Willeke Wendrich

Identifying low-level food producers: detecting mobility from lithics

The existence of low-level food producers, neither wholly hunter-gatherers nor wholly agriculturalists, is predicted but hard to prove. Here the authors use lithics, the one ubiquitous common indicator, to show how the detection of missing flakes can indicate degrees of mobility, while mobility in turn shows how people coped with the unpredictable appearance of food resources. In Australia, they were opportunists, armed with a ready cutting edge. In the Fayum, they had less far to go, but still roamed.

New Archaeozoological Data from the Fayum “Neolithic” with a Critical Assessment of the Evidence for Early Stock Keeping in Egypt

Faunal evidence from the Fayum Neolithic is often cited in the framework of early stock keeping in Egypt. However, the data suffer from a number of problems. In the present paper, large faunal datasets from new excavations at Kom K and Kom W (4850–4250 BC) are presented. They clearly show that, despite the presence of domesticates, fish predominate in the animal bone assemblages. In this sense, there is continuity with the earlier Holocene occupation from the Fayum, starting ca. 7350 BC. Domesticated plants and animals appear first from approximately 5400 BC. The earliest possible evidence for domesticates in Egypt are the very controversial domesticated cattle from the 9th/8th millennium BC in the Nabta Playa-Bir Kiseiba area. The earliest domesticates found elsewhere in Egypt date to the 6th millennium BC. The numbers of bones are generally extremely low at this point in time and only caprines are present. From the 5th millennium BC, the numbers of sites with domesticates dramatically increase, more species are also involved and they are usually represented by significant quantities of bones. The data from the Fayum reflect this two phase development, with very limited evidence for domesticates in the 6th millennium BC and more abundant and clearer indications in the 5th millennium BC. Any modelling of early food production in Egypt suffers from poor amounts of data, bias due to differential preservation and visibility of sites and archaeological remains, and a lack of direct dates for domesticates. In general, however, the evidence for early stock keeping and accompanying archaeological features shows large regional variation and seems to be mainly dependent on local environmental conditions. The large numbers of fish at Kom K and Kom W reflect the proximity of Lake Qarun.

Reimag(in)ing the Past

ABSTRACT The excavation of the site of Kom W in the Fayum region of Egypt during the 1920s by Caton-Thompson and Gardner resulted in the loss of the original surface topography. Detailed section drawings recorded the surface and bottom of excavation, but it was previously difficult to interpret the published images. This article reports on the use of these images to create a three-dimensional representation of the site as it was before and after excavation in the 1920s. This visualization aids the interpretation of the formation processes that shaped Kom W in ways that were previously unachievable due to limitations in the original data. Archaeological sites are under increasing threat of destruction, especially in the Near East. This method could be applied to legacy data in order to reconstruct a site with the data available. La excavación del sitio Kom W en la región de Fayum de Egipto durante la década de 1920 por Caton-Thompson y Gardner dio lugar a la pérdida de la topografía de la superficie original del sitio. En los detallados dibujos de sección realizados en el sitio se registró la superficie y el fondo de la excavación, pero antes era difícil interpretar las imágenes publicadas en conjunto. Este documento informa sobre el uso de estas imágenes para crear una representación tridimensional de las condiciones del sitio antes y después de la excavación en la década de 1920. Esta visualización ayuda a interpretar los procesos de formación que dieron forma a Kom W en maneras que antes eran inalcanzables debido a las limitaciones en los datos originales. Los sitios arqueológicos son cada vez más amenazados de destrucción, especialmente en el Cercano Oriente. Este método se podría aplicar a los datos procedentes de investigaciones previas con el fin de reconstruir las condiciones anteriores del sitio.

KARANIS IN 3D: Recording, Monitoring, Recontextualizing, and the Representation of Knowledge and Conjecture

Archaeologists tend to express space in two dimensions, drawing maps, plans, and elevations of landscapes or extant architecture. In the human experience, however, space is volume: height, light, color, structure, acoustics, protection, display, obstruction or emphasis of view lines, are all of the greatest importance in how people function in space. Recording and presenting three dimensions can provide important insights into architectural and structural details, and can also be used as a device to monitor changes in a buildings condition. Reconstructing three dimensions enables us to present what we actually know or to include conjecture and offer alternative theories of what a building or landscape once looked like, and how it developed over time. Using the Greco-Roman site of Karanis as a case study, we also explore how a three-dimensional virtual reality reconstruction allows us to digitally re-unite objects that have been dispersed over museums worldwide and place them back in their virtually original context.

The Desert Fayum in the twenty-first century

From 1924–1928, Gertrude Caton-Thompson and Elinor Gardner surveyed and excavated Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic sites across the Fayum north shore in Egypt, publishing a volume entitled The Desert Fayum (1934). Since then, a number of researchers have worked in the Fayum (e.g. Wendorf & Schild 1976; Hassan 1986; Wenke et al. 1988; Kozłowski & Ginter 1989), and most recently the UCLA/RUG/UOA Fayum Project. The long history of research in the area means that the Fayum is a testament to changing archaeological approaches, particularly regarding the Neolithic. Caton-Thompson and Gardners study is recognised as one of the most progressive works on Egyptian prehistory, and their research provided the foundation for many subsequent studies in the region (e.g. Wendrich & Cappers 2005; Holdaway et al. 2010, 2016; Shirai 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016a; Emmitt 2011; Emmitt et al. 2017; Holdaway & Wendrich 2017). A recent article in Antiquity, however, uses Caton-Thompson and Gardners preliminary interpretations of their excavations at a stratified deposit in the Fayum, Kom W, to generate a series of speculative statements concerning agricultural origins in the region (Shirai 2016b). The majority of these statements are very similar to conclusions initially made by Caton-Thompson and Gardner in the first half of the twentieth century, and new data and theory needed to reassess earlier conclusions are not considered. Recently published studies concerning the Fayum north shore and adjacent regions provide a different view of the state of research in this region and the Egyptian Neolithic in general. Here we acquaint Antiquity readers with current archaeological approaches to the Fayum north shore Neolithic, with the intent of stimulating academic debate.

3-D digital preservation of at-risk global cultural heritage

Recent current events have dramatically highlighted the vulnerability of the worlds material cultural heritage. The 3-D Digital Preservation of At-Risk Global Cultural Heritage project, led by Thomas Levy at UC San Diego, catalyzes a collaborative research effort by four University of California campuses (San Diego, Berkeley, Los Angeles and Merced) to use cyber-archaeology and computer graphics for cultural heritage to document and safeguard virtually some of the most at-risk heritage objects and places. Faculty and students involved in this project are conducting path-breaking archaeological research - covering more than 10,000 years of culture and architecture - in Cyprus, Greece, Egypt, Ethiopia, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Turkey, and the United States. This project uses the 3-D archaeological data collected in numerous at-risk heritage places to study, forecast, and model the effects of human conflict, climate change, natural disasters and technological and cultural changes on these sites and landscapes. The greater challenge undertaken by this project is to integrate archaeological heritage data and digital heritage data using the recently-announced Pacific Research Platform (PRP) and its 10--100Gb/s network as well as virtual reality kiosks installed in each participating UC campus. Our aim is to link UC San Diego and the San Diego Supercomputer Center to other labs, libraries and museums at the other UC campuses to form a highly-networked collaborative platform for curation, analysis, and visualization of 3D archaeological heritage data.

The preservation of exposed mudbrick architecture in Karanis (Kom Aushim), Egypt

Excavations in the arid regions of Egypt provide insight into the many types and uses of mudbrick architecture. Upon exposure the inherently unstable building material decays rapidly, resulting in severe loss or complete destruction of once well-preserved buildings. The preservation of mudbrick structures is relatively complicated and expensive. Research has focused on the circumstances that enable preservation and the influence of climate and weather over time. Conservation treatments should address these two processes as soon as possible after exposure of the structures. Our assessment of a range of conservation methods leads to the conclusion that reburial is among the least objectionable method of preservation, despite its drawback of returning the excavated buildings to a situation where they are invisible to both researchers and the public.

Early- and middle-holocene wood exploitation in the Fayum basin, Egypt

The early and middle Holocene of North Africa was a time of dramatic climatic and social change, including rapid shifts in vegetation communities and the introduction of domesticated plants and animals. Recent research from the Fayum basin of Egypt, which holds archaeological evidence for early use of domesticates, aims to place inhabitants of that region within their contemporary environmental setting. We present here results of wood charcoal analysis from three early- and middle-Holocene deposits on the north shore of the Fayum and reconstruct both contemporary woodland ecology and patterns of anthropogenic wood use. In total, three woodland communities likely existed in the area, but inhabitants of this region made heavy use of only the local lakeshore woodland, emphasizing tamarisk (Tamarix sp.) for fuel. While seasonally watered wadi woodlands were not harvested for fuel, more arid locations on the landscape were, evidencing regional mobility between ecological zones. Results indicate that wood was locally abundant and that inhabitants were able to select only preferred species for fuel. This study provides further evidence for low-level food production in the Fayum that preserved critical ecosystem services, rather than dramatic niche construction to promote agriculture as seen elsewhere in middle-Holocene Southwest Asia.

Cultural heritage in context: the temples of Nubia, digital technologies and the future of conservation

Abstract The conservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage is a well-developed field. However, cultural heritage is only ever partially preserved if its context is lost. This contribution argues that the future of conservation should include context as an integral and inalienable part of all forms of cultural heritage. As such, this will require an increase in cross-disciplinary collaborations with, among others, archaeologists, historians and archivists involved in efforts aimed at restoring cultural heritage to the contexts from which it has become disengaged. Based on theoretical frameworks from the digital humanities, cultural theory, history of the built environment and archaeology, the authors outline a method of re-contextualisation using the drowned landscape of Nubia as a case study. Aside from the landscape in which the Nubian monuments once stood and the vernacular of historical Nubian cultures, we argue that the history and socio-political nature of the decisions made in the name of preservation itself should also be incorporated as part of this context. The contribution argues that digital representations coupled with digital archiving provides one means of incorporating such heterogeneous and diverse information to present the contexts in which descriptions, texts, photographs, letters, videos and oral history can be better understood, interpreted and distributed.

Mifsas Baḥri: a Late Aksumite frontier community in the mountains of southern Tigray: survey, excavation and analysis, 2013–16

missions. Chapter Four shifts the focus to a more interpretative and theoretical tone, considering the politics of power relations as revealed through architecture and monumentality and hinting at, but never overtly articulating, the role of ideology as a conditioning factor (an Althusserian, or neo-Marxist approach). Section 4.5 (‘The regulation of manners’) offers a brief consideration, never fully worked out here — but perhaps on the basis of this work something to be considered later on down the line — of the role of Bourdieu’s habitus: frameworks of behaviour, conditioning and human action. The final chapter (Chapter Five) draws together the major themes of the monograph, while the appendices present the technical conservation, laser scanning and geophysical reports, alongside (perhaps most crucially) a consideration of public and community archaeology. Particularly charming is the child’s drawing of a bearded archaeologist in Figure A.5.4, proof indeed of the efficacy of the team’s outreach work and also of the project’s legacy. This is a first-rate and comprehensive study, richly illustrated and (as one would expect with Brill) well presented, although again to echo common complaints about monographs dealing with African archaeological projects, how do we make the information openly available to indigenous scholars and libraries in an economically viable manner? This volume alone comes in at 165 Euros in hardback and as an e-book; the same pricing structure for the latter format has always struck me as curious. This issue aside, it sets the standard for historical archaeological work in eastern Africa and will hopefully encourage other archaeologists, working with Ethiopian heritage professionals, scholars and communities, to engage with some of the more recent sites, all places that have much to reveal about the complex and rich history of imperial Ethiopia and its engagement with the outside world over the last six hundred or so years.