INTERNAL RESEARCH CENTRES Annual Progress Report Research Centre Name MQ Ancient Cultures Research Centre Grant Reference Number 9200800660 e.g. IRIS record # 9200712345 Reporting Period: October 2011 – October 2012 Centre Director: Professor Naguib Kanawati Contents 1. Research Program 1 2. Progress against objectives and KPIs 3 3. Proposed activities and KPIs for the next 12 months 5 4. Financial summary and Budget forecast 7 5. Membership of Centre 13 5.1 Centre Membership 5.2 Management Committee 5.3 Advisory Board 5.4 Brief activity report of the Advisory Board 6. Publications, Conference Presentations and Other Outputs 15 7. New Internal and external Grants or contracts 27 8. HDR students 30 9. Other comments on the effectiveness of the centre on promoting collaborative research 38 Appendix 1: Further Detail on Selected Projects and Research Teams 40 Appendix 2: Financial Statement of MQACRC Account as at 31/10/12 45 1. MQACRC RESEARCH PROGRAM October 2011 – October 2012 The MQACRC’s overall theme of examining cross-cultural interaction via close analysis of texts and artefacts is advanced through three research programs: CULTURAL IDENTITY, CULTURAL CONTACT, and ACCULTURATION. These act as collaborative foci for individual projects (titles in italics below), to facilitate collaborative work. Projects within these research programs represent the key focus areas of the Centre: Egypt (from the Predynastic to Coptic periods); the Greco-Roman world (from Classical to Late Antiquity); and China and the Silk Road (full titles, descriptions, and researcher details for selected projects may be found in Appendix 1). CULTURAL IDENTITY analyses the construction of cultural identity in ancient societies through the study of art, language and communication, and belief systems. Within this program, Dzino worked on his ARC APD project Ancient and Medieval Identity-shifts in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Romania, and Croatia (App. 1.5). Traviglia conducted archival research at the Universities of Venice, Trieste, the National Archives of Venice, Gorizia, and Udine for her MQRF project Beyond the city wall, as well as research at the National Museums of Terni, Orvieto, Perugia, Todi and other local collections related to the Australian Carsulae Archaeological Project. Chan initiated a new project on Cosmology in the Warring States Period, working with collaborators at the Baptist University of Hong Kong and Tsinghua University, Beijing during the first half of 2012 (App. 1.1). L. Evans continued work on her ARC APD project An Environmental History of Ancient Meir, spending three days in May 2012 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, researching material from Meir (App. 1.6). Nobbs and Choat continued work on the project Papyri from the Rise of Christianity in Egypt, while Beness and Hillard had three substantial articles accepted during 2012 arising from the Macquarie Dictionary of Roman Biography Project (App. 1.11). CULTURAL CONTACT analyses the character and impact of cultural contact in ancient societies, examining specific points and features of contact between the Centre’s key focus areas. Analysis of the main corpus of texts and secondary texts allowed Gillett to produce three publications and a conference paper for his project on Communication and Media in the Development of the Post- Roman/Early Medieval and Byzantine World (App. 1.9). In Aarhus, Denmark, Mikkelsen worked as an affiliated investigator on the international project Biblia Manichaica. He also worked on his and Lieu’s ARC-funded project China and the Ancient Mediterranean World, making good progress with preparing the digital versions of Chinese Manichaean texts. Lieu and Mikkelsen worked on this project with PI Prof. Nicholas Sims-Williams (SOAS, University of London) during the latter’s visit to MQ in November 2011 (App. 1.14, 15). The project also published its important final reports on the Manichaean and Nestorian sites in South China, especially at Quanzhou, during 2012 and began work on the Greek Anti-Manichaean writings of Serapion of Thmuis. With the assistance of colleagues from the Korfmann Institute and the Onsekiz Mart University (both at Çanakkale), Lieu conducted field survey work of the key-site of Sestos for the project Gallipoli before Gallipoli (App. 1.17). ACCULTURATION analyses processes of acculturation in ancient societies through the study of art, language and communication, and belief systems. Within this program Choat worked in Göttingen with PI Heike Behlmer on their project Communication Networks in Upper Egyptian Monastic Communities, convening two panels on the project at the International Association of Coptic Studies Congress in Rome, September 2012. In Ann Arbor, Vienna, and London Choat examined papyri for the ARC project Knowledge Transfer and Administrative Professionalism in a Pre- Typographic Society (App. 1.2). T. Evans and CI John Lee led work on the ARC project Words 1 from the Sand (App. 1.7), drafting entries and training the team of RAs. In September 2012 they convened a Contact Forum of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium in Brussels on the project, which attracted participants from Europe, Australia (including MQACRC HDRs) and the USA. Cromwell undertook research in Oxford, New York (Columbia University, Pierpont Morgan, MMA) and Ann Arbor (Kelsey Museum and University of Michigan Papyrology Collection) on papyri relevant to her MQRF project Scribal Control in Early Islamic Egypt (App. 1.4). Archeological fieldwork forms a major component of the MQACRC research program, with MQACRC teams working at sites in Egypt and Italy during late 2011 and 2012. In Egypt, Ockinga and Binder worked in Tomb 233 (App. 1.18) in Thebes in January–February 2012, photographing reliefs, translating texts in the broad hall and studying the pottery from the tomb’s Coptic (Late Antique) occupation phase with Thomas Beckh (Munich). Tristant conducted three field seasons between November 2011 and July 2012 at Helwan, in the Eastern Desert for the Wadi Araba survey and at Abu Rawash, where the oldest boat ever found in Egypt was uncovered. Ghica conducted field seasons in the Western and Eastern Deserts for his project Desert Monasticism in Byzantine Egypt (App. 1.8). N. Kanawati conducted fieldwork at Meir, recording Middle Kingdom tombs and excavating small tombs from the First Intermediate Period, and completed the recording of the tomb of Khnum-hotep II at Beni Hassan (App. 1.12-13). During October 2011, Traviglia worked at Terni, Italy for the Macquarie-based Australian Carsulae Archaeological Project (ACAP) and conducted three fieldwork seasons between November 2011 and July 2012 at Udine, Italy for her MQRF project Beyond the City Wall. Beness and Hillard continued their collaboration with the Australian Institute of Archaeology at Athens on the topographical study of ancient Torone (App. 1.10). The close study of physical artefacts from antiquity is a particular research focus of the MQACRC. Within the Centre’s strong focus on papyrology, Cromwell and Choat examined papyri in a number of Northern Hemisphere collections (see above, s.v. ACCULTURATION). The MQACRC also advanced its program of collaboration with the Sciences. Sheedy and Gore began a new ARC- funded project on Athenian coinage (A Spring of Silver, a Treasury in the Earth), conducting research in the Département des Monnaies, Médailles et Antiques in the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Athens Numismatic Museum, performing XRF analysis of over 180 silver coins minted in Siphnos, Northern Greece and Athens (App. 1.19). Traviglia, Gore, Karl Van Dyke & collaborators from UNSW and Italy continued work on the authentication of Roman glassware and have now measured ~70 pieces. Tristant initiated a new MQNS-funded interdisciplinary research partnership with Macquarie Medical Imaging to undertake scientific investigation of archaeologically-derived human remains from ancient Egypt using non-invasive diagnostic medical technologies, including ultra-high resolution CT scanning (App. 1.21). Infrastructure: During 2012, the Archaeological Fieldwork Laboratory was established within the Centre, housed in W6A 312 and providing a home for equipment such as a Terrestrial scanner, Total Station, and GPS systems, purchased with RIBG and MQSIS grants in 2010-2011. These have already been used in the field both by ACRC members (Traviglia, Gore) and researchers from other MQ departments (e.g. Environment and Geography). In partnership with Intersect and with Australian National Data Service funding (building on 2011 MQSIS funding), T. Evans and Choat worked during 2012 to create an online database for the Macquarie Papyri, which will be brought online in early 2013 (App. 1.3). The ACRC continued during 2012 to build strategic partnerships with other Australasian institutions, in particular the Centre for Early Christian Studies at the Australian Catholic University (see 9.iii). 2 2. PROGRESS AGAINST OBJECTIVES AND KPIS 2012 (For full KPIs, see Section 3) Key Performance Current Target Actual Obtained Comments Indicator 1. Publications (a) A1/B1/C1/E1 outputs 50 68 (raw count) 75 weighted DEST Proxy p.a. outputs; 17 other outputs, see 6a (b) All members research Full compliance Full compliance All members Research Active active as defined by MQ RO 2. Peer Recognition (a) Track citations Tracking of Citations tracked Via Google Scholar and self- citations counting (b) Invitations to present 5 11 6c(i), d(ii) keynote address etc (c) ERA Successful ERA 2012 Results performance not