The Nile Basin

The Nile Basin
Author: Martin Williams
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2019-01-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1316832791

The Nile Basin contains a record of human activities spanning the last million years. However, the interactions between prehistoric humans and environmental changes in this area are complex and often poorly understood. This comprehensive book explains in clear, non-technical terms how prehistoric environments can be reconstructed, with examples drawn from every part of the Nile Basin. Adopting a source-to-sink approach, the book integrates events in the Nile headwaters with the record from marine sediment cores in the Nile Delta and offshore. It provides a detailed record of past environmental changes throughout the Nile Basin and concludes with a review of the causes and consequences of plant and animal domestication in this region and of the various prehistoric migrations out of Africa into Eurasia and beyond. A comprehensive overview, this book is ideal for researchers in geomorphology, climatology and archaeology.

Egypt and the Desert

Egypt and the Desert
Author: John Coleman Darnell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2021-06-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108901417

Deserts, the Red Land, bracket the narrow strip of alluvial Black Land that borders the Nile. Networks of desert roads ascended to the high desert from the Nile Valley, providing access to the mineral wealth and Red Sea ports of the Eastern Desert, the oasis depressions and trade networks of the Western Desert. A historical perspective from the Predynastic through the Roman Periods highlights how developments in the Nile Valley altered the Egyptian administration and exploitation of the deserts. For the ancient Egyptians, the deserts were a living landscape, and at numerous points along the desert roads, the ancient Egyptians employed rock art and rock inscriptions to create and mark places. Such sites provide considerable evidence for the origin of writing in northeast Africa, the religious significance of the desert and expressions of personal piety, and the development of the early alphabet.

The Western Desert of Egypt

The Western Desert of Egypt
Author: Cassandra Vivian
Publisher: Amer Univ in Cairo Press
Total Pages: 459
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN: 9789774160905

Already the most comprehensive guide ever for desert and oasis travel in Egypt west of the Nile, The Western Desert of Egypt: An Explorer's Handbook has now been fully revised and updated for the latest generation of twenty-first century desert adventurers. Fully illustrated with some 50 maps and plans and over 270 drawings, the guide covers both the natural history and the human history of the desert and the oases. It then explores chapter by chapter the oases of Kharga, Dakhla, Farafra, Bahariya, Fayoum, and Siwa, and the desert areas of al-Diffa (the northern, semiarid edge of the desert), the Darb al-Arbain caravan route in the south, and Uwaynat (including Gilf Kebir) in the southwest. Descriptions of routes, sites, people, and places are complemented by practical information on places to stay, eat, and fill your gas tank. Global positioning system (GPS) waypoints are provided as an aid to navigation on many routes--though for the sake of conservation and the protection of unguarded antiquities they are not given for remote sites. Almost encyclopedic in its scope, this is the one guide that belongs on the bookshelf, dashboard, or rucksack of every Western Desert traveler.

The Western Desert of Egypt

The Western Desert of Egypt
Author: Cassandra Vivian
Publisher:
Total Pages: 454
Release: 2000
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

A guide for anyone traveling in Egypt's Western Desert

From Lake to Sand. The Archaeology of Farafra Oasis Western desert, Egypt

From Lake to Sand. The Archaeology of Farafra Oasis Western desert, Egypt
Author: Barbara E. Barich
Publisher: All’Insegna del Giglio
Total Pages: 530
Release: 2014-12-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 8878145203

The volume presents all the data collected during the cycle of research conducted by the Italian Archaeological Mission in the Farafra Oasis between 1990 and 2005. The 29 multidisciplinary essays contained in this book provide a detailed picture of the population of the Farafra Oasis, hitherto one of the least well known within the Western Desert. Farafra became particularly important during the middle Holocene, the period when climate conditions were most favourable, with later brief humid episodes even in the historic periods. The results of the long-term research cycle presented here, combined with data from the survey of the whole Wadi el Obeiyid still in progress, allow the authors to identify changes in the peopling of the oasis and to define various occupation phases. The new chronology for the Wadi el Obeiyid is one of the main achievements of the book and, as demonstrated in the final chapter, is in complete agreement with the main cultural units of other territories in the Western Desert. On this chronological basis, the contacts between the latter and the populations established on the Nile are brought into sharper focus. The importance of the archaeological documents discovered at Farafra and, at the same time their fragility due to the deterioration of the physical environment and the uncontrolled human activities, make us fear for their conservation. We hope that this book, with its complete documentation of the precious nature of the Farafra Oasis landscape and its archaeological heritage, may help to promote more effective policies for its safeguard.

'Ain el-Gedida

'Ain el-Gedida
Author: Nicola Aravecchia
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 652
Release: 2019-03-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1479803014

The fourth volume in the Amheida series, ‘Ain el-Gedida: 2006-2008 Excavations of a Late Antique Site in Egypt's Western Desert (Amheida IV) presents the systematic record and interpretation of the archaeological evidence from the excavations at ‘Ain el-Gedida, a fourth-century rural settlement in Egypt's Dakleh Oasis uniquely important for the study of early Egyptian Christianity and previously known only from written sources. Nicola Aravecchia (Washington University), the Deputy Field Director of NYU's Amheida Excavations, offers a history of the site and its excavations, followed by an integrated topographical and archaeological interpretation of the site and its significance for the history of Christianity in Egypt. In the second half of the volume a team of international experts presents catalogs and interpretations of the archaeological finds, including ceramics (Delphine Dixneuf, CRNS), coins (David M. Ratzan, NYU), ostraca and graffiti (Roger S. Bagnall, NYU and Dorota Dzierzbicka, University of Warsaw), small finds (Dorota Dzierzbicka, University of Warsaw), and zooarcheological remains (Pamela J. Crabtree, NYU and Douglas Campana).

Sustainable Water Solutions in the Western Desert, Egypt: Dakhla Oasis

Sustainable Water Solutions in the Western Desert, Egypt: Dakhla Oasis
Author: Erina Iwasaki
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2022-03-09
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9783030640071

This book is a multidisciplinary manuscript bringing together contributions on water issues from natural and social scientists focused on water management and structures in a challenging environmental situation such as Dakhla Oasis in Egypt's western desert. The authors of this book are relevant scientists in hydrology, geology, remote sensing, agriculture, history, and sociology. It is devoted to various critical environmental topics such as geological and hydraulic structure, climate influence, underground water management, irrigation management, and human settlement. The book provides a range of new perspectives on solving different environmental problems in arid zones toward the region's sustainable development, based on the case studies and fieldwork in the Dakhla Oasis (Western Desert, Egypt).

Sequence Stratigraphy of the Lower Miocene Moghra Formation in the Qattara Depression, North Western Desert, Egypt

Sequence Stratigraphy of the Lower Miocene Moghra Formation in the Qattara Depression, North Western Desert, Egypt
Author: Safiya M. Hassan
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2013-06-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319003305

The Qattara Depression is part of the Northwestern Desert in Egypt and is home to the second lowest point in Africa at -133 meters below sea level. Therefore, before any projects can be carried out in this area, we must first understand the geology of the land. The present study deals with the high-resolution sequence stratigraphic analysis of the Lower Miocene Moghra Formation outcrops in the Qattara Depression Region. The literature on the sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of the Moghra Formation has been sparse to date, despite some excellent work over the years by academic and petroleum workers. Moreover, the area studied is within what was once a front-line of World War II, where mine fields and war relics are scattered and cover wide reaches. This has resulted in limited geologic mapping in the past. Thus, great attention is paid in this study to establishing a robust sedimentology and high-resolution sequence stratigraphic framework for the Lower Miocene Moghra Formation. Included are works based on outcrops and, most importantly, new sedimentological and chronostratigraphic information not previously available.

The History of the Peoples of the Eastern Desert

The History of the Peoples of the Eastern Desert
Author: Hans Barnard
Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
Total Pages: 521
Release: 2012-12-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1938770587

The last quarter century has seen extensive research on the ports of the Red Sea coast of Egypt, the road systems connecting them to the Nile, and the mines and quarries in the region. Missing has been a systematic study of the peoples of the Eastern Desert--the area between the Red Sea and the Nile Valley--in whose territories these ports, roads, mines, and quarries were located. The historical overview of the Eastern Desert in the shape of a roughly chronological narrative presented in this book fills that gap. The multidisciplinary perspective focuses on the long-term history of the region. The extensive range of topics addressed includes specific historical periods, natural resources, nomadic survival strategies, ancient textual data, and the interaction between Christian hermits and their neighbors. The breadth of perspective does not sacrifice depth, for all authors deal in some detail with the specifics of their subject matter. As a whole, this collection provides an outline of the history and sociology of the Eastern Desert unparalleled in any language for its comprehensiveness. As such, it will be the essential starting point for future research on the Eastern Desert. Includes a CD of eleven audio files with music of the Ababda Nomads, and six short videos of Ababda culture.

Dakhleh Oasis and the Western Desert of Egypt under the Ptolemies

Dakhleh Oasis and the Western Desert of Egypt under the Ptolemies
Author: James C. R. Gill
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 716
Release: 2016-07-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1785701363

Through an analysis of recently discovered Ptolemaic pottery from Mut al-Kharab, as well as a reexamination of pottery collected by the Dakhleh Oasis Project during the survey of the oasis from 1978–1987, this book challenges the common perception that Dakhleh Oasis experienced a sudden increase in agricultural exploitation and a dramatic rise in population during the Roman Period. It argues that such changes had already begun to take place during the Ptolemaic Period, likely as the result of a deliberate strategy directed toward this region by the Ptolemies. This book focuses on the ceramic remains in order to determine the extent of Ptolemaic settlement in the oases and to offer new insights into the nature of this settlement. It presents a corpus of Ptolemaic pottery and a catalogue of Ptolemaic sites from Dakhleh Oasis. It also presents a survey of Ptolemaic evidence from the oases of Kharga, Farafra, Bahariya and Siwa. It thus represents the first major synthesis of Ptolemaic Period activity in the Egyptian Western Desert.