Johanna Sigl Trägerin eines Dissertationspreises der LMU München 2015

The work with the title "Die Tierfunde von Syene/Aswan" (The animal finds of Syene/Aswan) had been realized within the PhD program of the ArcheoBioCenter of LMU Munich (Prof. Dr. Dr. Joris Peters) and supported financially by a scholarship of the Elitenetzwerk Bayern. It was graded summa cum laude after its defence in July 2014 at the Institute for Egyptology and Coptology of LMU Munich (Prof. em. Dr. Dieter Kessler).

The interdisciplinary Egyptological and archaeozoological study focusses on animal remains from the excavations of the Swiss Institute for Architectural and Archaeological Research in Egyptian Cairo in the ancient town of Syene (modern Aswan). It provides for the first time an historical overview for the development of the town from the Pharaonic Period until the Islamic Middle Ages derived from archaeological sources and published works on the history of Egypt. The macroscopic analysis of the animal remains allowed insight in the changes of hunting, breeding and diet habits of the multicultural inhabitants of an Egyptian town, which was under ongoing reorganization from the Late Period though the Greco-Roman times until the rise of Christianity and in the end Muslim religion in the 1^st millennium A.D. These changes can be followed especially at the example of the domestic pig as a source for meaty dishes as well as the alteration of fish preferences, which might be the result of a modification in the fishing strategies in the area of the first Nile cataract.  

This research paper will be the basis of future studies of animal remains from the area of Aswan and is the first step for closing the archaeological research gap existing between the Pharaonic Period and recent times in Egypt. The extensive publication is planned for 2016.