Abstract
The ancient Egyptian city of al-Ashmūnayn (Minyā Governorate, Egypt) has been an important regional centre since at least the Old Kingdom (c. 2686–2160 BC). It is assumed to have been founded on the banks of the Nile, although no scientific evidence was hitherto available to support this claim. In this multidisciplinary study, the results of a geoarchaeological survey were combined with the study of pottery fragments. Boreholes placed at al-Ashmūnayn produced thick layers of late Old Kingdom pottery in association with the local occurrence of river channel deposits, allowing us to conclude that it is very likely that al-Ashmūnayn originated on the banks of the Nile River. The regional borehole survey demonstrates that major geomorphological reconfigurations of the fluvial landscape occurred throughout the late Holocene, notably by the process of river avulsion. An interconnectedness of changes in the natural Nile Valley landscape and cultural dynamics of the ancient Egyptian riverine society seems possible, based on the coincidence of river reconfigurations with shifts in the preferential locations for high-status burials in the region.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 267-283 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Geoarchaeology |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 18 Nov 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:All data are included with the current publication as supporting information. This study was carried out as part of the KU Leuven/NVIC mission to Dayr al-Barsh?, and was funded by an F + fellowship (F+/14/16) to H. W. and W. H. J. T. and an FWO-fellowship (1177218N) to K. C. We express our gratitude to the Permanent Committee of the SCA for permitting us to work at the site, and specifically to Dr. Kh?lid al-In?n?, Dr. Mu??af? Waz?r? and Dr Mu?ammad Isma??l, Mrs. Nashwa J?bir, Mr. Jam?l Ab? Bakr, Mr. Ma?m?d ?al??, Mr. ??l? al-Bakr?, Mr. Fat?? ?Awwad R?y?? and Mr. ?am?da Mu?ammad ?Abd al-Mu??n Kall?wy. We sincerely thank the inspectors of the Egyptian Ministry for Antiquities (?Abd All?h ??l? ?Abd al-Ra?m?n Ma?r?f, Sayyid ?Abd al-?Az?z al-Jahm?, R?m? Is??q and Marw? ?Uthm?n), and the local workmen and landowners for making this study possible. Detailed drawings of diagnostic pottery were made by Dorien Ceyssens, Nina Troosters and Merel Eyckerman (Hasselt University/PXL-MAD, Hasselt, Belgium). David Aston is thanked for sharing his expertise on New Kingdom to Ptolemaic and Late Antique pottery. Two anonymous reviewers and editor Dr. Sarah Sherwood are thanked for their supportive comments.
Funding Information:
All data are included with the current publication as supporting information. This study was carried out as part of the KU Leuven/NVIC mission to Dayr al‐Barshā, and was funded by an F + fellowship (F+/14/16) to H. W. and W. H. J. T. and an FWO‐fellowship (1177218N) to K. C. We express our gratitude to the Permanent Committee of the SCA for permitting us to work at the site, and specifically to Dr. Khālid al‐Inānī, Dr. Muṣṭafā Wazīrī and Dr Muḥammad Ismaʽīl, Mrs. Nashwa Jābir, Mr. Jamāl Abū Bakr, Mr. Maḥmūd Ṣalāḥ, Mr. ʽĀlī al‐Bakrī, Mr. Fatḥī ʽAwwad Rīyāḍ and Mr. Ḥamāda Muḥammad ‘Abd al‐Mu‘īn Kallāwy. We sincerely thank the inspectors of the Egyptian Ministry for Antiquities (ʽAbd Allāh ʽĀlī ʽAbd al‐Raḥmān Maʽrūf, Sayyid ʿAbd al‐ʿAzīz al‐Jahmī, Rāmī Isḥāq and Marwā ʿUthmān), and the local workmen and landowners for making this study possible. Detailed drawings of diagnostic pottery were made by Dorien Ceyssens, Nina Troosters and Merel Eyckerman (Hasselt University/PXL‐MAD, Hasselt, Belgium). David Aston is thanked for sharing his expertise on New Kingdom to Ptolemaic and Late Antique pottery. Two anonymous reviewers and editor Dr. Sarah Sherwood are thanked for their supportive comments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Geoarchaeology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
Keywords
- Dayr al-Barshā
- Egyptology
- fluvial geomorphology
- Holocene
- pottery
- river avulsion