Egypt’s encounter with the West: Race, Culture and Identity

The present study is an investigation into the processes involved in interpreting ethnic identity in the ancient world. Specifically, it focuses on the various “Libyan” groups currently found in Egyptological literature who are attested in ancient Egyptian sources from the dawn of Egyptian civilization. Set within the broader theoretical discussion of identifying social and cultural differentiation in the ancient world, this thesis will explore the manner in which the identity of “Libyan” groups has been interpreted by modern scholars; the way in which the ancient Egyptians interpreted the identity of these groups; and the degree to which self-expressed “Libyan” identity is still visible in the iconographic, epigraphic and archaeological records of ancient Egypt. Historically, this thesis will trace the interaction which the ancient Egyptians alone record between themselves and the various groups currently aggregated under the term “Libyan.” Through art, text and archaeology, this thesis will outline this interaction from the earliest appearance of these groups in Egyptian records in the Fourth Millennium BC, through the resettlement of some of these groups in Egypt during the Twelfth Century BC and continued references to these groups living in diaspora within Egypt during the first half of the First Millennium BC. Following a strict methodological approach which emphasizes chronology and context as key factors in understanding ancient ethnic groups, this thesis will explore how the projections of internal group identities evolve over time and the manner in which these identities have been observed by both ancient (Egyptian) and modern (Egyptological) outsiders

Information Technology and Wealth: Cybernetics, History and Economics

Capitalism developed where and when it did because there was high information access. There was high information access because of a major advance in information technology--the press. Where the technology was not controlled by the powers that be there was economic growth and a shift in the entire social structure. Where it was controlled there was no structural change and there was economic ruin. The development of capitalism is a major step change in economic growth. It is also a major change in the way people organize themselves into groups. Major step changes in the growth and in the organization of cultures are found to be related to the introduction and use of information technology. The limit to growth is the limit of effective use of information or the variety limit. Economies are able to grow once the variety limit is raised. Information technology allows people to increase their individual variety in relation to the amount of information processed. This increase in individual variety allows the entire society to grow. Where there is high access to information through technology there is much growth and where there is less information access, through control of technology there is less economic growth. When a high access economy is in competition for resources with a low access economy the high access economy will be more economically successful. A causal loop model is developed from a rich picture of the phenomena. The model is applied back to the press and forward to the telegraph and telephone and used to predict the impact of the current information revolution. One of the implications of information technology is that it allows people to model things better. This, in turn, implies that the perception of reality is dependent on the ability to model. Modeling a technology which is concerned with modeling therefore changes the perception of reality

Exchange, Destruction, and a Transitioning Society. Interregional Exchange in the Southern Levant from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron I

The end of the Late Bronze Age ca. 1200 BC in the Eastern Mediterranean is traditionally viewed as an end point. Great empires collapsed, prominent cities were destroyed, interregional exchange disappeared, and writing systems were all but lost in most of the Eastern Mediterranean. The goal of this volume is to examine one key aspect of the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron I in the Southern Levant, the development and changes in interregional exchange both over time and regionally. Twelve non-local types of material culture were collected into a database in order to track the development of interregional exchange over the course of the LBA to the Iron I. With this data, this volume explores what affect, if any, did changes in interregional exchange have on the ‘collapse’ of the LBA societies in the Southern Levant. Another key aspect of this work is an examination of the supposed wave of destruction which took the Southern Levant by storm to see if these events might have affected trade and contributed to the transitions during the end of the LBA into the Iron I. In all this work seeks to understand what changes took place in interregional exchange, how might destruction have affected this, and was this the cause for the transition to the Iron I

"A Tale of Two Weapons": Late Holocene Hunting Technology in North Central Texas

This research is an investigation of the Late Holocene technological transition from the spearthrower and dart to the bow and arrow in north central Texas. It is conducted through a theoretical approach that utilizes ethnographic research, experimental archaeology and the archaeological record to elucidate differences in the behaviors and hunting strategies of Late Archaic and Late Prehistoric groups. It first confirms that there was a transition. Second, a lithic analysis demonstrates that there are fundamental differences in the sizes of the stone dart and arrow points that relate to the propulsive requirements of the weapon systems. Third, it is shown these size differences constrain maintenance potentials and that indeed dart and arrow points exhibit stark differences in their life histories in spite of being employed for the same task. And finally, the faunal record suggests that this transition was associated with an increase in foraging efficiency