Obliterating historical complexity as academic practice: Historiographical maps of 7th c. BCE Egypt

Abstract

This contribution focuses on the interdependence between map production and map usage including adaption and re-circulation, which can be witnessed by a historiographical approach to mapping. Case study are the maps displaying the history of 7th c. bce Egypt, which date from the later 20th and early 21st c. ad. Key observation is the loss of specialised cartographic and even historiographical knowledge in the process of its dissemination. Though the case study presents a very specific example and, in addition, one that is based on a rather small corpus of sources, the author assumes that the detectable mechanisms are in operation on a much larger scale, though maybe less visible.