Egypt
Geoffrey Tassie has highlighted the challenge the archaeology of the Faiyum on a number of occasions, but the news never seems to get any better, as the demands of tourism and agriculture see the ongoing destruction of archaeological sites.
Rinus Ormeling has just returned from the Faiyum where he was working on a fieldschool with Willeke Wendrich, the director of the Fayum Project. He was doing botanical research in the Greco-Roman town Karanis, but at the same time others were working on the prehistoric sites Kom K, Kom W and E29H1. These and other Faiyum sites of the same period are of enormous importance to an understanding of the development of ancient Egyptian food production as, together with the site of Merimde Beni Salama, they represent both the very earliest mixed farming in Egypt and the economies that came before.
The earliest part of E29H1 dates to the Epipalaeolithic period and consists of “a vast scatter of artefacts on the gently sloping expanse of lacustrine sediments” (Wendorf and Schild 1976, p.182) in an oval area measuring around 300x100m that overlook a basin. Because the Epipalaeolithic site is situated within a larger Neolithic concentration of artifacts, it was divided into different areas. The Epipalaeolithic areas are named A, B and C. Areas A and C were partially excavated and collections were carried out in a small part of Area B. The fauna from E29H1 suggests that it was a fishing economy using hunting and plant gathering as a back-up. These sites appear to be contemporary with Wenke’s FS-2. Artefacts include lithics and bone tools. During the Neolithic there is a large surface scatter of artefacts surrounding the earlier Epipalaeolithic concentration including “grinding stones and a very few potsherds, all heavily wind polished” (Wendorf and Schild 1976 p.182).
Rinus says that it turned out that farmers were starting to irrigate at the site of E29H1 and that they were on the point of turning over the ground in order to plant crops. So a rescue survey was launched. The survey director was Willeke Wendrich, but the survey was carried out by Simon Holdaway from University of Auckland (NZ).
Rinus says that he left a week before the survey ended, but that now there are some olive trees growing at that site.
Very, very dissapointing.
If you speak any Dutch there are some nice accounts of some of the things Rinus was working on in in Egypt recently at the WaarBenJij.nu website. And no, I'm not about to start doing Dutch translations - the last time I actually used to speak the language properly was 30 years ago!
- Growing And Grinding
IHC An advert for an upcoming talk by Willeke Wendrich, but it contains some information about the Faiyum and is quite well timed given the above discussions about the risks to the archaeology of the Faiyum. The north shore of Lake Qarun in the Egyptian...
- 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...
- More Re Neolithic Discoveries In The Faiyum
Al Ahram Weekly Nevine El-Aref sheds some very welcome light on the previous reports: At the site, known as Z-Basin, on the north shore of Lake Qaroun, an archaeological and geological team from University College of Los Angeles (UCLA) and Rijksuniversiteit...
- Travel: Qasr El Sagha, Faiyum Depression
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/827/tr401.htm"Qasr Al-Sagha, or rather the Golden Fortress, is one of Fayoum's mysterious marvels. Located north of Lake Qarun, the building once stood on the shore of the ancient Lake Moeris. Now the lake has shrunk...
- 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
More sad news from the Faiyum
Geoffrey Tassie has highlighted the challenge the archaeology of the Faiyum on a number of occasions, but the news never seems to get any better, as the demands of tourism and agriculture see the ongoing destruction of archaeological sites.Rinus Ormeling has just returned from the Faiyum where he was working on a fieldschool with Willeke Wendrich, the director of the Fayum Project. He was doing botanical research in the Greco-Roman town Karanis, but at the same time others were working on the prehistoric sites Kom K, Kom W and E29H1. These and other Faiyum sites of the same period are of enormous importance to an understanding of the development of ancient Egyptian food production as, together with the site of Merimde Beni Salama, they represent both the very earliest mixed farming in Egypt and the economies that came before.
The earliest part of E29H1 dates to the Epipalaeolithic period and consists of “a vast scatter of artefacts on the gently sloping expanse of lacustrine sediments” (Wendorf and Schild 1976, p.182) in an oval area measuring around 300x100m that overlook a basin. Because the Epipalaeolithic site is situated within a larger Neolithic concentration of artifacts, it was divided into different areas. The Epipalaeolithic areas are named A, B and C. Areas A and C were partially excavated and collections were carried out in a small part of Area B. The fauna from E29H1 suggests that it was a fishing economy using hunting and plant gathering as a back-up. These sites appear to be contemporary with Wenke’s FS-2. Artefacts include lithics and bone tools. During the Neolithic there is a large surface scatter of artefacts surrounding the earlier Epipalaeolithic concentration including “grinding stones and a very few potsherds, all heavily wind polished” (Wendorf and Schild 1976 p.182).
Rinus says that it turned out that farmers were starting to irrigate at the site of E29H1 and that they were on the point of turning over the ground in order to plant crops. So a rescue survey was launched. The survey director was Willeke Wendrich, but the survey was carried out by Simon Holdaway from University of Auckland (NZ).
Rinus says that he left a week before the survey ended, but that now there are some olive trees growing at that site.
Very, very dissapointing.
If you speak any Dutch there are some nice accounts of some of the things Rinus was working on in in Egypt recently at the WaarBenJij.nu website. And no, I'm not about to start doing Dutch translations - the last time I actually used to speak the language properly was 30 years ago!
- Growing And Grinding
IHC An advert for an upcoming talk by Willeke Wendrich, but it contains some information about the Faiyum and is quite well timed given the above discussions about the risks to the archaeology of the Faiyum. The north shore of Lake Qarun in the Egyptian...
- 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...
- More Re Neolithic Discoveries In The Faiyum
Al Ahram Weekly Nevine El-Aref sheds some very welcome light on the previous reports: At the site, known as Z-Basin, on the north shore of Lake Qaroun, an archaeological and geological team from University College of Los Angeles (UCLA) and Rijksuniversiteit...
- Travel: Qasr El Sagha, Faiyum Depression
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/827/tr401.htm"Qasr Al-Sagha, or rather the Golden Fortress, is one of Fayoum's mysterious marvels. Located north of Lake Qarun, the building once stood on the shore of the ancient Lake Moeris. Now the lake has shrunk...
- 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...