Maël Crépy

I'm a CNRS research fellow and a geographer working on interactions between societies and environments in arid and Mediterranean areas during the Late Holocene (Egypt, Near East, Arabian peninsula and central Asia). I combine methods of geomorphological and geaoarchaeological survey, study of travellers' accounts, archival documents and satellite images. My current research focuses mostly on the socio-environmental contexts of the development and occupation of Egypt's desert margins over the last 6,000 years, especially related to the questions of nomadism, desert roads, the exploitation of desert ressources, climate and environment evolution of the Eastern Sahara.

After a PhD from Université Lyon 2 (Archeorient research unit) that I defended in 2016, I worked in postdoc for several research programs before joining the Ifao in Cairo as scientific member (2021-2023). I am now part of HiSoMA research unit (CNRS, Lyon 2 University, Lyon 3 university, Saint-Étienne university and ENS de Lyon) and the Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée Jean Pouilloux research federation.

I am currently member of 8 archaeological missions and director of the MAFDO - French Archaeological Mission in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.