Laïla Nehmé (born 1966) is a Lebanese-French archaeologist. A specialist in the
archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
and
epigraphy
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
of the
Ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...
, she is known for her research on Nabatean writings, the evolution of the Nabatean script into the Arabic, and archaeological excavations at
Petra
Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to t ...
and
Mada'in Saleh.
Early life
Laïla Nehmé was born in
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
,
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
, where she attended high school. A meeting with a restorer of ceramics from a dig in northern Lebanon prompted her to seek higher studies in archaeology.
Nehmé attended the
Pantheon-Sorbonne University, where Jean-Marie Dentzer guided her research between 1991–1994. She wrote her doctoral thesis on Petra in 1994. She began to conduct excavations in Syria and Jordan, and to specialise in the epigraphy of northern Arabic.
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Career
Nehmé has been directing excavations at Mada'in Saleh, an ancient Nabatean centre. Her team has discovered several tomb sites, a walled city, comprising mud-brick structures, as well as oases where the granaries and wells supported the local agriculture.
Awards
* 2010 – Chevalier of the National Order of Merit (France) An order of merit is conferred by a state, government or royal family on an individual in recognition of military or civil merit.
Order of merit may also refer to:
* FIFA Order of Merit, for significant contribution to association football
* PDC O ...
[
* 2007 – Prix Clio for Archaeological Research.
]
Selected works
Articles
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Books
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nehme, Laila
1966 births
French archaeologists
Lebanese emigrants to France
Living people
French women archaeologists