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Cartagine. Studi e Ricerche
Book review, From Lake to Sand — The Archaeology of Farafra Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt, edited by Barbara E. Barich, Giulio Lucarini, Mohamed A. Hamdan and Fekri A. Hassan. Sapienza University of Rome, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità; Ministry of Antiquities, Egypt; Firenze, All’Insegna del Giglio, 2014, 503 pp., ISBN 978-88-7814-520-7.
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Recensioni
2018-05-03
2018-04-16
2018-01-08
2018-05-03
1
Savino di Lernia
2018/05/03
10.13125/caster/3302
Università di Roma "La Sapienza"
2532-1110
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Book review, From Lake to Sand — The Archaeology of Farafra Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt, edited by Barbara E. Barich, Giulio Lucarini, Mohamed A. Hamdan and Fekri A. Hassan. Sapienza University of Rome, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità; Ministry of Antiquities, Egypt; Firenze, All’Insegna del Giglio, 2014, 503 pp., ISBN 978-88-7814-520-7.
https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/caster/article/download/3302/2905
3
Cartagine. Studi e Ricerche, 3 (2018)                     Sezione: Recensioni
Rivista della Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Cartagine   Recensione presentata il 16/04/2018
http://ojs.unica.it/index.php/caster/index                Accettato in data 16/04/2018
doi: 10.13125/caster/3302                                 Pubblicato in data 03/05/2018




                                                                                                CaSteR, 3 (2018)




Book review, From Lake to Sand — The Archaeology of Farafra Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt,
edited by Barbara E. Barich, Giulio Lucarini, Mohamed A. Hamdan and Fekri A. Hassan,
Sapienza University of Rome, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità; Ministry of Antiqui-
ties, Egypt; Firenze, All’Insegna del Giglio, 2014, 503 pp., €60.00 (paperback), isbn 978-88-
7814-520-7.




    Starting from its title, this volume high-               In the introducing chapter (1), Barich
lights the importance of environmental                    provides a summary of excavations and sur-
changes and emphasizes the central contri-                veys activities, in the contexts of Sheikh el
bution to archaeology in the research carried             Obeiyid, Hidden Valley and in the Farafra
out in the oasis of Farafra, in the Egyptian              Cave. Part I, composed of three chapters,
Western Desert, under the coordination of                 presents the historical context and the main
Barbara Barich and Fekri Hassan between                   archaeological aspects. In chapter 2, Van Peer
1990 and 2005. The book consists of 7 parts               analyses the Middle Stone Age occupation:
and is divided into 19 chapters, together with            based on two short surveys, the work indi-
an introduction and a concluding section,                 cates a scarce presence of MSA artefacts, es-
for a total of about 500 pages.                           pecially when compared to other contexts of
    In her introduction, Barich offers a con-             the Western Desert.
cise history of the research carried out by the              In chapter 3, Barich still holds the hy-
University of Rome La Sapienza over more                  pothesis of a local proto-domestication of
than fifteen years, identifying among the                 cattle (generally rejected in the current de-
most significant results the construction of a            bate) and summaries the main lines of the
visitor centre in Qasr Farafra and the active             archaeological sequence, taking up what pro-
participation to the creation of the White                posed by Wendorf and associates in their last
Desert National Park. Barich underlines how               contributions. In chapter 4, Cappozzo and
among the guidelines of her project were pre-             Palombini present a brief revision of the his-
cisely the safeguard, conservation and protec-            torical occupation of the oasis.
tion of an important archaeological context                  Part II focuses on the geology and geo-
in a desert environment. On the historical                morphology of the landscape. In chapter 5
level, she stresses how Farafra provides the              Hassan and colleagues reconstruct the geo-
first evidence of “direct” relations between              morphology of the study area, identifying a
the oases and the Nile Valley, especially dur-            playa deposition phase of particular relevance
ing the wettest phases of the Holocene.                   between 9650 and 6670 uncal BP.

cc-by-nd
                                            Recensioni

    Part III is dedicated to the Wadi El Obei-         between 7800 and 6000 uncal BP. The site,
yid playa. In chapter 6, Hamdan addresses              which is in fact a palimpsest, presents sever-
the sedimentological and geomorphological              al rather close phases of occupation, “to the
aspects, while in chapter 7 Barich describes           extent that we can envisage a form of stable
in detail the archaeological context and the           settlement” (p. 203) between about 7200 and
main features of the study area, in particu-           6000 uncal BP. It is during this phase that we
lar the radiocarbon chronology (from 8080              record the presence of a bimodal rainfall re-
to 4090 uncal BP), with a concentration of             gime, with Mediterranean winter rains from
dates in the 7th millennium uncal BP. The              the north and summer monsoon from the
lack of pottery — a quite particular phenom-           south. Four main phases are described (years
enon considering its frequency in other sim-           uncal BP): phase A) 7600-7250, seasonal;
ilar contexts — is striking, while fragments           phase B) 7200-6900, wet, torrential rainfall;
of ostrich egg-shells are abundant. The area           phase C) 6800-6500, wet with light rainfall;
of fieldwork is divided into 5 arbitrary zones         phase D) from 6200 onwards, dry. In the sec-
(although the methodology used for their               ond and third sections of the chapter, Barich
definition is rather unclear). The changes and         and Lucarini analyse in detail the stone arte-
contractions of the lake are crucial to under-         facts, with an internal division related to the
stand the distribution of archaeological fea-          excavation seasons: perhaps a joint presenta-
tures, mostly temporary camps. During the              tion with an integrated repertoire would have
Middle Holocene we record the most signifi-            been more appropriate. Giulio Lucarini also
cant human occupation. The study of a lithic           analyses the technology of bifacial products in
workshop, located in the area of El Bahr, is           chapter 11/4. This is a very accurate study in
the subject of chapter 8, by Barich. In chap-          which 105 tools are analysed. Their features
ter 9, Marina Gallinaro presents a detailed            suggest possible relations with the Levantine
study of combustion structures. The analysis           tradition, potentially associated with the in-
includes the mapping of 98 fireplaces (three           troduction of domestic sheep and goats. Lu-
of which are dug and dated: 7170±140,                  carini points at a possible symbolic value for
6540±40, 6180±40 uncal BP). The selection              these artefacts: in fact, 4 were collected in a
of contexts to be excavated was based essen-           single hearth, radiocarbon dated to 6350±85
tially on the conservation of these highly sig-        uncal BP. In the fifth section of chapter 11,
nificant structures. Spatial density analyses in       Lucarini deals with the “large stone tools”
a GIS environment led to the identification            from Hidden Valley: they are 150 millstones
of 6 main groups: these, associated with C14           and grinders, mostly from surface contexts.
dating and lake variations, suggest seasonal           Following (11/6), Cristiani presents the re-
occupations.                                           sults of the functional study of objects made
    The fourth part is dedicated to the Hidden         on ostrich egg-shells, including beads. In
Valley and Wadi el Obeiyid and is opened by            section 7, Gallinaro presents the systematic
a very detailed description of the Holocene            study of the fireplaces of this area. These are
sedimentology by Hamdan (chapter 10),                  21 structures (2 of which excavated), poorly
aimed at the reconstruction of macro-climat-           preserved and highly disturbed (mainly by
ic variations and lacustrine changes.                  tourists), which confirm the exploitation of
    Chapter 11 is divided in several sections.         the playa during the dry season. The study
In 11/1 Barich describes the main features of          of material culture also included the tech-
the Hidden Valley, with special enphasis on            no-functional analysis of bone instruments
the “village”, consisting of a dozen small stone       carried out by Petrullo (11/8). Unfortunate-
structures of circular shape. Sixty C14 dates          ly, the state of preservation and functional
were made, which place human occupation                alteration of the products do not allow the
                                                   2
                                           Recensioni

identification of the animal species used. In             Achilles Gautier’s archaeological study
the last section (11/9), Barich and Lucarini          provides very important elements for un-
draw a comprehensive reconstruction of the            derstanding the mechanisms of introduction
Hidden Valley occupation phases. In particu-          of domestic livestock and more generally on
lar, Unit III is characterized by the presence        the exploitation of animal resources. The ab-
of a lake, frequented by human groups with            sence of domestic cattle stands out. Only 15
sheep and goats. Rainfall is not abundant:            fragments are attributed to goat/sheep, 12 of
according to the authors’ estimates it should         which come from the most problematic por-
be around 100-150 mm per year. According              tions of the site, given the strong erosion. The
to geomorphological studies, in the last 6000         context of a mandible of an adult ovicaprid is
years a quantity of deposit varying between 4         dated to 7251±67 uncal BP, one of the oldest
and 8 meters has been eroded. The presence            evidence in Africa.
of aquatic plants between 7300 and 6800 un-               The sixth part is dedicated to the rock art
cal BP helps to identify a bimodal rainfall re-       of Farafra (Cave 1) and Boats Arch: Ham-
gime. According to Barich and Lucarini, the           dan and colleagues (chapter 15) suggest, on
contacts and comparisons that can be high-            a geological basis, that the art at Cave 1 was
lighted are primarily with the Western Desert         produced around 7000 uncal BP, while in
to the south-west of Farafra, such as Djara,          chapter 16 Barich describes in detail the ar-
Dakhla, Kharga (especially in the period              tistic aspects, together with three appendices
7600-6800 uncal BP). These connections                related respectively to the Boats Arch, a new
are archaeologically highlighted by the “lens-        rock art site in the area (Lucarini, Mariotti),
shaped” arrowheads (perhaps perforators).             the study of the filling faunas (Kowalski et
    Part V collects the studies on food re-           alii) and the palynological analyses (Schulz),
sources used by the inhabitants of Hidden             both from Cave 1.
Valley. Ahmed Fahmy (chapter 12) presents                 Part VII is dedicated to archaeometry and
the archeobotanical investigation based on            anthracology. Belluomini and Manfra (chap-
the analysis of 87 sediment samples (total            ter 17) present the date-set of 121 C14 dat-
volume 105 litres), mostly from fireplaces or         ings that cover the entire Holocene, with a
similar structures. Many taxa (32) have been          concentration between 6600 and 5100 BC.
identified, with a prevalence of wild cereals,        Hamdan and colleagues (chapter 18) report
including sorghum, followed by panicum, se-           the results of petrographic and geochemical
taria, brachiaria and so on. In chapter 13, Lu-       analyses of the lithic industry and grinding
carini presents an interesting and innovative         equipment from Wadi el Obeiyid, identify-
experimental study aimed at understanding             ing 4 main groups of raw materials, underlin-
the actions implicated in sorghum process-            ing a different procurement area in different
ing. Analysing the various ethnographically           chronological phases. Muntoni and Gatto
documented techniques, Lucarini builds an             (chapter 19) present a report on aspects relat-
experimental protocol tested on both wild             ing to the pottery production, based on the
and domestic varieties. Manual action on              study of about a hundred ceramic fragments,
wild species appears to be the most profitable        mostly from Aïn e-Raml. The scarcity of ma-
technique, but does not encourage selective           terial, its poor state of preservation and the
pressure. The absence of sickles in Farafra           few decorative elements make any interpreta-
is not surprising: denticulated elements or           tion difficult. Cottini and Castelletti (chap-
small un-retouched bladelets could perform            ter 20) present the anthracological study of
the same function, in some way emphasizing            plant remains from Hidden Valley: just over
the idea of an opportunistic approach.                300 samples were identified, of which 60%


                                                  3
                                            Recensioni

belong to Acacia, the remaining 40% to tam-            would be visible, according to the authors,
arisk.                                                 also in Dakhla (Bashendi 1) and Kharga. As
    In the concluding chapter (21), Barich             for the village of Hidden Valley, there are
and Lucarini provide a general reconstruc-             structured hearths with different phases of
tion of the main phases of human occupation            occupation of the playa, evidence of logistic
during the Holocene in the Farafra area. The           exploitation of the region. According to Bar-
earliest evidence, relating to groups of hunt-         ich and Lucarini, the introduction of sheep
er-gatherers, is characterised by short-term           and goats does not define a radical change in
occupations, mostly along the lake shores,             subsistence strategies of local human groups,
dated to 9420-7925 uncal BP. The bimod-                but rather a broadening of their food security
al rainfall regime, which is established be-           to include hunting activities and the system-
tween 7200 and 6800 uncal BP, would have               atic collection of plant resources, such as to
allowed, according to the authors, a year-             define these groups as “foragers-herders”. As
round residential occupation. However, the             pointed out several times, this change occurs
documentation does not seem to fully sup-              in conjunction with some innovations in ma-
port this assertion, given the possibility that        terial culture: not so much the appearance of
stone structures and other evidence could              “bifacial tools” of possible Levantine origin as
have been reused several times, on a season-           suggested, among others, by Rudolph Kuper
al basis, albeit for relatively longer periods.        and Stephan Kröpelin, but — according to
There is not even unanimous agreement on               Barich and Lucarini — principally elements
the (cited) rainfall estimates — between 50            such as the Nizzanim points, typical of SW
and 150 mm per year according to Kröpe-                Levant. In any case, the authors underline
lin; between 300 and 400 mms according to              how Farafra’s production is strongly rooted in
Haynes — which respectively define deep-               the Western Desert tradition. In completing
ly different environmental scenarios. From             their synthesis, Barich and Lucarini under-
about 6800 uncal BP, human occupation                  line the importance of the slab structures at
shows occasional and light features.                   Sheikh el Obeiyid: numerous and of varia-
    In sum, the cultural reconstruction iden-          ble dimensions, they characterize this phase
tifies a first phase called “Early Wadi El Obei-       of occupation between 7300 and 7000 un-
yid A”. Dated between 7700-7250 uncal BP               cal BP and they show similarities with oth-
(6600-6100 BC), with transitional charac-              er contexts of the Western Desert, starting
ters, eventually marked by an arid phase that          from those of phase Masara C at Dakhla, up
sees the introduction of domestic sheep and            to Kharga. During the Wadi El Obeiyid B
goats. The “Late Wadi El Obeiyid A” phase,             phase, dated between 6700 and 6300 uncal
dated 7200-6800 uncal BP (6100-5700 BC),               BP (5600-5200 BC), there was an increase
shows the presence of more stable clusters             in seasonal movements, with a growth of
of structures, thanks to the increase in rain-         fireplaces and the presence of more elaborate
fall. The archaeological data supporting the           structures, in a climatic trend towards in-
hypothesis of longer periods of occupation             creasing aridity. In Phase C, dated between
and hence a population growth are based on             6200 and 4000 uncal BP (5200-2500 BC),
the increase of radiocarbon dates. However,            human occupation is more rarefied. In the
this evidence is rather fragile and in some            authors’ interpretation, the ability to build
ways holds a potentially circular reasoning.           elaborate stone structures is based on impor-
Increase of C14 dates does not necessarily             tant investments in time and energy, which is
equate to growth of people: more and inde-             only possible with “stable” populations. Al-
pendent data are necessary to support this             though the state of preservation of Farafra’s
interpretation. In any case, such an increase          evidence is particularly good, I believe that
                                                   4
                                          Recensioni

the construction of these elements does not     of Farafra oasis during the Holocene, but
necessarily imply the presence of stable pop-   more generally to the reconstruction of the
ulations, given the use of mainly local raw     connections between climatic and environ-
materials, their rather simple building tech-   mental variations in a crucial phase of human
nique and the limited size of the same slabs    occupation in the Egyptian Western Desert.
(rarely exceeding 1 m in size).                 I am honoured that much of this research has
                                                been undertaken thanks to the continuous
    From an editorial point of view, the vol- and generous support of my university, Sa-
ume is excellently produced, richly illus- pienza University of Rome, and of our Min-
trated and of considerable value — sold at istry of Foreign Affairs, that have made this
a reasonable price (€ 60), which is still too research possible. I congratulate the Editors
high for many colleagues and libraries in Af- and all the Authors for this achievement and
rica. An e-book version of the book (at a dis- Barbara Barich in particular, for her enduring
counted price) should be considered in order engagement in the study of Saharan archaeol-
to make this important work available to a ogy. Finally, the wealth and completeness of
larger audience. I would have preferred a title the published data represent a kind of digital
page for each chapter — as common today preservation of this important context, today
in collective works such as this one — as well unfortunately inaccessible due to instability
as a reference list at the end of each chap- in the region following the “Arab Spring”.
ter rather than at the end of the book, which
would have been more useful — but these            Roma, 16 aprile 2018
are minor issues.
    On the scientific level, this book repre-                                 Savino di Lernia
sents a formidable contribution not only to           Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità
the understanding of the cultural dynamics                     Sapienza, Università di Roma




                                                5
                                         Recensioni




Come citare questa recensione / How to cite this book review
Savino di Lernia, Book review: From Lake to Sand — The Archaeology of Farafra Oasis, Western
Desert, Egypt, edited by Barbara E. Barich, Giulio Lucarini, Mohamed A. Hamdan andFekri
A. Hassan, Sapienza University of Rome, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità; Ministry
ofAntiquities, Egypt; Firenze, All’Insegna del Giglio, 2014, 503 pp., €60.00 (paperback),
isbn 978-88-7814-520-7, CaSteR 3 (2018), doi: 10.13125/caster/3302, http://ojs.unica.it/
index.php/caster/




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