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Cistern site and roadhouse of Abar el-Kanayis; map showing the remnants of different historic periods (Drawing: A.-K. Rieger/S. Valtin/B. Emme)
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The Marmarica, covering northwestern Egypt and northeastern Libya, is little known archaeologically apart from some coastal sites. Recent research has enhanced our knowledge about settlement and land-use patterns as well as subsistence strategies on the northern fringe of the Libyan Desert in Greco-Roman times. Due to the semi-arid and arid environ...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... depression where overland flow accumulates close to an ancient route to Siwa, corresponding to the modern road, two cisterns were dug into the lime- stone (Fig. 6). Remains of two buildings, stone struc- tures of unclear date and function, along with ce- ramic finds, show the continuous frequentation of the site at least since Greco-Roman times ( Fig. 7) and allow the assumption that the cisterns, which are still in use today, date back to this period. The archaeo- logical work at the site consisted of intensive sur- veys, pedological analysis and excavation, making the site the southernmost intensively studied one in the research area. Excavations were conducted in the northwest- ern ...
Citations
... Chickens reached Egypt about 1400 BC, but they became widely bred as farm animals only in Ptolemaic Egypt (about 300 BC) (Blench and MacDonald 2000). Since then, their meat was used regularly as a supplement of animal protein (Pöllath and Rieger 2011). TT362 is dated to before the Graeco-Roman period, suggesting a modern dating for the chicken remains. ...
... According to Gautier and Van Neer (2009), Egyptian people from the Middle Kingdom onward show little preference for sheep over goats for their secondary products. This preference is attested in most Egyptian sites, such as Kom el-Hisn, Lehner (Giza), Ibrahim Awad, Merimde-Benisalame (Redding 1992), Abar el-Kanayis, Wadi Umm el-Ashdan, and Wadi Qasaba (Pöllath and Rieger 2011). However, sheep have more diet overlap with cattle then do goats, and they would have competed with cattle for forage (Redding 1992). ...
The Tombs of the Nobles are located in ancient Thebes (modern Luxor, Egypt) and are primarily the site of elite burials. One such is the monumental funerary complex of Neferhotep, which is characterised by several tombs arranged around a central court: TT49, TT187, TT362, TT363, and TT347, which have been already excavated, while TT348 is still closed. They are dated from the end of the XVIII Dynasty (fourteenth–thirteenth century BC) to the Ramessid Period (twelfth–eleventh century BC), with phases of reuse mainly in the Third Intermediate Period and in the Ptolemaic age. From the late eighteenth century, they functioned as storerooms and stables for the houses built above them in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. A large number of artefacts, such as pottery, shabtis, fragments of cartonnage, amulets, offerings have been found, as well as human remains belonging to at least 136 individuals. Among these finds 112 specimens of animal bones have also been attested. The remains seem to belong to three different groups: ancient votive mummies, linked to the cult of the god Amun-Ra; modern domestic animals dated to the modern phases of reuse of the tombs; and scavengers, which entered the tombs in search for food. The zooarchaeological studies complete the multidisciplinary analysis of the Neferhotep complex and provide new information about the use and reuse of the Theban tomb from ancient to modern times.
... The entire region lies below the limit of rain-fed agriculture at 200 mm/a and only allows dry farming, which according to palaeoenvironmental studies in the Eastern Sahara and the results from our research, mainly based on the archaeobotanical micro-and macroremains, but also on archaeozoological evidence, was not different in the time period covered in this study [18,66], ref. [67] (pp. 42-43 with references) and ref. [68,69], so that agricultural utilisation of the region is only possible through water harvesting methods. An attestation confirming the meteorological regime from Roman times exists in the form of a graffito scratched into the fresh plaster of a cistern close to Paraitonion, which is now lost: A certain Isalas has imprinted his hand and his name in the fresh plaster, as well as an altar palm branch and the date of August of the year 6 BCE. ...
... The entire region lies below the limit of rain-fed agriculture at 200 mm/a and only allows dry farming, which according to palaeoenvironmental studies in the Eastern Sahara and the results from our research, mainly based on the archaeobotanical micro-and macro-remains, but also on archaeozoological evidence, was not different in the time period covered in this study [18,66], [67] (pp. 42-43 with references) and [68,69], so that agricultural utilisation of the region is only possible through water harvesting methods. An attestation confirming the meteorological regime from Roman times exists in the form of a graffito scratched into the fresh plaster of a cistern close to Paraitonion, which is now lost: A certain Isalas has imprinted his hand and his name in the fresh plaster, as well as an altar palm branch and the date of August of the year 6 BCE. ...
... Embankments of earthen material or terraces walls of stones allowing infiltration, the installation of channels and sluits, are the material evidence of the water and soil harvesting practices which can be dated from the 2nd millennium BCE to the first half of the 1st millennium CE. The plots, fields and terraces are signs of the type of agriculture people practiced, whereas the huge number of bones of small ruminants (sheep and goat) among the archaeozoological remains, mostly from contexts of the 2nd to the 3rd century CE, attest to livestock breeding as a second basis for people's livelihood [69]. ...
Arid environments are suitable for researching the resilience of landscapes, since their ecological conditions pose continuous water stress to plants, animals, and humans living there. It is not only water, but also soil that is a limited resource. The arid landscape of the Eastern Marmarica (NW-Egypt) serves as an example for studying the resilience in and of a past landscape and its inhabitants from the 2nd millennium BCE to the 1st millennium CE, which is conceptualised as a ‘social arid landscape’. The adapted life strategies and resilient practices to make a living in the arid environment are reconstructed from (geo-) archaeological evidence, discussing the applicability of the concept of resilience for ancient (landscape) studies. Resilience is an etic concept, depending on the perspective on and scale of a system. With the categories of ‘event’, ‘practice’ and ‘knowledge’, however, various scales can be bridged; life strategies can be defined as communities of practice and dichotomies be solved. Niche dwellings in the ancient Marmarica, where exposure to stress was normal, functioned because of an elaborate water management and the mobility of the people living there. The resilience of the arid social landscape is based on mixed life strategies, where only a multi-factored crisis (economic and climatic) or a series of smaller shocks (many dry years) could have destructive impacts.
... Livestock breeding is well attested to in antiquity, since archaeozoological remains of animal bones from the settlements of Wadi Umm el Ashdan and Qasaba contain mostly the bones of small ruminants (Pöllath and Rieger, 2011). The vast plains were -and are -a suitable pasture for sheep and goat which may also have been exported to the Oases or the Nile Valley -as findings of the bones of sheep and goat at the cistern site of Abar el Kanayis on the Marmarica Plateau along the route to Siwa attest to (Fig. 16, Pöllath and Rieger, 2011;. ...
... Transport was carried out by donkeys, well adapted to the desert environment; only from the 1st century CE onwards were also camels used. Bones from both animals came to light at the cistern site of Abar el Kanayis and in the settlement of Wadi Umm el Ashdan, all dating to Roman times (1st to 4th century CE [Umm el Ashdan] and 3rd to 6th century CE [Abar el Kanayis]; Pöllath and Rieger, 2011). ...
... Livestock breeding is well attested to in antiquity, since archaeozoological remains of animal bones from the settlements of Wadi Umm el Ashdan and Qasaba contain mostly the bones of small ruminants (Pöllath and Rieger, 2011). The vast plains were -and are -a suitable pasture for sheep and goat which may also have been exported to the Oases or the Nile Valley -as findings of the bones of sheep and goat at the cistern site of Abar el Kanayis on the Marmarica Plateau along the route to Siwa attest to (Fig. 16, Pöllath and Rieger, 2011;. ...
... Transport was carried out by donkeys, well adapted to the desert environment; only from the 1st century CE onwards were also camels used. Bones from both animals came to light at the cistern site of Abar el Kanayis and in the settlement of Wadi Umm el Ashdan, all dating to Roman times (1st to 4th century CE [Umm el Ashdan] and 3rd to 6th century CE [Abar el Kanayis]; Pöllath and Rieger, 2011). ...
The Marmarica, an arid region in NW-Egypt between the Jebel el Akhdar to the west and the Nile Valley to the east, offers rich evidence for understanding the interlinkages of scarce natural resources, above all water and soil and their human utilization in antiquity. Analysing the natural hydrological regime depending on rainfall, soils and topography in the region and the man-made interventions lies at the heart of this landscape archaeological study. Integrating evidence from various disciplines (hydrology, geomorphology, soil science, archaeobiological methods, ceramic studies, evaluation of literary sources based on papyri) and from various periods (late 2nd millennium BCE to 7th century CE) allowed for the reconstruction of the ancient water management and the related life-strategies.
An assessment of climatic conditions and morphological features of the Eastern Marmarica is provided, where wadis, alluvial fans, but also lateral wadi slopes and to a certain extent even parts of the vast tableland plains represent favourable geomorphological units for water harvesting and hence, agricultural production. Yet, a characteristic that sets the Marmarican systems apart from those in other arid regions are cultivated terrace systems (run-in areas) that are located on lower lateral valley slopes and even on the tableland plains.
The results provide insights into the long-term responses of the inhabitants in antiquity to catchment hydrology by water harvesting and the effects of their interventions, the adapted livelihoods, regional specialization of rural production and intra- and interregional exchange of goods. However, new questions arose regarding i) the implications of the ancient water management strategy for the social organisation of the local people, ii) the destinations of locally produced pottery, iii) the habitational and land-use patterns before the Graeco-Roman period, iv) the role and range of climatic shifts, and v) reasons for the decline of the sophisticated runoff management.
... However, fallows or the crops on the fields in drought years could be used as grazing areas, as was the case with the steppe zone south of the tableland. The yields and returns from agricultural production (barley, grapes, figs, and only little wheat) and livestock breeding amounted to a surplus, whereas marginal areas are normally considered to only allow the inhabitants a subsistence economy ( Figure 15) [62][63][64][65]96]. This surplus production was reconstructed mainly from the existence of numerous pottery production sites along the coast and on the tableland dated to between the second century BCE to the fifth century CE, and from the peak in the number of settlements ( Figure 16) [64,65] (p. ...
Arid regions in the Old World Dry Belt are assumed to be marginal regions, not only in ecological terms, but also economically and socially. Such views in geography, archaeology, and sociology are—despite the real limits of living in arid landscapes—partly influenced by derivates of Central Place Theory as developed for European medieval city-based economies. For other historical time periods and regions, this narrative inhibited socio-economic research with data-based and non-biased approaches. This paper aims, in two arid Graeco-Roman landscapes, to show how far approaches from landscape archaeology and social network analysis combined with the “small world phenomenon” can help to overcome a dichotomic view on core places and their areas, and understand settlement patterns and economic practices in a nuanced way. With Hauran in Southern Syria and Marmarica in NW-Egypt, I revise the concept of marginality, and look for qualitatively and spatially defined relationships between settlements, for both resource management and social organization. This ‘un-central’ perspective on arid landscapes provides insights on how arid regions functioned economically and socially due to a particular spatial concept and connection with their (scarce) resources, mainly water.
Assessment of zooarchaeological data for the principal livestock (i.e., cattle, sheep, goats and pigs) reveals regional and cultural variability in how animals were manipulated, marketed, bred, and utilized over the course of antiquity. This paper focuses upon those developments, as reconstructed through zooarchaeological frequency and morphometric data for the period from c. 1000 BCE to c. 700 CE. Regionally, North Africa encompasses a vast territory, from Egypt, in the East, to Mauretania, in the West. Ecologically, there are variations within each of these zones. Culturally, moreover, these regions witnessed the introduction and influence of different social and economic agents and factors over the timeframe under investigation. This paper examines patterns in these components in a broad synthetic manner, using zooarchaeological data across the entire expanse of Roman North Africa—from Egypt to Mauretania. Focus centers upon the nature and degree of size and shape changes within the principal livestock, modifications that were in part influenced by aspects such as the scale and pattern in trade, dietary appeal for animal products (notably fatty meats), market demands, ecological adaptations, as well as economic and cultural contact among areas. Key similarities and differences in faunal patterns, across time and space within ancient North Africa, and the links these share with changes in animal husbandry schemes are outlined.
Mobility, from a historical perspective, comprises a broad variety of movements of people. This
paper focuses on the mobility of multisited groups, based on the preconditions that an arid environment
imposes on mobility. The Eastern Marmarica-Plateau in NW-Egypt in Graeco-Roman times (5th century
BCE to 4th century CE) serves as case study of the various ways in which people in such landscapes
were mobile, and what we can infer from the aspect of mobility about their social practices. In order to
elucidate these issues, the discussion centres on archaeological-historical methodology and theoretical
implications of mobility and the wayfaring of inhabitants of arid lands. Moreover, the question is pursued
of how routes emerged and how habitual knowledge was cemented in order to establish the trails used
by generations to follow. The paper shows the interconnection and similarities between the mobility of
multisited communities and the seemingly so different mobility of crop-growing groups, according to
the exploitation, availability and exchange of resources and goods. As a general concern, the alleged
dichotomy of sedentary and nomadic mobility is challenged and replaced by a more open concept of
space and place. Mobility, the complexity of interactions and hence the routes themselves are not so
much shaped by fixed socio-cultural ascriptions of life-strategies
An ancient roadhouse was discovered on the route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Oasis of Siwa and partly excavated in the years 2006-2007. The site on the Marmarica-Plateau with two ancient cisterns shows a pattern of use and frequentation of this favoured area on the desert margin at least from Graeco-Romanto recent times.
Seventeen thousand six hundred and forty-five faunal remains from recent excavations at the pre-Napatan and Napatan fortress Gala Abu Ahmed, about 110 km west of the Nile in the lower Wadi Howar, have been identified. The results are described in detail as they represent the first large dataset for the period and region and can therefore serve as a benchmark for future studies. They are also informative for the organisation of life at outposts. Overall, there is not much that distinguishes the fauna from Gala Abu Ahmed from ordinary settlement waste. The presence of many very young caprines suggests that one building may have been used by higher status individuals. Another one, where many cowrie shells were recorded, seems to have had a ritual function. Mainly locally available animal resources were consumed, predominantly goat and sheep. However, some resources must have been brought in from the Nile Valley as well, including cattle. The environment around Gala Abu Ahmed appears to have been an arid desert area, but thanks to wells, livestock could be kept. The fauna did not yield any particular evidence that may be related to one of its presumed main functions, that of a trade post. Other outposts in north-eastern Africa are younger than Gala Abu Ahmed, and the diversity of their fauna reflects the diversity in their specific function, organisation and the people occupying them.
