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

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6041369
AutoresPiotr Osypiński (0000-0001-7843-224X, autor de correspondencia), Marta Osypińska (0000-0003-4603-9245, Polish Academy of Sciences)
Año2016
Volumen51
Número2
Páginas257-281
Fecha de publicación2016-04-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAzania Archaeological Research in Africa (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0067-270X • E-ISSN: 1945-5534
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0067270x.2016.1186335
OpenAlexW2407555470
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias 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