Egypt
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=7193576
Thanks to Tony Cagle for directing my attention to this item on his blog at http://www.archaeoblog.blogspot.com/. The Faiyum Depression is a triangular depression to the southwest of Cairo, with the immense Lake Qarun at its lowest point, 45m below sea level. In prehistoric times (the Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic in particular) it was a well populated area, and excavations since the 1920s have revealed an immense amount of detail about thse occupations. The Neolithic period marks the first agricultural activitiy in the Faiyum at around 5500bc, which, together with the site of Merimde Beni Salama to the northwest of Cairo, represents the earliest known farming in Egypt. In the 1920s, and reported in their two volume 1934 report "The Desert Fayoum" Gertrude Caton Thompson and Elinor Gardiner reported fining 167 grain silos (pits sunk into the groun) in the northeast Faiyum in a zone between two sites named Kom K and Kom W. Although many other Neolithic sites have been found, until today this site has remained the only one containing granaries. This makes the above report of eight new granaries having been found even more important. I'm trying to find out more information about it, and will post if I have an update. A summary of the prehistoric period in the Faiyum and Cairo areas can be found at my other site: http://www.faiyum.historians.co.uk/html/archaeology.html
- Neolithic Archaeology Under Threat In Egypt
Following on from my recent posts about the threat to the prehistoric archaeology of the Faiyum Depression it is very sad to hear from Josef Eiwanger, the excavator of the related site Merimde Beni Salama in the 1980s, that in spite of it having been...
- Daily Photo - Snapshots Of The Faiyum Today
The Faiyum Depression is located c85km to the southwest of Cairo. Thanks to a large Nile-fed lake (Birket Qarun) the area was occupied from prehistoric times onewards. Because the lake is fed by the Nile via a natural channel and not y artesian waters...
- Daily Photo - Faiyum Neolithic At The Petrie
The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology has put its entire collection online so that anyone with an Internet connection can find specifc artefacts or search for general categories. The photographs shown here are all held at the Petrie, and are copied...
- Daily Photo: Karanis, Faiyum
Karanis is located at Kom Ushim in the Faiyum Depression, to the southwest of Cairo. It is a ruined Graeco Roman frontier settlement, one of the largest towns in the Faiyum, founded in the 3rd century BCE and home to around 3000 people. Mud brick walls...
- Faiyum Neolithic Granaries
I'm like a dog with a bone on this particular subject, I know, but my last word on the granaries until the end of January. Willeke Wendrich (heading the UCLA project in the Faiyum) has said that the team's website will be updated at the end of...
Egypt
Eight New Granaries Found in the Faiyum
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=7193576
Thanks to Tony Cagle for directing my attention to this item on his blog at http://www.archaeoblog.blogspot.com/. The Faiyum Depression is a triangular depression to the southwest of Cairo, with the immense Lake Qarun at its lowest point, 45m below sea level. In prehistoric times (the Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic in particular) it was a well populated area, and excavations since the 1920s have revealed an immense amount of detail about thse occupations. The Neolithic period marks the first agricultural activitiy in the Faiyum at around 5500bc, which, together with the site of Merimde Beni Salama to the northwest of Cairo, represents the earliest known farming in Egypt. In the 1920s, and reported in their two volume 1934 report "The Desert Fayoum" Gertrude Caton Thompson and Elinor Gardiner reported fining 167 grain silos (pits sunk into the groun) in the northeast Faiyum in a zone between two sites named Kom K and Kom W. Although many other Neolithic sites have been found, until today this site has remained the only one containing granaries. This makes the above report of eight new granaries having been found even more important. I'm trying to find out more information about it, and will post if I have an update. A summary of the prehistoric period in the Faiyum and Cairo areas can be found at my other site: http://www.faiyum.historians.co.uk/html/archaeology.html
- Neolithic Archaeology Under Threat In Egypt
Following on from my recent posts about the threat to the prehistoric archaeology of the Faiyum Depression it is very sad to hear from Josef Eiwanger, the excavator of the related site Merimde Beni Salama in the 1980s, that in spite of it having been...
- Daily Photo - Snapshots Of The Faiyum Today
The Faiyum Depression is located c85km to the southwest of Cairo. Thanks to a large Nile-fed lake (Birket Qarun) the area was occupied from prehistoric times onewards. Because the lake is fed by the Nile via a natural channel and not y artesian waters...
- Daily Photo - Faiyum Neolithic At The Petrie
The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology has put its entire collection online so that anyone with an Internet connection can find specifc artefacts or search for general categories. The photographs shown here are all held at the Petrie, and are copied...
- Daily Photo: Karanis, Faiyum
Karanis is located at Kom Ushim in the Faiyum Depression, to the southwest of Cairo. It is a ruined Graeco Roman frontier settlement, one of the largest towns in the Faiyum, founded in the 3rd century BCE and home to around 3000 people. Mud brick walls...
- Faiyum Neolithic Granaries
I'm like a dog with a bone on this particular subject, I know, but my last word on the granaries until the end of January. Willeke Wendrich (heading the UCLA project in the Faiyum) has said that the team's website will be updated at the end of...