Egypt

New blog - The archaeology of Egypt's deserts

I've put together a new blog which will focus on the archaeology of Egypt's deserts. Unlike this blog it will include relevant lecture and conference news. Visitors to this blog will know that I am a bit of a desert nut.

I've been copying over some older articles to create something of an archive, and there is more to be added. If you're interested you'll find it at the following address:
http://egypt--deviandeserts.wordpress.com/

Here's the introduction:

I set up this blog to bring together all the latest news about the archaeology of the beautiful deserts of Egypt.

The Egyptian deserts are home to a rich resource of prehistoric archeaology from the post glacial period when the whether was warmer and wetter and the eastern Sahara was much greener. Even after the climate began to dry in the Predynastic period the oases of the Western Desert continued to be occupied throughout the Pharaonic periods. The Eastern Desert, which has produced extensive evidence for pre-Pharaonic occupation including the earliest evidence for sheep in Egypt, was used extensively for the mining and quarrying of its rock and mineral resources up until the end of the Roman/Byzantine period. In both Eastern and Western Deserts a vast collection rock art has survived.

The geology of the Eastern Desert is one of its most remarkable features. Geology in the Western Desert is more dispersed but is the only place in Egypt where the earliest layers can be seen at the surface.

Sadly, the deserts are under increasing threat from badly managed tourism and unofficial "expeditions".

- Photo For Today - Tareq, Mons Porphyrites
Tareq, Mons Porphyrites The Eastern Desert was used as a resource for raw materials throughout late Predynastic and Dynastic Egypt. The Eastern Desert was a resource for stones and minerals and a through-route for traffic moving between the Red Sea coast...

- New(ish) Book: The Tree Shelter
Leuven University Press A Holocene Prehistoric Sequence in the Egyptian Red Sea Area: The Tree Shelter Edited by: Pierre M. Vermeersch Multiple apologies for failing to post this before, because not only have I known about this book for months but I own...

- Daily Photo: Eastern Desert Rock Art
As a nod to the rock art research mentioned above at Dakhleh Oasis in the Western Desert, here are some photographs of rock art in the Eastern Desert - a very different kettle of fish! For a start, except for one known image, all of the rock art in the...

- Daily Photo: Inscriptions From Wadi Hammamat
The Wadi Hammamat in the Eastern Desert is the main route leading from the Nile just north of Luxor to the Red Sea coast, and was used throughout the Pharaonic period. Both expeditions through the wadi and quarrying activities within the wadi area were...

- New Museum For Dakhleh Oasis Announced
http://tinyurl.com/ys8gtx (sis.gov.eg) "The Supreme Council for Antiquities started construction works on the first ever museum on Egyptian deserts sciences and prehistoric monuments in Al-Dakhlah oasis of the New Valley. Farouk Hosni Culture Minister...

Egypt