362162

MUDPANS A REVIEW INTO THE PREHISTORY OF THE ABU BALLAS AREA (WESTERN DESERT OF EGYPT

Article

Last updated: 04 Jan 2025

Subjects

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Tags

ARCHAEOLOGY

Abstract

Excavations close to the Abu Ballas hill, around 200 km southwest of the Dakhla Oasis, have produced proof that the area of “Mudpans" was occupied continuously between approximately 7500 and 5500 cal BC. Three phases of occupation during the Holocene are described by the archaeological sequence of the area in terms of cultural traditions and climatic change. Site Mudpans 83/39, in which the material culture may be dated to the Early Holocene/ Epipalaeolithic, represents the earliest phase of the Mudpans sequence, while the other two phases are Mid-Holocene in age. The Mid-Holocene A is represented by one site, Mudpans 85/56, while the other two sites, Mudpans 85/50 and 85/51 represent the Mid-Holocene B. If we take human occupation as an indicator of climatic development, Mudpans results show how the environment has impacted the economy there. The animal bones comprise mainly the typical prey of desert hunters like hare, antelope and gazelle, which can tell us about the environmental impact on the life in the Western Desert. The abundance of arrowheads among the lithic tools clearly demonstrate the significance of hunting throughout the whole occupation sequence with no single sign of domestication. Along with the presence of pottery and some goods from far away, Mudpans sites must be understood in the context of high intergroup exchange and mobility during the middle Holocene, when people were still roaming broad areas and forging local identities.

DOI

10.21608/shedet.2024.167732.1146

Keywords

Holocene, environment, Western Desert, Mudpans, lithic

Authors

First Name

Nader

Last Name

El-Hassanin

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Egyptology department, Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University, Egypt

Email

nadergem@gmail.com

City

GIZA

Orcid

-

First Name

MOSTAFA

Last Name

ATALLAH

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Egyptology department, Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University, Egypt

Email

dr.mostafaatallah@yahoo.com

City

CAIRO

Orcid

-

First Name

HEIKO

Last Name

RIEMER

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology, African Archaeology Unit, University of Cologne, Germany

Email

heiko.riemer@uni-koeln.de

City

COLOGNE

Orcid

-

First Name

RUDOLPH

Last Name

KUPER

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Heinrich Barth Institute for Archaeology and African History, University of Cologne, Germany

Email

kuper@uni-koeln.de

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

13

Article Issue

13

Related Issue

48692

Issue Date

2024-08-01

Receive Date

2022-10-08

Publish Date

2024-06-01

Page Start

56

Page End

73

Print ISSN

2356-8704

Online ISSN

2536-9954

Link

https://shedet.journals.ekb.eg/article_362162.html

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https://shedet.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=362162

Order

362,162

Type

research articles

Type Code

1,264

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Shedet

Publication Link

https://shedet.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

MUDPANS A REVIEW INTO THE PREHISTORY OF THE ABU BALLAS AREA (WESTERN DESERT OF EGYPT

Details

Type

Article

Created At

25 Dec 2024