‘‘We went forth to the desert land…’: retracing the routes between the Nile valley and the Hatnub travertine quarries’, Desert Road Archaeology in Ancient Egypt and Beyond, ed. F. Förster and H. Riemer, Africa Praehistorica 26 (Cologne: Heinrich-Barth-Institut, 2013), pp.521-32.

The Abu Ballas Trail in the Libyan Desert (SW Egypt) consists of about thirty archaeological sites along an ancient donkey caravan route, and runs almost straight from Dakhla Oasis towards the Gilf Kebir Plateau, covering about 400 km. Large storage jars for water are the main finds at these sites, and the jars occur in varying numbers and different states of preservation. Through study of the pottery, several chronological phases of trail use have been recognized. The earliest use dates to the late Old Kingdom or early First Intermediate Period (around 2200/2100 BC). It is the best documented period because pottery from that time has been found at nearly all of the sites, although the amount of vessels and the composition of the types varies. No doubt the variability in vessel amounts and types is due to functional differences between the individual sites. The donkeys must have been watered at the main stations, including the eponymous Abu Ballas or ‘Pottery Hill’ site, because of the large amount of storage jars found there (up to more than a hundred). The distances between the main supply depots are roughly equal and most probably relate to the donkey’s ability to go without water for two or three days. Vats and different types of cups and bowls illustrate the organisation of the people accompanying the caravans and/or the men stationed at the individual sites to keep watch over the provisions. The intermittent sites contain far less pottery and can be considered temporary camp sites or places where vessels accidently broken during transport were left behind. The fabrics and vessel shapes of the late Old Kingdom / early First Intermediate Period are strikingly similar to those from the residence of the Egyptian governors at Balat/Ayn Asil in the eastern part of Dakhla, where the Abu Ballas Trail apparently had its departure point. There are, as yet, no vessels of the Middle Kingdom and only very few that can be attributed to the Second Intermediate Period, but two different phases of the New Kingdom are well represented: the later 18th dynasty and the Ramesside Period. In addition to a general presentation of the pottery found along the trail, this article will focus on an ancient ‘technique’ of long-distance desert travel: the use of pottery deposits as artificial water reservoirs in order to facilitate the crossing of barren desert regions. This ‘technique’ has even been reported by Herodotus (III, 6–7) and the Abu Ballas Trail is currently the best example.

In: F. Förster & H. Riemer (eds.), Desert Road Archaeology in Ancient Egypt and Beyond. Africa Praehistorica 27 (Köln: Heinrich-Barth-Institut), 2013, pp. 339–379, 2013

The Abu Ballas Trail in the Libyan Desert (SW Egypt) consists of about thirty archaeological sites along an ancient donkey caravan route, and runs almost straight from Dakhla Oasis towards the Gilf Kebir Plateau, covering about 400 km. Large storage jars for water are the main finds at these sites, and the jars occur in varying numbers and different states of preservation. Through study of the pottery, several chronological phases of trail use have been recognized. The earliest use dates to the late Old Kingdom or early First Intermediate Period (around 2200/2100 BC). It is the best documented period because pottery from that time has been found at nearly all of the sites, although the amount of vessels and the composition of the types varies. No doubt the variability in vessel amounts and types is due to functional differences between the individual sites. The donkeys must have been watered at the main stations, including the eponymous Abu Ballas or ‘Pottery Hill’ site, because of the large amount of storage jars found there (up to more than a hundred). The distances between the main supply depots are roughly equal and most probably relate to the donkey’s ability to go without water for two or three days. Vats and different types of cups and bowls illustrate the organisation of the people accompanying the caravans and/or the men stationed at the individual sites to keep watch over the provisions. The intermittent sites contain far less pottery and can be considered temporary camp sites or places where vessels accidently broken during transport were left behind. The fabrics and vessel shapes of the late Old Kingdom / early First Intermediate Period are strikingly similar to those from the residence of the Egyptian governors at Balat/Ayn Asil in the eastern part of Dakhla, where the Abu Ballas Trail apparently had its departure point. There are, as yet, no vessels of the Middle Kingdom and only very few that can be attributed to the Second Intermediate Period, but two different phases of the New Kingdom are well represented: the later 18th dynasty and the Ramesside Period. In addition to a general presentation of the pottery found along the trail, this article will focus on an ancient ‘technique’ of long-distance desert travel: the use of pottery deposits as artificial water reservoirs in order to facilitate the crossing of barren desert regions. This ‘technique’ has even been reported by Herodotus (III, 6–7) and the Abu Ballas Trail is currently the best example. Keywords: pottery deposit, supply station, donkey caravan, Libyan Desert, Dakhla, Gilf Kebir, Sheikh Muftah culture, Old Kingdom, First Intermediate Period, Second Intermediate Period, New Kingdom, Roman

In this article a group of hard stone objects will be presented. They were found in various parts and phases of a late Middle Kingdom settlement quarter at the Delta site of Tell el-Daba. The relevant local Phases are G/4 and G/3-1 (c. 1770-1710 BC), about two generations before the onset of the so-called ‘Hyksos’ period in the Egyptian Nile Delta. The macroscopic appearance of the objects seems reasonably similar to warrant the presentation as a group. As these objects were found in the stoneless Delta they had been brought to the site from the Nile valley either in the form of raw material or as finished products. Frequently such objects remain without known provenance. Partly this is the reason why they are in general rarely published and discussed, especially from settlements. Thus, almost no comparative corpus exists for the late Middle Kingdom.

Journal of Archaeological Science 55 (2015), pp. 286-300 , 2015

The subject of this paper is the range of potential mechanisms for travel along the Mediterranean coast, from the western edge of the Nile Delta towards Cyrenaica. More specifically, it is concerned with the ways in which travel along this stretch of coast in the period from c. 1300-1150 BC may have been affected by the presence of Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham, an Egyptian fortress-town 300 km west of the Nile Delta, founded (and probably abandoned) during the reign of Ramesses II. The problems of transit through the region are examined, especially the nature of the supply-chain for the large Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham garrison, and Egyptian evidence relating to the question of the possible mass-migration along the Marmarican coast of Libyan groups during the Ramesside Period.

Lebedev M. Exploiting the Southern Lands: Ancient Egyptian Quarring, Mining, and Trade Missions to Nubia and Punt During the Old Kingdom, in: Honegger M. (ed.). Nubian Archaeology in the XXIst Century: Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference for Nubian Studies, Neuchâtel, 1st – 6th September 2014. Lwuven – Paris – Bristol, 2018, pp. 277 – 291.

This paper considers the current state of evidence for pharaonic quarrying and mining, including the results of fresh fieldwork at a number of previously neglected sites, such as the Hatnub travertine quarries and the Wadi el-Hudi amethyst mines. The surviving remains of Egyptian quarrying and mining settlements suggest a pattern of subtle adaptations and versatility in response to changing economic and geographical parameters.