On Friday 3rd November 2017 Giulio Lucarini took part in the 2nd roundtable on 'Lithic industries in ancient Egypt from the Neolithic and Dynastic periods', organised by Clara Jeuthe (German Archaeological Institute, Cairo) at the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale.
This meeting was a great opportunity to discuss, with several lithic specialists working along the Nile Valley, a range of scientific methods to be applied to the study of stone tool assemblages, e.g. petrographic and geochemical analysis for the study of raw material procurement areas, and use-wear/residue analysis.
Giulio gave a talk on 'Gluten-free food in North Africa 8000 years ago. New data from functional analysis of stone tools', in which he outlined the role of wild plant consumption in the Sahara and along the Mediterranean coast during the Holocene.
François Briois, Beatrix Midant-Reynes, Mohamed Hamdan, Clara Jeuthe, Elizabeth Hart, Samar Mahmoud and Giulio Lucarini presented their papers in the morning. In the afternoon, thanks to the invaluable support of Nadine Mounir, the speakers had the great chance to visit the IFAO lab where they could take a look through the microscope at some chert samples from the Egyptian Eastern Desert.
Giulio Lucarini giving his talk at the IFAO conference hall
The group at the IFAO Lab
Mohamed Hamdan and Giulio Lucarini
Coffee break at the IFAO
