Collapse of the Old Kingdom as a multidisciplinary problem

Prague,  2.7 – 4.7. 2025

 

We kindly invite you to attend a seminar organised by the Czech Institute of Egyptology, Charles University, and Yale University. The seminar’s subject is the 4.2 ka BP collapse of the Egyptian Old Kingdom. We aim to analyze this problem from multiple archaeological, epigraphic, hydrological and paleoclimate perspectives. The conference will be primarily devoted to the following research areas:

 

1. Nile hydrology before, during, and at 4.2 ka BP event termination;

2. Quantification of paleoclimate proxy data from speleothem, lake sediment, and marine cores at and around 4.2 ka BP for Indian Summer Monsoon and mid-latitude westerlies alterations;

3. Radiocarbon coincidences of the 4.2 ka BP Indian Summer Monsoon proxy events and Old Kingdom collapse dates;

4. Economy, agricultural production and administration during the collapse and subsequent First Intermediate Period;

5. Role of Memphis and individual nomes preceding, during and following the collapse;

6. Societal and economic complexity reduction reflected in architecture, art, and the regionalization of craft production, trade systems and routes;

7. The political roles of the Seventh – Eighth Dynasties;

8. Evidence for political and military conflicts at the end of the Old Kingdom;

9. Density, role and administration of Delta settlement during the Sixth Dynasty and the First Intermediate Period;

10. Foreign relations at the end of the Old Kingdom and during the First Intermediate Period;

11. Modeling terminal Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period causal linkages between Nile flow agro-production and emerging political structures.

 

 

The conference will be held at the premises of the Charles University in Prague, Campus Hybernská (https://www.kampushybernska.cz ) from Wednesday, July 2 to Friday, July 4, 2025. The conference organisers are Prof. Miroslav Bárta of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, Charles University in Prague, and Prof. Harvey Weiss of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and School of the Environment, Yale University. The conference language will be English, with 50 minutes allotted for each paper (40-minute presentation and additional 10-minute discussion) and several open discussion sessions.

The seminar will also be available on Zoom and the link will be posted at a later stage.

Book of abstracts: Prague Yale abstracts final

 

For updates, please follow the web of the Czech Institute of Egyptology at https://cegu.ff.cuni.cz/en/

 

 

Miroslav Bárta and Harvey Weiss