Chronological modeling of Egyptian Old Kingdom – MERYT

MERYT project aims to build an accurate, complex and multi-technical absolute chronological model for the Egyptian Old Kingdom (~3000-2400 BCE), through an integrated approach bringing together all the analytical criteria of Egyptology, Archaeology and Archaeometry. As part of an interdisciplinary approach to integrative archaeology, it addresses two major issues:
1) To develop a definitive chronological framework of the Egyptian Old Kingdom, reign by reign, by building a statistical model reconciling Egyptological and analytical data;
2) To adapt the 14C IntCal calibration curve considering the specific environmental conditions in Egypt in order to make the 14C dating method more competitive for this geographical area.
Supported by the Ifao archaeometry department and a consortium of Egyptologists, archaeologists, archaeometers, curators, physicists and statisticians, this project involves seven research units (Ifao, Orient&Méditerranée, Monaris, APC, LAPTH, MNHN, LMC14) and is divided into four investigation axes.
Historical: for each of the ca. 30 reigns, we will re-evaluate all available chronometric evidence from archaeological, historical and textual sources in order to identify all the reign certificates and assess their reliability. Confronted with recent archaeological fieldwork, these data will make it possible to establish different possible relative chronological schemes.
Archaeometrical: a database of more than hundred 14C dates will be compiled on samples from archaeological sites currently excavated and collected in a closed context. These analyses will be carried out in the only operating dating laboratory in Egypt, for which the project leader is responsible. Beyond "dating", the challenge will also be to ensure that the analyzed sample is consistent with the associated archaeological event. To do this, we will above all focus on sampling "good" specimens and clearly identifying the associated archaeological context. 14C dating will be the main analytical technique involved in the project, but all archaeometrical fields will be mobilized.
Methodological: a major challenge will be to check the applicability of the 14C IntCal13 calibration curve to Egypt and, if necessary, to determine regional offsets. Possible observed discrepancies to IntCal could indeed be explained by seasonal variations in the 14CO2 content in the atmosphere, linked to the particular environmental conditions caused by the annual flooding of the Nile before the construction of the High Dam. To identify these possible offsets, we will first assess the residual 14C ratio of botanical specimens conserved in the MNHN Herbarium, collected during the French military expedition in Egypt in 1798-1801, whose year and location of harvest are documented. We will extend this study to Graeco-Roman and Arabic papyri whose year of writing is mentioned in the text, in order to estimate whether the differences observed in the 19th century were constant over time.
Statistics: all the heterogeneous constraints (relative and absolute) deduced from the three previous axes will finally be combined in a strong chronological model based on a solid statistical formalism. Entirely produced by the MERYT consortium, this final model will simulate ages densities and precise estimates of their uncertainties for each reign of the Old Kingdom.

MERYT will set the first absolute holistic chronology of the Egyptian Old Kingdom, reaching a consensus between Egyptologists and archaeometrists. Its impact will go far beyond Egyptology but will also, in the long term, affect our chronological knowledge of eastern Mediterranean civilizations of the 3rd millennium, largely based on Egyptian chronology, strongly highlighting the contribution of analytical and modelling approaches to archaeological research.