The Desert Networks Project (ERC): mapping the physical, economic and social Networks of the Eastern Desert of Egypt

International audienceSince November 2017, the ERC-funded “Desert Networks” project has brought together an interdisciplinary team composed of archaeologists, historians, philologists and geomaticians, to explore the reticular organisation of the Eastern Desert of Egypt from the beginning of the New Kingdom (c. 1500 BC) to the end of the Roman period (c. 300 AD).The region is a hyper-arid desert, inhabited in antiquity by hostile animals and nomadic populations, but also richly provided with natural resources and acting as a conduit between the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and beyond. Thus, it has always been a tantalizing region for Egyptian people and powers.Adventurers and archaeologists have explored the area for almost 300 years. Its ancient remains are spectacularly well preserved and ancient sources about and from the Eastern Desert itself are numerous, including around 20 thousand inscribed potsherds (ostraka) used for daily correspondence. Yet despite recent progress, the history of its occupation and appropriation remains static and compartmentalized. The ambition of the “Desert Networks” project is to work in and on the Eastern Desert as a dynamic object, and to analyse the nature and evolution of the different networks (physical, economic and social) that linked its various component parts over time. In this presentation, we will outline the methodology and aims of the project, as well as some difficulties we faced, in particular due to the heterogeneity of our sources. We will also present the first results of our work, a social network analysis of the ostraka discovered in the Roman fort of Krokodilô that demonstrates the potential impact to such an approach to the Eastern Desert