Description
Book Synopsis
Different ideas of what constitutes an archaeological site have developed over two centuries of scholarship and heritage law in Egypt, with sites often (unconsciously) conceived as lands with museum-quality pieces and striking monumental, mortuary, and/or epigraphic remains. As a result, the material record of the powerful dominates Egyptological discourse, leaving hundreds of unexplored sites in the Delta floodplain and their potential contributions to a narrative of Egyptian culture largely ignored.
Attempting to correct this, the author integrates historical maps, remote sensing data, and ancient texts to understand the dynamic landscape of the western Nile Delta. Weaving together new archaeological survey, Corona satellite images, and a targeted program of drill coring, this volume offers a palimpsest of settlement and paleoenvironment from the New Kingdom to Late Roman era. In the face of forces undermining many sites' integrity, this study adapts techniques in landscape archaeology to an Egyptian context, anticipating triage and salvage in the decades to come.
Trade Review
The field work conducted by the author is methodologically exemplary, providing a benchmark for future survey work in the Nile floodplain. In doing so, numerous new questions, methodological and historical, are raised, which is likewise beneficial for scholarship. Robert Schiestl, Journal of Near Eastern Studies
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Figures
List of Tables
Abbreviations
Introductions
Chapter 1: Regional Survey, the Nile Delta Floodplain, and the Archaeological Site in Egypt
A Review of Mapping Egyptian Archaeological Sites -- From Holes in the Ground to Lines in the Sand
Sites before Sites
Service des Antiquités, Egyptology, and Sites as Artifacts
A New Level of Detail
From AOI to Kom to Cultural Landscape
Conclusion
Chapter 2: Prior Research within the Cultural and Natural Landscape of the Western Delta
Prior Archaeological Research on Historical Settlement in the Southwestern Nile Delta
The Naukratis Project Survey
Kom el-Hisn
Kom Firin
Silvagou
Kom Dahab
Other Koms in the Southwestern Delta
Summary
Hydrology of the Southwestern Delta
Geological Sources on Western Delta Hydrology
Historical Sources on Western Delta Hydrology
Geomorphology
Diagnostic Features of Sedimentary Analysis
Previous Geological and Geomorphological Research
Conclusions
Chapter 3: Methodology for Investigating the Cultural and Natural Landscape of the Western Delta
Preliminary Research with Historical Cartography and Remote Sensing Data
Historical Cartography
Remote Sensing
Cultural Inventory
Methods
Results
Detailed Fieldwork and Study Season
Surface Topography
Surface Collection
Drill Coring
Shred Analysis
Final Assimilation of Results
Density Maps and Period Index
Geomorphology, Hydrology, kom, and Site
Moving Forward
Chapter 4: Presentation and Spatial Analysis of Detailed Fieldwork
Kom el-Abqa'in (KABQ)
General Remarks
Topographic Data
Surface Collection Data
Geomorphological Data
Summary
Kom el-Ghuzz (KGHZ) - Kom el-Shimuli (KSHM) - Kom Hamrit (KHMR)
General Remarks
Topographic Data
Surface Collection Data
Kom el-Ghuzz
Kom el-Shimuli
Kom Hamrit
Distribution
Geomorphological Data
Summary
Kom Abu el-Tubul (KATU) - Kom Sheikh Said Ahmed (KSSA) - Kom Abu Ali (KABA)
General Remarks
Topographic Data
Surface Collection Data
Kom Abu Ali
Kom Abu el-Tubul
Kom Sheikh Said Ahmed
Distribution
Geomorphological Data
Summary
Kom Qamha (QMHA) - Kom el-Barud (KBAR)
General Remarks
Topographic Data
Surface Collection Data
Kom Qamha
Kom el-Barud
Distribution
Geomorphological Data
Summary
Kom el-Hisn (KHSN)
General Remarks
Geomorphological Data
Conclusion
Chapter 5: Concluding Remarks
The Southwestern Delta
New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period
Late Dynastic
Ptolemaic
Roman
A Dynamic Western Delta Landscape
Regional Survey in the Nile Floodplain
The Nile Floodplain: Future Prospects
Appendix 1: List of koms and archaeological lands
Appendix 2: AOIs visited during the Fall 2007 cultural inventory
Appendix 3: List of collection units (CUs) identified by CUID
Appendix 4: Sums of period indices for each CU
Appendix 5: Sums of period indices for all AOIs
Bibliography
Subject Index
