Italian Archaeological Mission to the Farafra Oasis (Western Desert, Egypt)
The Farafra Oasis prehistoric research project was begun in 1986 by Barbara E. Barich, then at the Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità of the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, and is currently co-directed by Barbara E. Barich, and Giulio Lucarini of the University of Cambridge, UK. The mission is currently organized by ISMEO with funding from the MFA and Cambridge University.
Co-directors: Barbara E. Barich, Giulio Lucarini
Nation: Egypt
Period: 1986 – in course
The volume “From Lake to Sand – The Archaeology of Farafra Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt” by B. E. Barich, G. Lucarini, M. A. Hamdan and F. A. Hassan, presents the results achieved by the mission.
Farafra Oasis, Example of typical local architecture.
Farafra Oasis, Example of typical local architecture.
Farafra Oasis, Panoramic view of the El-Bahr basin with residues of ancient lacustrine deposits.
Farafra Oasis, Limestone bedrock structures in the White Desert.
Farafra Oasis, Excavation of dwelling remains in the Hidden Valley village.
Farafra Oasis, Excavation of circular hut bases in the Hidden Valley village.
Farafra Oasis, Limestone “towers” in the Sheikh el Obeiyid area on the Northern Plateau.
Farafra Oasis, Topographic survey at Sheikh el Obeiyid.
Farafra Oasis, General view of the excavation of the Sheikh el Obeiyid village, on the Northern Plateau.
Farafra Oasis, General view of the excavation of the Sheikh el Obeiyid village, on the Northern Plateau.
Farafra Oasis, Excavation in the Sheikh el Obeiyid village.
Farafra, together with Bahariya, Dakhla and Kharga, is one of the oases in Egypt’s Western Desert. The mission’s central goal is to understand the economic development that occurred in this extensive territory, with the fundamental transformation from a hunting-gathering model to early forms of horticulture and animal domestication. The data obtained in the field are studied with reference to the Nilotic societies that developed the first forms of agriculture during the Badari and Naqada cultural phases (5th– 4thmillennium BC).
After 20 missions in the field and studies conducted by a multidisciplinary team, the Farafra oasis, once an unknown territory, today has a place in the cultural history of pre- and proto-historic Egypt thanks to the archaeological, geomorphological, palaeo-climatic and bioarchaeological reconstruction of the region. In the 7thand 6thmillennium BC in the Western Desert a veritable Oasis Culture developed, of which Farafra today preserves the most complete and detailed remains. In the north of the depression, the Hidden Valley and Sheikh el Obeiyid villages have shown the emergence of a Neolithic culture characterized by semi-sedentary village settlement, increased social complexity and high-standard stone hand-axe technology. The economy featured the first forms of goat-breeding, combined with intensive collection of the wild grasses that grew locally, among which the use of sorghum is of particular interest. The presence of goats, not an autochthonous North African resource but imported towards the end of the 7thmillennium BC, demonstrated significant relationships with Near Eastern communities, and this introduction of the first animal-raising led to an economic transformation. An important glimpse of the symbolic world of Farafra’s Neolithic inhabitants is given by the engravings and paintings on the walls of a cave in Wadi el Obeiyid, just two kilometres north of the Hidden Valley village, itself a significant ritual and cult location for groups transiting in the area. In summary, the Farafra region was home to largely autonomous agro-pastoral activities that were transferred to the Nile Valley during the most arid phases of the Holocene (> 5200 BC), thus influencing the development of pre-Dynastic Neolithic cultures.
Farafra Oasis, Equipment for digital-photography-based planning of structural remains at Sheikh el Obeiyid.
Farafra Oasis, Excavation of a circular building in the Sheikh el Obeiyid village.
Farafra Oasis, Farafra Cave in the side of the Northern Plateau, Wadi el Obeiyid 1.
Farafra Oasis, View of Farafra Cave in Wadi el Obeiyid 1 from the wadi bottom. Note the steeply sloping limestone bedrock in front of the cave.
Farafra Oasis, View of the “Back Gallery” in the Wadi el Obeiyid 1 cave, with negative handprints painted the walls and ceiling.
Farafra Oasis, Detail of the “Back Gallery” with painted hand outlines and a circular recess of karstic origin.
Farafra Oasis, Inside of the Wadi el Obeiyid 1 cave during excavation of a test pit in the “Front Gallery”.
Farafra Oasis, Campsite of the Italian Archaeological Mission at Sheikh el Obeiyid.
Farafra Oasis, Members of the Italian Archaeological Mission in the main tent.
Farafra Oasis, Members and staff of the Italian Archaeological Mission during a work break.
Farafra Oasis, Inside the “Visitors’ Centre” built by the Italian-Egyptian Collaboration in the small town of Qasr Farafra, with the participation of the Archaeological Mission
Farafra Oasis, Another image of the “Visitors’ Centre”: in the foreground is Abdurabbu Abd-el Nour, one of the greatest experts on the White Desert.
LINKS
http://sapienzadigitallibrary.uniroma1.it/identifier/RMSDIP22_FARAFRA_00016005
http://www.insegnadelgiglio.it/prodotto/from-lake-to-sand/
https://www.academia.edu/9941960/Missione_Archeologica_Italiana_nellOasi_di_Farafra
http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/the-oasis-papers-6.html
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah15157/abstract
http://guardians.net/sca/Farafra_Oasis.htm
http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1TEKT3ic-F78hm
