and published in another language ? ADDED NOTE (July 2020): We have not heard back from the editors of this volume, and are uncertain as to the fate of this (preliminary) contribution, while some of its content may be outdated as time passes and my/our/other views and research advance and change. In any case, we will leave this draft posted for any/all interested researchers and/or input, suggestions, etc.

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PAPERS (articles & book chapters) by Gregory Mumford

"Concerning the identity of Niankhnisut, his re-discovered tomb chapel, the affiliated decorative program, and other thoughts" (G. Mumford; published March 2021 [20,922 words])

Essays on Identity and Self-Presentation in Ancient Egypt in Honor of Ronald J. Leprohon. Material and Visual Culture of Ancient Egypt series. Atlanta: Lockwood Press., 2021

ABSTRACT: This paper aspires to furnish a useful aid for individuals interested in assessing the... more ABSTRACT: This paper aspires to furnish a useful aid for individuals interested in assessing the widely dispersed materials from Niankhnisut’s late Old Kingdom tomb chapel at Saqqara, focusing initially upon the Worcester Art Museum’s marsh scene and later graffiti, but expanding into an overview of what is known and postulated currently concerning Niankhnisut: The paper furnishes discussion about the identity and significance of Niankhnisut, his tomb chapel, its initial placement, its decoration, and some identifications of officials in the WAM relief. It has also attempted to assess how much of the tomb chapel is known; it points out a more recently acquired relief from Niankhnisut’s tomb; it suggests a Late period date for the graffiti in the WAM marsh scene; and it offers some re-contextualizing of ex-situ blocks in the re-discovered tomb –in particular the large marsh scene from the Worcester Art Museum. However, much more excavation, publication, and research are required to understand this tomb, its owner, the affiliated family, officials, and personnel, and their broader context more fully: Most of this awaits the input of the current through future excavation team(s) and other scholars. PLEASE NOTE: The chapter is now published (March 2021), but cannot be posted publicly for 18+ months.

Gregory Mumford, “Concerning the identity of Niankhnisut, his re-discovered tomb chapel, the affiliated decorative program, and other thoughts,” pp. 213-48 in Geisen, Christina, Li, Jean, and Shubert, Steven B. (eds.), Essays on Identity and Self-Presentation in Ancient Egypt in Honor of Ronald J. Leprohon. Material and Visual Culture of Ancient Egypt series. Atlanta: Lockwood Press. Pending Spring 2021.

DRAFT: "Egypt and Nubia As Trade Partners and Military Adversaries. (Gregory Mumford), online in World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO. (4,903 words); First posted July, 2019.

World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras, 2019

SUMMARY (Draft): The geographical proximity of Egypt and Nubia via the Nile and adjacent deserts ... more SUMMARY (Draft): The geographical proximity of Egypt and Nubia via the Nile and adjacent deserts have encouraged long-term, diverse and fluctuating interactions, including trade, diplomacy, military alliances, transitory migrants, defensive measures, conflict, punitive raids, imperialism, and cultural influences across both sides of the First Cataract region (see Torok 2009). Nubia offered attractive resources such as diverse metals, minerals, semi-precious stones, flora, fauna, and human resources, plus a conduit to sub-Saharan Africa and its varied products. In turn, Egypt contained a broad range of finished products and materials, access to East Mediterranean and Near Eastern goods, cultural and religious inspirations, employment and settlement opportunities, and sometimes a ready sphere for political expansion. This paper emphasizes that while certain geographic factors and resources enabled Egypt to dominate politically and economically more frequently over Nubia, other circumstances occur that permitted both Egypt and Nubia to deviate from this “norm” and pursue more peaceful interactions, often during times of relative weakness (for varying, differing and complex reasons), while other periods (e.g., exhibiting a sufficient imbalance in prosperity, strength and the means and opportunity to bypass more peaceful trade, intermediaries and tariffs) may have encouraged the imposition of more direct intervention. NOTE: Approved, Dec. 2018; peer-reviewed online publication (initially posted in July 2019):
See https://products.abc-clio.com/abc-cliocorporate/product.aspx?pc=AWHSW
World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras, by David Tipton, Lee Eysturlid, Rob Kiely, and Peter Stearns (Editors).

Citation Styles (dated according to online access date: e.g., 2023):

APA
Mumford, G. D. (2023). Egypt and Nubia as Trade Partners and Military Adversaries. World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. Retrieved January 9, 2023, from https://ancienthistory2.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/2082673

Chicago
Mumford, Gregory Duncan. "Egypt and Nubia As Trade Partners and Military Adversaries." In World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras, ABC-CLIO, 2023. Accessed January 9, 2023. https://ancienthistory2.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/2082673.

MLA
Mumford, Gregory Duncan. "Egypt and Nubia As Trade Partners and Military Adversaries." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras, ABC-CLIO, 2023, ancienthistory2.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/2082673. Accessed 9 Jan. 2023.

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Published: “The Late Bronze Age Collapse and the Sea Peoples' Migrations” (by G. Mumford) pp. 260-71 (chp. 33) in J. S Greer, J. W. Hilber and J. H. Walton (eds.), Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament: Historical, Cultural, and Social Contexts of Ancient Israel

SUMMARY (2018 pre-publication draft): The study of the Late Bronze Age collapse and the Sea Peopl... more SUMMARY (2018 pre-publication draft): The study of the Late Bronze Age collapse and the Sea Peoples’ migrations is exceedingly complex and contentious regarding diverse and often contradictory evidence and interpretations. Its scope spans multiple regions in the East Mediterranean, Egypt, and Near East; it covers several centuries straddling the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 BCE) to Iron Age (1200–586 BCE); it entails diverse disciplines and specialists, including the archaeology, art, languages, and history of the Aegean, Western Anatolia, the Hittites, Cyprus, Syria-Palestine, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Libya, and elsewhere. The topic also incorporates a continuous influx of new data and re-assessments. The textual-pictorial account from Ramesses III’s memorial temple at Medinet Habu has long dominated more popular and simplified perceptions and misconceptions regarding a “single” event ca. 1200 BCE (elsewhere 1190/1177 BCE): This pivotal event is applied to mark the “collapse” of Late Bronze Age empires, kingdoms, city states, and their affiliated cultures throughout the East Mediterranean and Near East, followed by their integration and/or partial replacement during the early Iron Age with hybrid populations, societies, material culture, and polities. In contrast, the extant and emerging patchwork of evidence suggests that the foundation of a new geo-political and socio-cultural landscape of the biblical Philistines, Israelites, and their neighbors reflects far more complex, multi-faceted, obscure, and long-term factors. Such data also imply a continuity and merging of the Canaanites and other indigenous cultures with various Sea Peoples (e.g., Philistines), the Israelites, and other peoples and influences (Bachhuber 2013). SEE PUBLICATION (BSOT) FOR FINAL FALL 2018 VERSION AND ILLUSTRATIONS ...

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"Pathways to Distant Kingdoms: Land Connections" (by G. Mumford), Pages 35-57 in P. P. Creasman and R. Wilkinson (eds.), Pharaoh's Land and Beyond: Ancient Egypt and it Neighbors (published 2017; 9,694 words); Pdf of full draft copy with endnotes (available upon request).

Pharaoh's Land and Beyond: Ancient Egypt and it Neighbors (edited by Pearce Paul Creassman and Richard Wilkinson), 2017

ABSTRACT (Introductory paragraph): Despite Egypt’s frequent exploitation of the Nile, its diverse... more ABSTRACT (Introductory paragraph): Despite Egypt’s frequent exploitation of the Nile, its diverse other waterways (e.g., lakes; ponds; marshes), and the Red Sea and Mediterranean for local through long-distance interactions with the surrounding world, the Egyptians and other peoples actually used overland routes quite commonly and increasingly for passage between a broad network of near to distant regions, polities, and peoples, often combining riverine, maritime, and overland transport (e.g., portaging boats around impassable stretches in the Nile; ferrying personnel across rivers, lakes, and sea). Although the nature, scope, routes and carriers of overland interactions changed over time, from prehistory to the pharaonic period (and later), these local through long-distance ventures included such objectives as obtaining and redistributing non-indigenous raw materials and products, mining metals and minerals, quarrying stone, prospecting for new resources, scouting and securing key areas and regions (e.g., desert patrols), maintaining communications (e.g., keeping in touch with remote garrisons, desert patrols and expeditions), diplomacy (e.g., dispatching regular messengers and special emissaries; escorting foreign dignitaries, princesses, and their entourages to Egypt), trade, transitory military activities (e.g., small-scale raids; campaigns), and long-term settlement and colonization (i.e., imperialism in Nubia, the Levant, and western oases). The means employed for travelling overland also varied widely according to the specific locality, distance, time period, and their varying requirements, including foot traffic, transportation in litters, chariots, and other vehicles, riding donkeys, horses, and (later) camels, and utilizing porters, pack animals, and ox-drawn sleds, carts, and wagons for carrying heavy loads. The types of overland routes, terrain, and cultural landscapes varied greatly too, ranging from deserts to savannah lands, marshes, forests, cultivated lands, and plains and mountains, encompassing infrequent to well-travelled ways, natural and prepared roadways, and traversing routes with minimal natural amenities (e.g., springs; oases) to better-appointed trails containing artificial wells, way stations, forts, villages, towns, and cities. This paper examines Ancient Egypt’s land connections and relations with Nubia and sub-Saharan Africa, the Western Desert, Eastern Desert, Sinai, Arabia, and Near East, providing a synthesis on the diverse land routes, travel, travelers, objectives, interactions, and commodities exchanged between Egypt and its neighbors, and addresses some changes in such interactions between these regions during the predynastic through pharaonic periods.

PLEASE NOTE: The more extensive pre-publication, draft copy (20,616 words including bibliography and captions) contained 268 footnotes and many more sources, but needed to be cut/reduced greatly for the publication copy (i.e., now just under 10,000 words), but the fuller version can be made available upon direct request to the author for a pdf copy. The text for publication of this chapter/article has now been peer-reviewed and modified for publication, with all changes also being added to the original, longer text (which can be sent to anyone wishing to see/use the in-text endnotes (also containing more discussion and data) and the more complete bibliography. An even longer version of this work is being completed as a separate book/two-volume publication (285,000+ words).

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"Satellite evidence of archaeological site looting in Egypt: 2002-2013" (by S. Parcak, D. Gathings, C. Childs, G. Mumford, and E. Cline) Antiquity vol. 90 (issue 349): 185-205 (published online Feb. 16 2016; 6,400 words; cannot post or send pdf yet)

by Gregory Mumford, Eric H Cline, David Gathings, and Sarah Parcak

Antiquity, Feb 2016

ABSTRACT: Analysis of satellite imagery covering Egypt between 2002 and 2013 indicates a signific... more ABSTRACT: Analysis of satellite imagery covering Egypt between 2002 and 2013 indicates a significant increase in looting and other damage to archaeological sites. Looting escalated dramatically from 2009 with the onset of the global economic crisis, and intensified still further with the Arab Spring in 2011. This was mirrored by an increased volume of Egyptian artefacts sold at auction, suggesting that looting is driven by external demand as well as by internal economic pressures. Satellite analysis can be used to predict the type and period of antiquities entering the market, thereby providing valuable intelligence for international policing of the illicit antiquities trade.

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DRAFT: "Remote sensing in the Valley of the Kings and its hinterlands" pp. 497-516 (chp. 33) in R. H. Wilkinson & K. R. Weeks (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Valley of the Kings (2015/16) (by S. Parcak & G. Mumford; 9,578 words; pdf upon request)

Pages 497-516 (chp. 33) in R. H. Wilkinson and K. R. Weeks (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Valley of the Kings. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

ABSTRACT: The Valley of the Kings contains many royal and private burials from the New Kingdom, w... more ABSTRACT: The Valley of the Kings contains many royal and private burials from the New Kingdom, with continuing discoveries of new tombs, caches, huts, walling systems, and other features. This necropolis is inextricably linked to a broader ritual and secular landscape in West Thebes, from which we have a patchwork of earlier and later occupation, desert routes, other royal tombs, memorial and cult temples, processional routes, palaces and villas, harbor basins and waterways, private cemeteries, and a main town and a workmen’s village serving the production, maintenance, and security of both royal and private tombs. Remote sensing includes diverse space-, aerial-, and ground-based technologies (e.g., WorldView; ASTER; LiDAR; Thermography; GPR; Electrical Resistivity), which are improving continuously and offer a cost-effective and efficient means of detecting surface, sub-surface, and buried sites, structures, and features in this region. This remote sensing study has located a huge, sub-surface structure at Qurnet Murai that is suggestive of a Coptic monastic complex, and hut clusters elsewhere. UPDATE: This penultimate draft copy excludes the latest minor additions, including a brief statement confirming the presence of visible surface/subsurface architecture at Qurnet Murai, which was observed during the authors' brief trip to Deir el-Medineh in late December 2014. Published in late December 2015 / early January 2016.

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DRAFT: "The Amman Airport structure: a re-assessment of its date-range, function and overall role in the Levant" pp. 89-198 in Harrison, Banning & Klassen (eds.), Walls of the Prince: Egyptian Interactions with Southwest Asia in Antiquity (2015; 30,000+ words; pdf upon request)

Pages (89–198) in Timothy P. Harrison, Edward Banning, and Stanley Klassen (eds.). Walls of the Prince: Egyptian Interactions with Southwest Asia in Antiquity. Essays in Honour of John S. Holladay, Jr. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East. Leiden: E. J. Brill., Nov 2015

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: This work is offered in honour of my Ph.D. supervisor, mentor, and colleagu... more INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: This work is offered in honour of my Ph.D. supervisor, mentor, and colleague John S. Holladay, Jr., who encouraged me to re-examine the Amman Airport structure and provided invaluable advice during my initial examination of it in the mid-1990s. Following the completion of my doctorate in fall 1998 (Mumford 1998), more recent articles, scholarly input and other considerations have augmented this study into the form presented here (see also Mumford in press).

Our conceptions regarding the date-range, function and overall role of the Amman Airport structure within the Levant and East Mediterranean in general have evolved since its accidental discovery and salvage work in 1955 (Harding 1958: 10; Hennessy 1966a: 155–62). Further excavations took place within and beside it in 1966 (Hennessy 1985) and 1976 (Herr 1983a), while significant portions of its material culture assemblage, surviving in records and the Amman Museum collections, have been published over the past few decades (Hankey 1974a; idem 1974b; idem 1995; Hennessy 1985; Ward 1964). Although the building contains artefacts spanning the Early through Late Bronze Ages, the bulk of the published material places it firmly in the Late Bronze Age, particularly LB 2B (ca. 1300–1200 BC). The site’s function has received less universal acceptance, having been posited as a tribal league centre serving a semi-nomadic population (Campbell and Wright 1969: 104–116), a fire temple (Wright 1966: 351–7), a temple for human sacrifice (Hennessy 1966a: 161; idem 1985), a Hittite mortuary complex with cremation burials (Herr 1983b: 225, 228; idem 1997a: 103), a cultic installation/temple (Harding 1958: 12; Gonen 1992: 229; Hankey 1995: 171), a military watchtower, or “magdalu” (Fritz 1971: 140–52; Burke 2007: 46–7), a “governor’s residency” associated with trade (Mazar 1990: 257), or a somewhat more complex fortified trading post and elite centre (Holladay 2001: 163–7). Published November, 2015.

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"The Sinai Peninsula and its environs: our changing perceptions of a pivotal land bridge between Egypt, the Levant, and Arabia" JAEI 7.1 (March 2015): 1-24 (by G. Mumford; 14,738 words) publication pdf

The Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 7.1 (March 2015): 1-24., Mar 11, 2015

ABSTRACT: The Sinai Peninsula has provided a continuous land bridge connecting northeast Africa a... more ABSTRACT: The Sinai Peninsula has provided a continuous land bridge connecting northeast Africa and Asia, and particularly Ancient Egypt with the Levant. This paper focuses mainly upon past through recent explorations of Ancient Egypt’s Prehistoric through pharaonic interactions with the Sinai and its environs, including the Negev, and in particular considers our changing perceptions of Egyptian contact and influence, and also examines Near Eastern, Arabian, and other cross-cultural relations with the Sinai. The nature of these cross-cultural relations fluctuates and changes, taking place in three main areas: the North Sinai transit route between Egypt’s East Delta and Southwest Levant, a Red Sea crossing to South Sinai to obtain turquoise, copper, and other materials, and a more complex, adjacent Negev route between the Red Sea and Southwest Levant, which variously accommodated Egyptians, Canaanites, and others mining copper in the southern Arabah and Faynan, obtaining Red Sea shells, and getting aromatics from Arabia. PUBLICATION PDF (i.e., 3 years after initial release date). See this issue of JAEI for other articles on Sinai.

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"Preliminary findings at a late Old Kingdom fort in South Sinai, including the pottery, from the 2008 season" JAEI 7.1 (March 2015): 52-82 (by G. Mumford and R. Hummel; 11,441 words) publication pdf

The Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 7.1 (March 2015): 52-82., Mar 11, 2015

ABSTRACT: The 2008 excavations at Ras Budran continued exposing the late Old Kingdom fort’s court... more ABSTRACT: The 2008 excavations at Ras Budran continued exposing the late Old Kingdom fort’s courtyard, finding baking installations, deep hollows filled by ash and sand, and parts of an underlying occupation layer that may reflect earlier activity at the fort (which needs further clarification). The exploration of a suggestive “chamber” in the eastern enclosure wall revealed it to be a modern disturbance. The project also concentrated on the western “bastion,” tracing it for 20 meters and finding evidence for salt encrustations and potential storm activity along the fort’s western side; one preliminary conclusion is that the sealing of the fort’s original entryway, and the subsequent abandonment and dismantling of the fort, may have been encouraged by a poor placement of the fort too close to the Red Sea and/or possibly increasingly harsher (winter) weather ca. 2300–2200 B.C. The study also contains Rexine Hummel’s analysis of the fort’s pottery fabrics, forms, and functions. PUBLICATION PDF (i.e., 3 years after initial release date). See this issue of JAEI for other articles on Sinai.

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"Explorations in el-Markha Plain, South Sinai: preliminary findings at Tell Markha (site 346) and elsewhere" JAEI 7.1 (March 2015): 91-115 (by G. Mumford; 10,280 words); publication pdf

The Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 7.1 (March 2015): 91-115, Mar 11, 2015

ABSTRACT: The 2002 University of Toronto and SCA (renamed MoA) expedition to el-Markha Plain, Sou... more ABSTRACT: The 2002 University of Toronto and SCA (renamed MoA) expedition to el-Markha Plain, South Sinai, mapped and excavated the eastern portion of a small, seasonal copper smelting site and anchorage (Rothenberg’s site 346), which W. F. Albright had discovered in 1948 and dated to the early New Kingdom. In 2002, this encampment yielded potsherds from Nile silt vessels (5%) and numerous pottery fragments (95%) from two types of “Sinaitic”/Red Sea fabrics, most of which date to the Middle Kingdom. The remaining artifacts represent copper lumps and slag, stone tools, fish bones, sea urchin spines, marine shells, and coral. The expedition also investigated an adjacent wadi bed and waterfall, and found isolated pottery scatters from Egyptian store jars at several places along the northwest edge of the plain. In addition, the team surveyed Rothenberg’s site 345 (Ras Budran), Seih Baba, the mouth of Wadi Sidri, and selected portions of el-Markha Plain to the south of Abu Rodeis. PUBLICATION PDF (i.e., 3 years after initial release date). See this issue of JAEI for other articles on Sinai.

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"Egypt and the Levant" pp. 69-89 in M. Steiner & A. E. Killebrew (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant c. 8000-332 BCE (2014; by G. Mumford; 11,199 words)

pp. 69-89 in M. Steiner and A. E. Killebrew (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant c. 8000–332 BCE. Oxford: Oxford University Press., 2014

INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH: Egypto-Levantine relations have varied from the Neolithic through Persian... more INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH: Egypto-Levantine relations have varied from the Neolithic through Persian periods, ranging from overland and maritime commerce, diplomatic missions, emigrants, imperial expansion, and alliances, while at other times Asiatics have traded, raided, pastured their flocks, infiltrated, taken refuge in, served as mercenaries, and sometimes controlled parts of Egypt. Although fluctuations occur in the intensity of contact, in general interactions have increased over time, with local adoptions and emulations of different aspects of each culture: language, literature, religion, art, and artifacts.

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"Field VIII Area 2 (2005)" (pp.147-60); "Fosse Y (Field V)" (pp.164-67); "Stratigraphy of Field V, Area 1, Unit A" (pp.210-16); and "II. Tell el-Borg pottery volumes" (pp.502-5): G. Mumford contributions to excavations at New Kingdom forts at Tell el-Borg, Sinai (vol.1 by J. Hoffmeier [ed.] 2014)

James K. Hoffmeier (ed.), Excavations in North Sinai, Tell el-Borg I: The "Dwelling of the Lion" on the Ways of Horus. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns., 2014

SUMMARY: (1). Field VIII Area 2 (2005) (pp. 147-60): summarizes this writer's findings (as a fie... more SUMMARY:
(1). Field VIII Area 2 (2005) (pp. 147-60): summarizes this writer's findings (as a field supervisor/excavator) at the western end of the southern stretch of a moat that formed a fortification area in mid/late Dynasty 18 (preceding an early Ramesside fort that overlay it further to the east). More details and context appear elsewhere within James Hoffmeier's publication on Tell el-Borg.

(2). Fosse Y (Field V)" (pp. 164-67): summarizing this writer's findings (as a field supervisor/excavator), in conjunction with preliminary work by Thomas Davis, in Fosse Y (Field V) of the mid/late Dynasty 18 fortification area and an overlying wall from the early Ramesside fortress (in Unit A, Field V). More details and context appear elsewhere within James Hoffmeier's publication on Tell el-Borg.

(3). Stratigraphy of Field V, Area 1, Unit A (pp. 210-16): summarizing this writer's work (as a field supervisor/excavator) in Unit A (Field V), in conjunction with Thomas Davis' initial work in this unit, regarding the exposure of part of an early Ramesside forts wall and the underlying, preceding layers, its foundation trench, the adjacent contemporary strata, and later layers and mud brick remains. More details and context appear elsewhere within James Hoffmeier's publication on Tell el-Borg.

(4). II. Tell el-Borg pottery volumes" (pp. 502-5): providing this writer's measurements and related data for the interior volumes and weights for 17 intact, and virtually intact, New Kingdom / Late Bronze Age pottery containers that include six Canaanite amphorae (nos. 1 and 4-6, 9-10), three Western Desert Oasis ware amphorae (nos. 2-3, 11), a zir-type vessel (no. 7), two Egyptian marl D amphorae (nos. 8, 12), two Beer jars (nos. 13-14), and three Nile silt jars (nos. 15-17). More details and context appear elsewhere within James Hoffmeier's publication on Tell el-Borg, and in R. Hummel and C. Duff's chapters on Egyptian and Canaanite pottery (including illustrations of the measured pottery vessels).

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"A Late Period riverine and maritime port town and cult center at Tell Tebilla (Ro-nefer)" JAEI 5.1 (March 2013): 38-67.

The Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections, volume 5 no. 1 (March 2013): 38–67., 2013

INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH (minus endnotes): During the Third Intermediate Period through Late Period... more INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH (minus endnotes): During the Third Intermediate Period through Late Period, and possibly as early as the New Kingdom, a settlement formed at Tell Tebilla, near the mouth of a now defunct channel of the Mendesian branch of the Nile and beside a probable coastal embayment in Egypt’s northeast delta (fig. 1). The coincidence of an outlet for a substantial Nile delta river branch, a natural protected coastal harbour, and the delta’s lush marshland vegetation, clarifies both Tebilla’s ancient name Ro-nefer (“beautiful mouth”) and the site’s initial foundation and prosperity as a riverine and maritime port for the inland provincial capital at Mendes (Tell Rub’a), 12 km to the south along the same river branch. The town apparently flourished in the Saite period (Dynasty 26); it may have been revitalized in Dynasty 29, when Mendes briefly became a national capital, and its coastal port at Ro-nefer (Tebilla) presumably rose in importance. Dynasty 30 marks a peak in the temple’s importance, with the construction of a new massive enclosure wall that may have been levelled during the Second Persian occupation in 342 B.C. Although a few Ptolemaic inscriptions elsewhere attest to the continued existence of a temple at Ro-nefer, there is virtually no surviving evidence from Tebilla for occupation during this time. By the early Roman period the coastal embayment became a closed lagoon (Lake Manzaleh), the Mendesian river soon dried up, and Tebilla became a land-locked and abandoned town beside emerging marshland (Daqhelieh Plain).

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