René Preys: the archaeologist who examines Egyptian menus

This article is taken from the "Impact" section of the June 2024 issue of Omalius magazine.

The next thing that interested me was Egyptian religion, mythology, temple life, architecture and decoration. Egyptology is very broad. Every student interested in Egypt can therefore find his or her "dada" in this choice of studies: texts, ceramics, statuary, art, temples, papyri.

For me, it's Egyptian religion and particularly temple religion that fascinates me: ritual life, how the temple functioned, what was done there. Egyptian temples also had an economic aspect, as they managed fields, orchards, bakeries and butcheries. Egyptian temples are over 3,000 years old!

O. How did you become interested in Egyptian diet?

R.P.: I'm involved in a research project funded by the prestigious FNRS EOS (Excellence Of Science) program. I'm working on it with several Belgian and international researchers. We're focusing on the Greco-Roman period in Egypt, since food remains were found during excavations in a Roman-era city. Preserved thanks to the dry, warm Egyptian climate, they are being sifted for their nutritional value. We often think that people in ancient times ate poorly. But this idea is based on the nutritional value we know today, comparing things that are not comparable. We don't prepare and preserve our food today as we did in ancient times. The consortium includes chemistry researchers who will, among other things, analyze the nutritional value of these food scraps.

In parallel, we also need to understand what the Egyptians ate and in what quantities. This is the aspect that will concern the UNamur researchers. We'll be analyzing hieroglyphic texts on temples and in tombs. We're going to establish the menu of the Egyptians! And we'll be able to compare the results with modern diets. In April, as part of the EOS project, we welcomed a number of renowned international researchers to a symposium devoted to the role of fish in ancient Egypt. Indeed, fish was not only used as food. It was also used as an offering to the gods, for example. Another surprising and little-known research topic on Egypt.

O. : So we still don't know everything about ancient Egypt?

R.P.: Indeed! Egypt is eternal, the buildings constructed thousands of years ago are still there. Egyptology, too, is eternal. New subjects of research appear regularly, new points of view that we analyze in relation to ancient texts, the results of ancient excavations can be analyzed with modern techniques, for example. Egyptology is 200 years old. It was born with the deciphering of hieroglyphics by Jean-François Champollion in 1823, but there are always new subjects to study: food, which is the subject of our EOS research project, or climate. We're trying to establish how climatic changes can explain events that have marked Egypt's history: changes in the Pharaonic Empires, for example, can be explained by economic crises linked to fluctuations in the Nile's behavior. The river's flooding was necessary for wheat production. Without flooding, there was no agricultural yield sufficient to feed the population.

O. : A new archaeology laboratory has been launched at UNamur, can you tell us more about it?

R.P.: This is LASA, the Laboratoire d'Archéologie et des Sciences de l'Art. It was recently created within the Department of Archaeology and Art Sciences. It is dedicated to the study of movable heritage. Our students are in direct contact with archaeological material. The department doesn't want to limit itself to ex cathedra courses, but places great emphasis on practical work in the field through internships and trips, and therefore also through this new laboratory. It includes wooden statuary, stained glass, ceramics, granite and limestone objects. We're very lucky to have specialists in a wide range of disciplines within the department: architecture, art, technology, materials and so on. Our students are exposed to all aspects of archaeology and the art sciences. The profession for which they are preparing is not one of sitting in one's corner, but of examining the subject of research from every angle. Our students really appreciate not being cooped up in their classrooms all the time.

Learn more about research in the Department of Archaeology and Art Sciences

O. : You recently became co-director of the Association égyptologique Reine Élisabeth. What's it all about?

R.P.: It's an association bringing together Belgian Egyptologists, founded nearly 100 years ago by Jean Capart.

This famous Belgian Egyptologist accompanied Queen Elisabeth, wife of King Albert 1st, on her visit to the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Jean Capart, the "father" of Belgian Egyptologists, did his early studies at the Facultés de Namur (today's UNamur). Egyptology studies didn't exist in Belgium a hundred years ago, so he went to study in Paris. On his return to Belgium, he created the very first chair in Egyptology. He was also curator of the Egyptological section of the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels. The Queen Elisabeth Egyptological Association has a scientific objective. Creating exchanges between researchers, publishing scientific articles, as well as an objective more focused on the general public: raising the profile of Egypt through exhibitions, conferences, etc.

O. : You combine teaching and research duties. Do you travel regularly to Egypt?

R.P.: Combining the role of teacher with the scientific aspect is obviously a challenge. But I manage to go to Egypt at least once a year, for a month at a time. I work on various archaeological sites. I'm researching three temples in particular: firstly, the great temple of the god Amun at Karnak. This is the largest and best-known temple in Egypt, managed by the Franco-Egyptian Centre for the Study of the Temples of Karnak. I'm also working with a Swiss and German team on the Greco-Roman temple of Kôm Ombo. Finally, the last site, and my personal favorite, is the temple of Denderah. It is dedicated to the goddess Hathor, goddess of love and fertility. She is also considered the mother of the solar god. For the ancient Egyptians, she therefore played a very important role in the continuation of the solar cycle. I completed my doctoral thesis on this temple and am now fortunate enough to be able to work on it in collaboration with the Institut français d'Archéologie orientale.

Sophie Arc