Molluscs from the Stone and Mud-brick Tombs in Abusir (Egypt) and the Provenance of so-called “Nile-mud”

More than 200 archaeological features were looted in Abusir during the Egyptian Lotus revolution in January 2011. The survey of the looted features brought to light among other material mollusc shells from mud-brick, mud plaster and layers covering and filling tombs and shafts. Sixteen features could be dated to the Old Kingdom (5 th -6 th dynasty, ca. 2435-2118 BC); there are two possible features from the 3 rd dynasty or early 4 th dynasty (ca. 2543-2436 BC) and one feature datable to the Late Period (664-404 BC). Four species of gastropods and five species of bivalves were identified. A number of the species are now either extinct or have a limited range in the Nile with these including: Unio elongatulus, Coelatura aegyptiaca, Anodonta cygnaea, and in all probability Etheria elliptica. The most frequent freshwater species in the corpus, from slow flowing or stagnant waters, could be evidence for the environment from which the mud for mud-brick and mud plaster was extracted. It could have been the Lake of Abusir, irrigation channels or the slower flowing part of the Old Kingdom west branch of the Nile

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Brick · Geography · Nile delta · Period (music · Provenance · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · History · Marine and environmental studies · Paleopathology and ancient diseases · Geology · Paleontology

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