Mohamed Hamdan
Cairo University, Geology Department, Faculty Member
Introduction and Background The Fayoum Oasis is famed for its orchards and monuments. It is also the site of one of the oldest state hydraulic projects and water management in the world. The subject of legends since Herodotus wrote his
L'indagine spaziale condotta nel territorio di Farafra, si e focalizzata da vari anni intomo al Wadi el Obeiyid nel settore settentrionale della depressione e, parallelamente, e andata sempre pili precisando il modello diacronico di... more
L'indagine spaziale condotta nel territorio di Farafra, si e focalizzata da vari anni intomo al Wadi el Obeiyid nel settore settentrionale della depressione e, parallelamente, e andata sempre pili precisando il modello diacronico di ricostruzione. Cia e stato raggiunto attraverso l'impianto di ricerche stratigrafiche applicate a insediamenti che, in forma del tutto eccezionale per abitati all'aperto, hanno mostrato una lunga sequenza di occupazione. La sequenza generale del Wadi el Obeiyid ha permesso di riconoscere tre fasi successive, direttamente correlate al cambiamento climatico e alla locale disponibilita d'acqua: fase A (6300-5700 a.C.); fase B (5650-5300 a.C.); fase C (>5200 a.C.)1. L'elemento di principale interesse, evidenziato dagli scavi nel villaggio proto-neolitico di Hidden Valley, e un' evidente maggiore elaborazione delle strutture di occupazione, l'intensificazione delle attivita di sfruttamento delle pi ante e, nel complesso, una pil...
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Introduction and Background The Fayoum Oasis is famed for its orchards and monuments. It is also the site of one of the oldest state hydraulic projects and water management in the world. The subject of legends since Herodotus wrote his
Introduction and Background The Fayoum Oasis is famed for its orchards and monuments. It is also the site of one of the oldest state hydraulic projects and water management in the world. The subject of legends since Herodotus wrote his
sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical... more
sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research. BioOne (www.bioone.org) is a nonprofit, online aggregation of core research in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. BioOne provides a sustainable online platform for over 170 journals and books published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses. Your use of this PDF, the BioOne Web site, and all posted and associated content indicates your acceptance of BioOne's Terms of Use, available at www.bioone.org/page/terms_of_use. Usage of BioOne content is strictly limited to personal, educational, and non-commercial use. Commercial inquiries or rights and permissions requests should be directed to the individual publisher as copyright holder. ABSTRACT—The early Miocene site of Wadi Moghra, Qa...
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In 2010 the Italian-Egyptian Environmental Cooperation launched a safeguarding project for the preservation of the caves with prehistoric rock art located in the Gilf Kebir plateau in southwestern Egypt. The project was part of the... more
In 2010 the Italian-Egyptian Environmental Cooperation launched a safeguarding project for the preservation of the caves with prehistoric rock art located in the Gilf Kebir plateau in southwestern Egypt. The project was part of the cooperation program developed to establish the Egyptian Gilf Kebir National Park (GKNP) protected area. Given their bad state of preservation, the Italian conservation project focused on the Caves of Swimmers and Archers, located along the Wadi Sura. Although only very few studies of this kind have been carried out in the Saharan region, our work in the Gilf Kebir can be considered a pilot study, the results of which should be evaluated in the long term. Results obtained to date and reported in this paper provide analytical petrographic studies of the bedrock, a complete photographic and geodetic survey of the two sites, data from climate monitoring, along with a preliminary consolidation of some of the most at-risk areas of the two caves. Finally, laboratory experimentation led us to select the most suitable materials for the consolidation of the rock, shifting in the direction of nano-technology instead of ethyl silicate use because of the longer cross-linking process of the latter in hyper-arid environments; the use of the latter can in fact result in extremely long and expensive field seasons. These results will be valuable for the continuation and extension of the project, which is currently suspended due to safety concerns in the region.
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This article deals with the results of the 2012 fieldwork in the Central-Eastern Desert of Egypt and the studies in progress on some of the major related subjects. Information on other subjects, still waiting for future analyses and... more
This article deals with the results of the 2012 fieldwork in the
Central-Eastern Desert of Egypt and the studies in progress on some of the
major related subjects. Information on other subjects, still waiting for future
analyses and studies (Site 2: a ancient - ? - square shaped well; Site 5-6:
petroglyphs sites and Site 10: Umm el Howeitat el Bahri) can be found in
Bragantini, Pirelli (2012). For a short report see also Bragantini, Pirelli
(2013).
The Italian project in the Central-Eastern Desert - promoted by the
Italian Embassy in Egypt and directed by Irene Bragantini - is a joint project
of different Italian and Egyptian institutions (Università degli Studi di
Napoli “L’Orientale”, University of Cairo, Faculty of Geology, and
University of Helwan, Faculty of Archaeology), and is aimed at
investigating the central area of the Eastern Desert1. The cooperation
between archaeologists and geologists aims at conducting a geoarchaeological
survey of the region, in order to investigate the natural
resources, the exploitation in the different periods, and the economic and
commercial potential of the area. The methodology we want to follow and
the problems we will be confronted with, demand in fact the cooperation of
different scientific fields in order to reconstruct a geo-economic landscape.
Central-Eastern Desert of Egypt and the studies in progress on some of the
major related subjects. Information on other subjects, still waiting for future
analyses and studies (Site 2: a ancient - ? - square shaped well; Site 5-6:
petroglyphs sites and Site 10: Umm el Howeitat el Bahri) can be found in
Bragantini, Pirelli (2012). For a short report see also Bragantini, Pirelli
(2013).
The Italian project in the Central-Eastern Desert - promoted by the
Italian Embassy in Egypt and directed by Irene Bragantini - is a joint project
of different Italian and Egyptian institutions (Università degli Studi di
Napoli “L’Orientale”, University of Cairo, Faculty of Geology, and
University of Helwan, Faculty of Archaeology), and is aimed at
investigating the central area of the Eastern Desert1. The cooperation
between archaeologists and geologists aims at conducting a geoarchaeological
survey of the region, in order to investigate the natural
resources, the exploitation in the different periods, and the economic and
commercial potential of the area. The methodology we want to follow and
the problems we will be confronted with, demand in fact the cooperation of
different scientific fields in order to reconstruct a geo-economic landscape.
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sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical... more
sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research. BioOne (www.bioone.org) is a nonprofit, online aggregation of core research in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. BioOne provides a sustainable online platform for over 170 journals and books published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses. Your use of this PDF, the BioOne Web site, and all posted and associated content indicates your acceptance of BioOne's Terms of Use, available at www.bioone.org/page/terms_of_use. Usage of BioOne content is strictly limited to personal, educational, and non-commercial use. Commercial inquiries or rights and permissions requests should be directed to the individual publisher as copyright holder. ABSTRACT—The early Miocene site of Wadi Moghra, Qa...
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The Hawara Pyramid is an outstanding monument. However, the mudbrick structure shows signs of erosion, and the passages and chambers are currently submerged. The problem of water ingress has mainly arisen since the 1880s. In this study,... more
The Hawara Pyramid is an outstanding monument. However, the mudbrick structure shows signs of erosion, and the passages and chambers are currently submerged. The problem of water ingress has mainly arisen since the 1880s. In this study, an initial assessment of the pyramid structure was made and causes of water ingress were investigated through analysis of water samples. Stable oxygen isotope measurements indicate that the source of water within the pyramid is the Bahr Selah canal. Water within the pyramid is highly saline compared to the Bahr Selah, and evaporation can only partly account for this high salinity. The composition of dissolved ions suggests that dissolution of salts in soils and from bedrock in the vicinity of the pyramid has enhanced the salinity of water percolating into the pyramid structure. Water ingress and salt deposition are at present the main threat to the integrity of the monument.
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The volume presents all the data collected during the cycle of research conducted by the Italian Archaeological Mission in the Farafra Oasis between 1990 and 2005. The 29 multidisciplinary essays contained in this book provide a detailed... more
The volume presents all the data collected during the cycle of research conducted by the Italian Archaeological Mission in the Farafra Oasis between 1990 and 2005. The 29 multidisciplinary essays contained in this book provide a detailed picture of the population of the Farafra Oasis,
hitherto one of the least well known within the Western Desert. Farafra became particularly important during the middle Holocene, the period when climate conditions were most favourable, with later brief humid episodes even in the historic periods. The results of the long-term research cycle presented here, combined with data from the survey of the whole Wadi el Obeiyid still in progress, allow the authors to identify changes in the peopling of the oasis and to define various occupation phases. The new chronology for the Wadi el Obeiyid is one of the main achievements of the book and, as demonstrated in the final chapter, is in complete agreement with the main cultural units of other territories in the Western Desert. On this chronological basis, the contacts between the latter and the populations established on the Nile are brought into sharper focus. The importance of the archaeological documents discovered at Farafra and, at the same time their fragility due to the deterioration of the physical environment and the uncontrolled human activities, make us fear for their conservation. We hope that this book, with its complete documentation of the precious nature of the Farafra Oasis landscape and its archaeological heritage, may help to promote more effective policies for its safeguard.
hitherto one of the least well known within the Western Desert. Farafra became particularly important during the middle Holocene, the period when climate conditions were most favourable, with later brief humid episodes even in the historic periods. The results of the long-term research cycle presented here, combined with data from the survey of the whole Wadi el Obeiyid still in progress, allow the authors to identify changes in the peopling of the oasis and to define various occupation phases. The new chronology for the Wadi el Obeiyid is one of the main achievements of the book and, as demonstrated in the final chapter, is in complete agreement with the main cultural units of other territories in the Western Desert. On this chronological basis, the contacts between the latter and the populations established on the Nile are brought into sharper focus. The importance of the archaeological documents discovered at Farafra and, at the same time their fragility due to the deterioration of the physical environment and the uncontrolled human activities, make us fear for their conservation. We hope that this book, with its complete documentation of the precious nature of the Farafra Oasis landscape and its archaeological heritage, may help to promote more effective policies for its safeguard.