Researcher of ERC project DiverseNile (2020-2022)

Main areas of research:

Kushite Egypt, Napatan and Meroitic periods of the Kingdom of Kush, Cultural Transfer betweenEgypt and Kush and vice versa, Cultural History of Nubia, Sacral/Festival Architectureand Religious Festivals in Kushite Thebes and Late Period Egypt

Education:

Since December 2008 Doctoral studies in Egyptology and Sudanarchaeology, Thesis title »25th Dynasty Kiosks and Entrance Colonnades in Egypt and Nubia, with a focus on Kushite Thebes« (First supervisor: Prof. Dr. Frank Kammerzell), Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

2006 Obtaining academic degree of M.A. Magister Artium (grade 1,0), Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

October 1999 – March 2006 Studies in Egyptology, Sudanarchaeology and Classical Archaeology, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

October 2003 – March 2004 Studies in Egyptology, Università degli Studi di Roma »La Sapienza«

Career History:

April 2020 to February 2022: Researcher of ERC project DiverseNile, LMU Munich

December 2017 – Nov. 2019: Research Associate (Prof. Dr. Julia Budka, Institute for Egyptology and Coptology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich)

July 2014 – December 2016: Project Member at the »Friedrich W. Hinkel Archive Digitization Project«, Friedrich W. Hinkel Research Centre, GermanArchaeological Institute, Headquarters, Berlin

May, November 2011 – January 2012: Research Associate at the Officeof the Secretary-General, Scientific Department, German Archaeological Institute, Headquarters,Berlin

June – December 2011: Research Associate at the GHS-Project »Totenkult im Tempelgrab – Zur Rekonstruktion funerärer Praktiken im spätzeitlichen Theben (Ägypten)« (Prof. Dr. Julia Budka), Austrian Academy of Sciences/Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

September 2006 – May 2011: Research Assistant at theOffice of the Secretary-General and the Edidorial Office, Scientific Department, German Archaeological Institute, Headquarters,Berlin

November 2010 – January 2011: Scholarship of the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) for Luxor/Egypt

Field Work:

January – February 2012: Sai Island/Sudan, Université Lille III/Austrian Academyof Sciences (Prof. Dr.Julia Budka)

October – November 2009, February – March 2008, October – November 2007: Luxor, Asasif/Egypt, Austrian Academy of Sciences/Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (Prof. Dr. Julia Budka)

February – March 2004, March 2003: Musawwarat es Sufra/Sudan, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (Prof. Dr. Steffen Wenig)

February 2003: Hamadab/Sudan, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin/University of Shendi Sudan)(Dr. Pawel Wolf)

Juny– July 2002: Innsbruck, Goldbühel /Austria, Leopold-Franzens-University Innsbruck (Prof.Dr. Gerhard Tomedi)

Neueste Beiträge

New publication on the contribution of archaeometric techniques to understanding landscape use and social practices in Bronze Age Sudan

Veröffentlicht am 25. Februar 2026 von Julia Budka

Antworten

I’m delighted to announce that a new publication is now available in open access. Me and my co-authors – Fabian Dellefant, Giulia D’Ercole, H. Albert Gilg, Rosemarie Klemm and Johannes H. Sterba – show how archaeometric techniques used as part of the DiverseNile Project can be used to investigate human-environment interactions in the Middle Nile during the Bronze Age.

We present case studies from our recent investigation of landscape properties in the MUAFS concession area in northern Sudan, the Attab to Ferka region, and associated material remains. We also included some materials from Sai Island, the main urban site of this region. Our article looks at different ways to combine archaeology and geology, like taking rock samples and studying the composition of sandstones (see also an earlier blog post by Fabian). It also shows how these methods can be used to understand past landscapes and mobility patterns. We’re looking at the material culture, especially ceramics, in a bunch of different ways using a bunch of different scientific methods. We’re combining compositional bulk analysis (INAA) with mineralogical (XRD) and petrographic data via optical microscopy (OM) to check out the physical properties, where the ceramics came from and how they were made (you may want to check out an earlier blog post by Giulia). We’re also using Raman spectroscopy to see what temperatures the ceramics were fired at.

This paper shows how new developments in landscape archaeology and the archaeometry of material culture are helping us to understand the big ecological and social changes that happened in the Bronze Age Middle Nile. We think this combined analytical approach, which we’ve used in the Attab to Ferka region as an example, can also be successfully used in other regions around the world.

Full reference of the new publication:

Julia Budka, Fabian Dellefant, Giulia D’Ercole, H. Albert Gilg, Rosemarie Klemm & Johannes H. Sterba, Investigating human-environment interactions in the Middle Nile: The contribution of archaeometric techniques to understanding landscape use and social practices in Bronze Age Sudan, Egypt and the Levant 35, 2025, 101−134, https://austriaca.at/0xc1aa5572_0x00412ff6.pdf

Munich University Attab to Ferka Survey Project

This is the blog of the MUAFS Project in Sudan

Hinterhuber Veronica

Neueste Beiträge

New publication on the contribution of archaeometric techniques to understanding landscape use and social practices in Bronze Age Sudan