David Jeffreys: One of Our Cities is Missing!':
A lecture on Memphis given to EES 25.07.2011
On 25 June 2011 the EES hosted a day of lectures focussing on 'Egypt in the Age of the Pyramids'. Speakers included Drs Jaromir Krejci, Richard Bussman, Joanne Rowland and David Jeffreys. Dr Jeffreys, Director of the Society's Survey of Memphis, gave the final presentation of the day and took as his theme ''One of Our Cities is Missing!' Where was Memphis in the Old Kingdom'.
The work of the Survey of Memphis has focussed recently on the early development of the city in the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods. Geophysics, sediment coring and pilot excavation all seem to indicate a location in the Nile Valley east of the famous Saqqara mastaba field, but the shifting location of pyramid sites over time might also provide a clue. This talk tries to probe and analyse the distribution of pyramids, not only as individual funerary complexes but also as a reflection of the real capital settlement of Memphis. Can the pyramids themselves show us where the city was at that time?
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