Abstract
Palaeolandscapes and human settlement in West Bank Aswan.
Ilka Klose
Free University Berlin, The Aswan-Kom Ombo Archaeological Project
The paper will present the preliminary results of a geo-archaeological survey carried out on the West bank of Aswan, from Qubbet el-Hawa to Wadi el-Tawil, north of Wadi Kubbaniya. The aim is to reconstruct the area’s ancient landscape and its change through times, both for natural events and in response to human activities, and changes in human settlement pattern. This survey has been developed as part of the Aswan-Kom Ombo Archaeological Project (AKAP) research activities, in cooperation with Prof. Morgan De Dapper, geoarchaeologist at University of Ghent in Belgium, and was originally realized as a joint venture between AKAP and the German Archaeological Mission on Elephantine Island, at that time directed by Dietrich Raue.
The study was performed using a combination of archaeological and geomorphogical surface observations by pedestrian survey and a systematic pottery collection. Core drillings were used to explore the near-surface geology of the land. The drillings were done by Eijkelkamp hand auger equipment, using Edelmann- riverside- and stony soil augers. The soil samples from the cores were analysed on-site. The drillings in the southern part of the area, from Qubbet el-Hawa to Wadi el-Faras, were arranged in a systematic pattern of parallel cross sections running from the hillside towards the river. A standard distance of c. 250m between each cross section was left, although that has not always been an easy task to fulfil, as the inhabited nature of the survey area presented many obstacles. In the northern portion of the investigated area, from Sheikh Mohamed to Wadi el-Tawil, drillings clustered in selected locations, such as major wadis and larger valley spots.
