The Wadi Khashab ceremonial complex — a manifestation of cattle keepers in the Eastern Desert of Egypt before the end of the fifth millennium BC

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6041369
AutoresPiotr Osypiński (0000-0001-7843-224X, autor correspondente), Marta Osypińska (0000-0003-4603-9245, Polish Academy of Sciences)
Ano2016
Volume51
Fascículo2
Páginas257-281
Data de publicação2016-04-02
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAzania Archaeological Research in Africa (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0067-270X • E-ISSN: 1945-5534
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0067270x.2016.1186335
OpenAlexW2407555470
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas23

Despite suggestions of cattle keepers being present in the Eastern Desert of Egypt before the end of the fifth millennium BC there is still no archaeological evidence concerning settlement patterns and relations to the cultures of the Nile and Western Desert. Archaeozoological datasets have also been lacking for ancient herding models and animal metrics/morphology in the region. Research at Wadi Khashab provides new data with which to address these questions. Analysis of complete skeletons of cattle and sheep buried under stone mounds and fenced with symbolic zeriba (kraals) shows osteological features that refer to the animal’s behaviour and life-long migration in harsh environmental conditions. Applying the point-scale statistical method for osteometric values allows the Wadi Khashab animals to be compared with numerous ancient animal populations from the Nile Valley. The metrically most similar animals were those kept by the Bronze Age Kerma Culture of Nubia. The spatial relations of the site elements at Wadi Khashab — including the animal/human cemetery and megalithic installations that are set out along a southeast-northwest axis — allow us to suppose the simultaneous creation of the sacral complex there before the end of the fifth millennium BC. The site appears to have been plundered in the following millennium and a pottery find suggests another episode of human presence in the first half of the second millennium BC

Ancient history · Archaeology · Desert (philosophy) · Geography · Wadi · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Archaeology and Historical Studies · History