Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 105. (Budapest, 2006)

ANNUAL REPORT - A 2006. ÉV - KATA ENDREFY: The Fourth Centrai European Conference of Young Egyptologists

THE FOURTH CENTRAL EUROPEAN CONFERENCE OF YOUNG EGYPTOLOGISTS 31 August, 2006 - 2 September, 2006 The Fourth Central European Conference of Young Egyptologists (CECYE 2006) was hosted jointly by Eötvös Loránd University and the Museum of Fine Arts in the autumn of 2006. The conference series was initiated in 1999 by Joanna Popielska and Andrzej Cwiek, two Polish Egyptologists, who wished to create a platform for Central European doctoral students to become acquainted with one another, and to present and discuss their ongoing Egyptological research. The organizers of the Budapest conference, András Gulyás, Kata Endreffy and Barbara Egedi have followed the Polish tradition in doing their best to ensure that all those interested have the opportunity to take part in the event, through providing free participation and inexpensive accommodation, while much of the organization work is done by volunteers. This may have been one of the reasons why CECYE 2006 attracted more interest than ever before, and why it was not only the representatives of the Central European region (Czech, Polish, and naturally Hungarian Egyptologists) who were present among the almost fifty lecturers, since participants arrived from all over the world, as well as from Portugal, Holland, England, Germany, Italy, Russia and Australia. The discussions held touched upon almost every aspect of Egyptology, from the beginnings of the Nile Valley civilization to late antiquity. The lectures given on the economic and social history, archaeology and technology, language and literature, as well as the religion and art of ancient Egypt attested not only to the scholarly expertise of the young researchers and the novelty of their respective approaches, but also to their openness towards other scientific fields besides Egyptology. In addition to presenting theoretical research topics, a significant portion of time in the three-day event was devoted to discussing the results of excavations and fieldwork carried out by the participants in Egypt. The conference was dedicated to the memory of Professor Ernő Gaál (1941-2005), late head of the Department of Egyptology at Eötvös Loránd University, thus his field of interest, the foreign relations of ancient Egypt, received special attention at the plenary session of the first morning. In keeping with the tradition of previous conferences, renowned Egyptologists were also invited as guests to the event and asked to provide a comprehensive overview of their research to the young audience. Dr. Miroslav Verner professor of the Czech Institute of Egyptology at Charles University, Prague gave a lecture on the latest results of the work of the Czech