Matei Tichindelean: Biography

Matei Tichindelean is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology where he focuses on the (semi)nomadic peoples of northeast Africa and their interactions with the state and the settled populations along the Nile Valley. His dissertation tries to understand the lifeways and roles that nomads, on the edge of state-level societies, played in supra-regional economies. While archaeology is primarily a study of the past, Matei’s projects are rooted in the present and often deal with questions about the local communities’ needs and concerns and their interactions with their cultural heritage. Matei has worked on several projects in Egypt, Sudan, Oman, Romania, Italy, and the American Southwest.

Matei Tichindelean: Project Summary

My project examines the procurement of raw materials, cultural exchange, and high-temperature technologies in ancient Northeast Africa. With the gracious support of the Orange County Society of AIA, I am able to continue my previous work involving the analysis of metal objects, currently located in the Gustavianum Museum in Uppsala, Sweden. The objects date from around 1900 B.C.E. to 1000 B.C.E. from a region called ancient Nubia, which currently lies at the border of Egypt and Sudan. During this time period, this region was an important hub of economic and cultural exchange where the ancient Egyptians, nomadic groups from the surrounding deserts, and the Kerma polity (located further south, in the middle of Sudan) came together to trade and, periodically, to wage war. By studying metal objects using a variety of scientific techniques, I am able not only to discuss the technological process and know-how required to make these objects, but also to highlight the different groups of people involved in the procurement of raw materials, as well as those who consumed the finished products. In doing so, my goal is to highlight lesser-known groups that were key trading partners of the famous ancient Egyptian state.