Sommario Introduction, Mario Liverani Steps and timing of the desertification during Late Antiquity. The case study of the Tanezzuft oasis (Libyan Sahara), Mauro CremaschiPopulations of the Roman era in Central Sahara: skeletal samples from the Fezzan (south-western Libya) in a diachronic perspective, Giorgio Manzi and Francesca RicciAghram Nadharif and the southern border of the Garamantian kingdom, Mario LiveraniFarming the Sahara: the Garamantian contribution in southern Libya, David Mattingly and Andrew WilsonWater management at Pantelleria in Punic-Roman times, Vittorio Castellani and Simone MantelliniNapata, the destroyed city. A method for plundering, Alessandro RoccatiThe kingdom of Kush: Rome’s neightbour on the Nile, Derek WelsbyTrade and caravan routes in Meroitic times, Irene VincentelliPtolemaic and Roman water resources and their management in the eastern desert of Egypt, Steven E. SidebothamBetween the Nile and the Red Sea. Imperial trade and barbarians, Federico De RomanisThe ancient landscape of Aksum (northern Ethiopia), ca 400 BC- AD 700: some preliminary remarks, Rodolfo FattovichThe sustainable Sabean irrigation in Yemen, Ueli BrunnerTamna, ancient capital of the Yemen desert. Information about the first two excavation campaigns (1999, 2000), Alessandro De Maigret‘Centre-periphery’ relations in pre-islamic south Arabia, Alessandra Avanzini

Publisher description

Die moderne Geschichte Ägyptens und des Sudan hat mehrfach radikal in die nubische Lebenswelt eingegriffen und tut dies bis auf den heutigen Tag: Nach den großen Staudammbauten des 20. Jahrhunderts sind neue Damm-, Bau- und Schürfprojekte auch im 21. Jahrhundert der Anlass, unter enormem Zeitdruck großflächig nubisches Terrain zu erforschen. Hierdurch bedingt wurde auf allen Gebieten der Kulturgeschichte ein gewaltiger Wissenszuwachs erreicht. Ergänzt wird dies durch Entdeckungen in ägyptischen Fundplätzen, angrenzenden Wüstengebieten und benachbarten Großräumen. Die 42 Beiträge dieses Handbuches zielen auf die diachrone, regionale und großräumliche Perspektive. Beginnend mit den Befunden der Altsteinzeit wird der Weg hin zu dem Nebeneinander pastoraler Gesellschaften und größerer Kulturäume in der Flussaue dargestellt. Über die bronzezeitlichen Kulturen wird der Bogen zu den Königreichen von Napata und Meroe bis hin zu den christlichen Königreichen und der islamischen Frühneuzeit gespannt. Dieser Sammelband beabsichtigt, den interessierten Kulturwissenschaftler auf den jüngsten Stand der Forschung zu bringen und die wechselvolle Geschichte dieses Bindeglieds zwischen dem Mittelmeerraum und Afrika zu vermitteln.

This ground-breaking volume pushes back conventional dating of the earliest sedentarisation, urbanisation and state formation in the Sahara.

For thousands of years Egypt has crowded the Nile Valley and Delta. The Eastern Desert, however, has also played a crucial-though until now little understood-role in Egyptian history. Ancient inhabitants of the Nile Valley feared the desert, which they referred to as the Red Land, and were reluctant to venture there, yet they exploited the extensive mineral wealth of this region. They also profited from the valuable wares conveyed across the desert between the Nile and the Red Sea ports, which originated from Arabia, Africa, India, and elsewhere in the east. Based on twenty years of archaeological fieldwork conducted in the Eastern Desert, The Red Land reveals the cultural and historical richness of this little known and seldom visited area of Egypt. A range of important archaeological sites dating from Prehistoric to Byzantine times is explored here in text and illustrations. Among these ancient treasures are petroglyphs, cemeteries, fortified wells, gold and emerald mines, hard stone quarries, roads, forts, ports, and temples. With 250 photographs and fascinating artistic reconstructions based on the evidence on the ground, along with the latest research and accounts from ancient sources and modern travelers, the authors lead the reader into the remotest corners of the hauntingly beautiful Eastern Desert to discover the full story of the area's human history.

The legendary overland silk road was not the only way to reach Asia for ancient travelers from the Mediterranean. During the Roman Empire’s heyday, equally important maritime routes reached from the Egyptian Red Sea across the Indian Ocean. The ancient city of Berenike, located approximately 500 miles south of today’s Suez Canal, was a significant port among these conduits. In this book, Steven E. Sidebotham, the archaeologist who excavated Berenike, uncovers the role the city played in the regional, local, and “global” economies during the eight centuries of its existence. Sidebotham analyzes many of the artifacts, botanical and faunal remains, and hundreds of the texts he and his team found in excavations, providing a profoundly intimate glimpse of the people who lived, worked, and died in this emporium between the classical Mediterranean world and Asia.