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Living in an Egyptian Oasis: Reconstruction of the Holocene Archaeological Sequence in Kharga

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Abstract

Within the Egyptian Western Desert, the Kharga Oasis was a particularly favourable and highly frequented area during the Holocene thanks to a permanent ground water supply. The high concentration and accessibility of archaeological sites here allows the cultural and economic changes to be documented at a local scale, when northeastern Africa was experiencing strong climatic variations and the transition to a food production economy. An expansive program led by the Institut français d’archéologie orientale (IFAO) which included systematic survey, sampling collections, tests and stratigraphic excavations has dramatically increased the amount of data available concerning the prehistory of the Kharga Oasis. Typo-technological analyses focusing on the lithic industries, and other aspects of material culture, plus a series of 14C dates have led to the definition of four main successive cultural phases: Kharga A, B, C and D. This paper describes this proposal of a new archaeological sequence for human occupation in the Kharga Oasis and discusses its integration in the wider frame of Egypt and the Eastern Sahara.

Résumé

Au sein du désert occidental égyptien, l’oasis de Kharga constituait une zone favourable et largement fréquentée durant la préhistoire holocène grâce à la présence de ressources en eau souterraine. La forte concentration et l’accessibilité des sites archéologiques permettent de documenter les changements culturels et économiques à l’échelle locale durant une période de variations climatiques fortes qui voit le passage à l’économie de production alimentaire en Afrique du nord-est. Un vaste programme de prospections, sondages et fouilles stratigraphiques mené récemment par l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale (IFAO) a radicalement renouvelé les données disponibles concernant la préhistoire de Kharga. Les analyses typo-technologique des industries lithiques complétées par l’étude des autres aspects de la culture matérielle distinguent quatre phases culturelles principales nommées Kharga A, B, C et D. Une série de datations radiocarbones permet de les positionner en chronologie absolue. Cet article présente cette proposition de nouvelle séquence de l’occupation humaine dans l’oasis de Kharga et la confronte au cadre plus large de l’Egypte et du Sahara oriental.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Ministry of Antiquities and the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt for having granted permission to conduct this research, and for the support provided by the Kharga Antiquities Inspectorate. The archaeological work on Kharga is supported by the Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale (IFAO) in Cairo.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR5608 TRACES, Toulouse, France

    Tiphaine Dachy & Mathilde Minotti

  2. EHESS, UMR5608 TRACES, Toulouse, France

    François Briois

  3. Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, Cairo, Egypt

    Sylvie Marchand & Michel Wuttmann

  4. UMR7209, MNHN-CNRS, Paris, France

    Joséphine Lesur

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  1. Michel Wuttmann is deceased. This paper is dedicated to his memory.

    • Michel Wuttmann
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  1. Tiphaine Dachy
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Correspondence to Tiphaine Dachy.

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Dachy, T., Briois, F., Marchand, S. et al. Living in an Egyptian Oasis: Reconstruction of the Holocene Archaeological Sequence in Kharga. Afr Archaeol Rev 35, 531–566 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-018-9306-2

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