Medamoud I: L'Histoire d'Une Fouille (1924-1940)

The French excavations at Medamud took place between 1924 and 1939 under the direction of F. Bisson de la Roque (1924-1932) and Cl. Robichon (1933-1939). They uncovered numerous monuments ranging in date from the 11th Dynasty to the Byzantine period. All of the documentation constitutes a rich but heterogeneous corpus. However, since the publication of the excavations was uneven, it has been necessary to recreate the process of discovery. In order to understand the context in which the architectural remains were found at the beginning of the 20th century, they were inventoried while verifying their dating and interpretation. Since the analysis of the exploration of a site that documents the archaeological discoveries also yields information about the intellectual, technical, and political context of the period in which it took place, this book also presents Medamud as a case study for understanding how an archaeological mission was organized, both practically and administratively, at the beginning of the 20th century. The present work is thus organized in two parts, first presenting a history of the exploration of the site, then an inventory of the structures discovered.