Louis Dautais

Scientific Member, French Institute for Oriental Archaeology (Ifao) in Cairo

Historian and Archaeologist - Egyptology & Aegean Prehistory

Email : louisdautais@gmail.com See my CV on Academia

Research Positions since PhD

2026 (since sept.): Scientific Member in Egyptological Studies, French Institut for Oriental Archaeology (IFAO) in Cairo (Egypt). Research Project: “Networks of Exchange between Egypt and the Aegean (mid. 14th – mid. 12th c. BCE): Patterns, Dynamics and Intermediaries”.
2026 (janv.-apr.): Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Archaeology, Ghent University (Belgium). Advisor: Dr. Prof. M. Devolder.
2025 (sept.-dec.): Contractual Archaeologist, French Expedition to Kom el-Nugus, IFAO (Egypt). Advisor: Dr. B. Redon (CNRS).
2025 (feb.-june): Visiting Scholar, Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée (HiSoMA), Université Lyon 2 - Lumière (France).

Education

2024 : Dual-PhD in Egyptology & in Aegean Prehistory (IFAO Fellowship MESRI-ResEFE 2019-2022 / Gandur Scholarship FGA 2023-2024), 'cotutelle' between Université de Montpellier Paul-Valéry (Montpellier, France) and Université catholique de Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium). Title of the PhD dissertation: L’Égypte et le monde égéen (XVIIIe-mil. XIVe s. av. n. è.) : des lamentations d’Ipouour à la chute de Cnossos (supervisors : Dr. Prof. Charlotte Langohr and Dr. Prof. Marc Gabolde).
2018 : Master of Arts (summa cum laude) Ancient Worlds – specialized in Egyptology at the Université de Montpellier Paul-Valéry (Montpellier, France)
2016 : Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude), Classical Archaeology with Egyptology at the Université de Montpellier Paul-Valéry (Montpellier, France)

Research topics

Interconnections between the civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean (Egypt, Levant, Aegean, Cyprus and Anatolia) during the MBA & LBA (c. 2nd mill. BCE)
History of the polymorphic interactions between Ancient Egypt and Its Neighbors during the Late Bronze Age.
History of Ancient Egypt during the SIP & New Kingdom.
Historiography of Egypto-Aegean Studies : an in-between research area.
History of Egyptian Archaeology since the 19th century.

Field projects

Since 2018 : Archaeologist (Trench Supervisor) in the French Mission of Kom el-Nugus (Mareotis Area, Egypt) - dir. Bérangère Redon (HiSoMA, IFAO - Cairo).
Since 2025 : Archaeologist (Trench Supervisor) in the French Archaeological Project of Malia and the Sea (Crete, Greece) - dir. Maia Pomadère (Paris I, EfA - Athens).
2018-2022 : Archaeologist (Trench Supervisor) in the French Mission of Tell Keilah (Cisjordan, Palestine) - dir. Sylvie Blétry (UPVM3).
2016-2019 : Archaeologist (Trench Assistant) in the Belgian Archaeological Project of Sissi (Crete, Greece) - dir. Jan Driessen (UCLouvain, Belgian School of Athens).

Choice of publications

Dautais, L., 2021. “C’est une multitude de navires-kftjw qu’il a faits pour moi…”. Sur l’égyptianité du bateau de type crétois, Égypte Nilotique et Méditerranéenne 14, Montpellier, p. 75-90.
Dautais L., 2023. Egyptians and Foreigners involved in the srm.t-beverage Production and Trade in the Theban Region in the Mid-Eighteenth Dynasty. An Onomastic Study of Foreign Anthroponyms in the Writing-tablet British Museum EA 29558, Ägypten und Levante 33, Vienna, p. 217-233.
Vitale, S., Dudlik, K. & Dautais, L. 2024. Five Egyptian Scarabs from the Mycenaean cemetery of Langada on Kos: Context, Function, and Cultural Significance, in G. Miniaci, C. Greco, P. Del Vesco, M. Mancini & C. Alù (eds.), Ancient Egypt and the Surrounding World: Contact, Trade and Influence: Studies presented to Marilina Betrò, Egittologia 6, Pisa, p. 153-166.
Dautais L., & Barahona-Mendieta, Z., 2024. Some Late Helladic IIA pottery in the early Thutmosid Dra Abu el-Naga necropolis (Luxor, Egypt), in J. Driessen & T. Fantuzzi (eds.), CHRONOS: Stratigraphic Analysis, Pottery Seriation and Radiocarbon Dating in Mediterranean Chronology. Proceedings of the international workshop held at Louvain-la-Neuve (December 8-9, 2022), Aegis 26, Louvain-la-Neuve, p. 117-140.
Dautais, L., & Gabolde, M., 2025. ‘Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea’ from Knossos to Memphis: Hellenized Cretans in Egypt in the Mid-Eighteenth Dynasty, Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections, Tucson, p. 7-28.
Dautais L., in press (2026). Shape, Spirals, and Timber: On the identity of the Keftiu-ship in the Egyptian records, in É. Panaite (ed.), Meeting the Other: Transfers and Cultural Interactions around the Nile Valley. (Proceedings of the International Conference held in Cairo, Ifao-PCMA, 27th-31th March 2021), Polish Publications in Mediterranean Archaeology 12, Leuven. [accepted after peer-review on 22 October 2022].

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