Bir Umm Fawakhir 3
Excavations 1999-2001
by Carol Meyer, Lisa A. Heidorn, Richard L. Jaeschke, Thomas C. Roby, Wendy Smith and Salima Ikram
Bir Umm Fawakhir 3 is the last of the final reports on the archaeological surveys and excavations at the Byzantine site of Bir Umm Fawakhir in the central Eastern Desert of Egypt; it remains the only intensively studied ancient Egyptian gold-mining operation, and one of very few completely mapped towns of the era.
Bir Umm Fawakhir 3 is the last of the final reports on the archaeological surveys and excavations at the Byzantine site of Bir Umm Fawakhir in the central Eastern Desert of Egypt; it remains the only intensively studied ancient Egyptian gold-mining operation, and one of very few completely mapped towns of the era. Along with other recent excavations and surveys, it demonstrates the Byzantine empire’s continuing activities in the Eastern Desert, not abandonment, as had long been believed. Four survey seasons, in 1992, 1993, 1996, and 1997, succeeded in dating the site to the fifth- and sixth-century Coptic/Byzantine period, mapping in detail the main settlement and one of the fourteen outlying settlements, and determining that it was a gold-mining operation. The goals of the 1999 excavations and the 2001 study season reported in this volume were to answer questions about the site and its occupants that surveys alone could not address, primarily the history of occupation of the site and the status of its occupants. The 1999 excavations of a sample of the houses and middens were undertaken to provide more information about the occupants and their well-being or lack thereof. Two houses, two middens, and one single-room outbuilding were excavated. Like the earlier Roman-period stone quarries in the desert, the miners seem to have worked intermittently and abandoned, or nearly so, the sitebetween mining campaigns. The pottery study extends the corpora published with previous seasons, and the chapter on small finds discusses the wine jar dockets (dipinti), coins, jewelry, emeralds, metal, glass, and other objects. Analysis of the faunal material during the 2001 study season supports the picture of a town well provided with meat, not only sheep and goats but also an unusual amount of beef. The volume is rounded out by an archaeobotanical study and the conservators’ reports, including the construction of a barricade at the entrance to the site to help preserve it. A final chapter summarizes what can now be said about life and work at ancient Bir Umm Fawakhir.
- By (author) Lisa A. Heidorn
- By (author) Salima Ikram
- By (author) Richard L. Jaeschke
- By (author) Carol Meyer
- By (author) Thomas C. Roby
- By (author) Wendy Smith
Other Titles in this Series
Town and Country in Southeastern Anatolia, Volume 1
Settlement and Land Use at Kurban Hoyuek and Other Sites in the Lower Karababa Basin
Volume 109
Cuneiform Texts from the Ur III Period in the Oriental Institute, Volume 1
Drehem Administrative Documents from the Reign of Shulgi
Volume 115
Medinet Habu IX
The Eighteenth Dynasty Temple, Part 1: The Inner Sanctuaries, with Translations of Texts, Commentary and Glossary
Volume 136
Theban Desert Road Survey in the Egyptian Western Desert, Volume 1
Gebel Tjauti Rock Inscriptions 1-45 and Wadi el-Hol Rock Inscriptions 1-45
Volume 119
Reliefs and Inscriptions at Luxor Temple, Volume 2
The Facade, Portals, Upper Register Scenes, Columns, Marginalia, and Statuary in the Colonnade Hall
Volume 116
Excavations in the Plain of Antioch. Volume II
The Structural Remains of the Later Phases: Chatal Hueyuek, Tell Al-Judaidah, and Tell Tayinat
Volume 95
Cuneiform Texts from the Ur III Period in the Oriental Institute, Volume 2
Drehem Administrative Documents from the Reign of Amar-Suena
Volume 121
Early Megiddo on the East Slope (The ‘Megiddo Stages’)
A Report on the Early Occupation of the East Slope of Megiddo. Result of the Oriental Institute's Excavations, 1925-1933
Volume 139
On the Margin of the Euphrates
Settlement and Land Use at Tell es-Sweyhat and in the Upper Tabqa Area, Syria
Volume 124
Excavations at the prehistoric mound of Chogha Bonut, Khuzestan, Iran
Seasons 1976/77, 1977/78, and 1996
Volume 120
Ancient Settlement Systems and Cultures in the Ram Hormuz Plain, Southwestern Iran
Excavations at Tall-e Geser and Regional Survey in the Ram Hormuz Area
Volume 140
Tell Hamoukar, Volume 1. Urbanism and Cultural Landscapes in Northeastern Syria
The Tell Hamoukar Survey, 1999-2001
Volume 137
The Amuq Valley Regional Projects, Volume 1
Surveys in the Plain of Antioch and Orontes Delta, Turkey, 1995-2002
Volume 131
The Temple of Khonsu. Volume II
Scenes and Inscriptions in the Court and the First Hypostyle Hall
Volume 103
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