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196205

Reconstructing the Ancient Caravan Route of Darb Al-Arbain in Greco-Roman Egypt: Heritage Value and Tourism Potential

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Last updated: 24 Dec 2024

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Abstract

Kharga Oasis is the capital of the new valley governorate and the biggest of Egypt western oases. The recent studies confirm the importance of El-Kharga as a desert crossroad during ancient times, particularly in the Greco-Roman period. The most well-known route was the north-south route of Darb El-Arbain, which according to Herodotus enabled transportation and trade between Egypt and the heart of Africa. The long route started in Kobbe, moved north out of Sudan to al-Shab, then continued north to El-Kharga Oasis, where Caravans were taxed and assessed, finally reaching Assuit on the Nile Valley, with full length of about 1770 km. A lot of artifacts uncovered along the ancient route helped to identify its pathway,  such as cairns, the remains of broken pots, sherds belonging to various types of vessels, surprisingly pack animal skeletons and some petroglyphs were found in the north and the east parts of the road, in addition to, the remains discovered of Ptolemaic and Roman water stations. Archaeological evidences proved that the Romans also stationed multiple military garrisons in the Western Desert and along Darb El-Arbain route to defend caravans and valued supplies. Thus, Darb El-Arbain was the most favorable route for the long-running caravans from the 2nd century BC to the 4th century AD. As an invaluable piece of cultural and natural heritage, Kharga Oasis and its vast surrounding desert area were placed among UNESCO tentative list, acknowledging the importance of preserving their heritage of human activities for future generations and preparing them to be nominated to the World Heritage List. This study focuses on an attempt to re-map the old caravan route of Darb El-Arbain, displaying its importance and its role in the north-south trade and upgrading its ranking within the UNESCO tentative list..

DOI

10.21608/jaauth.2019.196205

Keywords

Kharga Oasis, Caravan Routes, Darb el-Arbain, Roman, Cairns, Petroglyphs, Pottery, water sources, Military garrisons, heritage

Authors

First Name

Nashwa

Last Name

M.S. Solieman

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Affiliation

Tourism Guidance Department, Faculty of Tourism & Hotels, University of Sadat City

Email

nashwa.soleiman@fth.usc.edu.eg

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Orcid

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First Name

Marwa

Last Name

Farouk Hafez

MiddleName

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Affiliation

Tourism Guidance Department, Faculty of Tourism & Hotels, University of Sadat City

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Orcid

-

First Name

Ahmed

Last Name

Mohamed Khattab

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

MSc Researcher, Tourism Guidance Department, Faculty of Tourism & Hotels, University of Sadat City, Demonstrator, Cairo Higher Institute of Tourism and Hotels

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Volume

16

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

7766

Issue Date

2019-06-01

Receive Date

2021-09-26

Publish Date

2019-06-01

Page Start

202

Page End

224

Print ISSN

1687-1863

Online ISSN

2682-4612

Link

https://jaauth.journals.ekb.eg/article_196205.html

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https://jaauth.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=196205

Order

22

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Original Article

Type Code

997

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Journal of Association of Arab Universities for Tourism and Hospitality

Publication Link

https://jaauth.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Reconstructing the Ancient Caravan Route of Darb Al-Arbain in Greco-Roman Egypt: Heritage Value and Tourism Potential

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Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023