Marmaric wares: New Kingdom and later examples

Abstract

In Autumn 2000, the University of Liverpool continued its researches into the Ramesses II fortress at Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham, some 25 km west of Marsa Matruh. During this season, the area around the wadis that run towards Ras Abu Laho, 3 km to the west of Umm el-Rakham, was explored. Particular attention was paid to the spurs and knolls that presented a commanding view of the wadi and surrounding area or the coast, in the hope of finding possible New Kingdom patrol routes in association with the fort.This paper presents more evidence of local ceramic manufacture activity in the region. Two local fabrics, Marmaric fabrics 1 and 2, are identified and their shapes and distribution are discussed. They are dated to the New Kingdom, more or less contemporary with the fortress at Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham, since they occur with Nile valley fabrics. It is suggested that they were either made by the local Libyan population, or by the occupants of the fortress for their own use.The decorative corpus of another local fabric, Shell Tempered ware, is also briefly sketched, and its post-New Kingdom date reconfirmed.

New Light on the Silent Millennia: Mediterranean Africa, ca. 4000–900 BC

“…Moreover, three macroscopically distinct fabrics (dominated by calcite inclusions and shell temperpresumably local, but the two others arguably not), suggest that pottery was reaching the cave from regions of varied bedrock, and therefore potentially over some distance. Fuller study of this stratified material might refine the dating of the otherwise very broadly attributed sherd and lithic scatters, and small tumuli, that comprise the remainder of the data, associated with pastoral activity, for this period in Cyrenaica and the Marmarica coast to its east (Hulin 2001;Hulin et al 2009Hulin et al , 2010note in particular one indigenous assemblage of late second millennium BC date, as determined by its stratification above the Egyptian occupation layer at the Ramessid fort of Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham, east of Marsa Matruh (Simpson 2000).…”

Cereal cultivation and nomad-sedentary interactions at the Late Bronze Age settlement of Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham

“…2012: 167). Ceramic surveys conducted by Linda Hulin (2001: 68) revealed concentrations of Egyptian and Egyptian-style Ramesside pottery in the wadis south of Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham, close to the areas discussed above. The presence of Egyptian material and Late Bronze Age water-harvesting structures south of the fortress suggests that the Egyptian occupants of Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham exploited these fertile zones for agricultural purposes.…”

“…Herodotus claimed that the “eastern region of Libya, where the nomads live, is low-lying, sandy flat land up to the Triton River” (Herodotus 4.191, Strassler 2009: 359), and, therefore, that the nomadic occupants of eastern Libya were sustained entirely by milk and the flesh of their animals (Herodotus IV: 186, Strassler 2009: 358). This claim has, in recent years, been challenged by a number of surveys of the eastern Marmarica region between Mersa Matrouh and Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham (White 1999: 932; Hulin 2001: 74; Vetter et al . 2009, 2013, 2014; Rieger et al .…”

The Role of Aerial Prospection for Monitoring and Preserving Cultural Heritage in Northeastern Africa

“…In this study, we do not only look back into historical sources but also focus on present understandings about this region provided by the scientific community. This includes ethnohistorical data in conjunction with field information provided by archaeologists who have conducted extensive fieldwork there [9,10,[12][13][14][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. Finally, the use of recent high-resolution satellite imagery has also been fundamental in achieving our aims.…”