The Aswan-Kom Ombo Archaeological Project - AKAP

The Aswan-Kom Ombo Archaeological Project AKAP, a joint venture between the University of Bologna and the Polish Academy of Sciences, has worked in selected areas north of the First Nile Cataract in Egypt since 2005. The main lines of research are geo-archaeological surveys, rescue excavations, and rock art studies. The consistent use of innovative digital technologies characterises fieldwork and post-fieldwork activities. Hundreds of archaeological sites, ranging from the Palaeolithic to Islamic times, have been documented thus far. Significant discoveries include an exceptional cycle of rock art representations dated to the end of the 4th millennium BCE and associated with the rising Egyptian kingship, the first case of scurvy in Egypt dated to the Predynastic period, and one of the world’s oldest attestations of rheumatoid arthritis identified on the skeleton of a woman from the second millennium BCE. AKAP works with the Egyptian authorities to monitor and protect sites, popularise archaeological science, and engage the local communities. This paper introduces AKAP’s most recent investigations.