Guide

New Perspectives on the Western Desert of Egypt

Dakhleh Oasis Project : 6th International Conference

Sunday 20.9.2009

Opening ceremony : 6 pm

Dr. P. Perrone, Mayor of Lecce
Dr. Zahi Hawass, Supreme Council of Antiquities
Prof. D. Laforgia, Dean of Lecce University
Prof. A. Mills, Dakhleh Oasis Project
Prof. C. Hope, Monash University
Prof. P. Davoli, Università del Salento
Prof. M. Capasso, Università del Salento

Opening reception cocktail

Monday 21.9.2009

Surveys and Environmental topics
09:00 M. Wuttmann, La prospection de l’oasis de Kharga
09:30 S. Ikram, Exploration of the Darb Ain Amur
10:00 B.E. Barich - M. Crespi - U. Fabiani - G. Lucarini, Geomatics Resources for Archaeological Survey in Desert Areas - Some Prospects from Farafra Oasis
10:30 E. Morris, Activities at Amheida from Prehistory until the First Intermediate Period

Coffee break

11:30 G. Tallet, The Survey Project at El Deir, Kharga Oasis : First Results, New Hypotheses
12:00 C.S. Churcher, Collection and Interpretation of Archaeofaunal Materials from Archaeological Sites
12:30 U. Thanheiser, Times and Change. Subsistence Strategies in the Early and Middle Holocene in Dakhleh Oasis

Lunch

Oases in Pharaonic and Ptolemaic Periods
15:00 A.J. Mills, Recent Fieldwork at Ain el-Gazzareen
15:30 A. Pettman, The Date of Ain el-Gazzareen as Determined by an Examination of the Ceramic Material
16:00 Maher Bashendi, The Necropoleis of the Dakhleh Oasis

Coffee break

17:00 L. Pantalacci, Animal and Meat Consumption in Ancient Balat at the end of the Old Kingdom
17:30 C. Hope, Recent Excavations at Mut el-Kharab, Dakhleh Oasis
18:00 J. Gill, A Study of Ptolemaic Period Ceramics from Mut el-Kharab, Dakhleh Oasis
18:30 S. Marchand, La céramique pré-ptolémaïque et ptolémaïque dans le bassin sud de l’oasis de Kharga (fouilles et prospection)

Gala dinner 20:30

Tuesday 22.9.2009

Prehistory
09:00 M. McDonald, Dakhleh and Kharga Oases in Late Prehistory
09:30 B.E. Barich, The Culture of the Oases - Late Neolithic Herders in Farafra, a Matter of Identity
10:00 G. Lucarini, Early Craftsmen of the Desert. Clues of Predynastic Lithic Technology in the Late Neolithic of Farafra
10:30 G. Mutri, Stratigraphic Evidence for MSA Finds at Sheikh el-Obeiyd - Northern Farafra Depression

Coffee break

11:30 M. Gatto, Beyond the Shale : Pottery and Cultures in the Prehistory of the Egyptian Western Desert
12:00 M.C. Wiseman, The Khargan Industry Revisited
12:30 M. Kleindienst, Results of Survey for Pleistocene Cultural Evidence from Dakhleh Oasis, 1978-79 to 2008-09 Field Seasons : Summary of Evidence and New Geoarchaeological Interpretations

Lunch

Afternoon concurrent sessions

1) Sala Bernini (conference main hall)

Rock Art

15:00 A. Zboray, Rock Art at Jebel Uweinat
15:30 D. James, Stepping from Winckler’s Shadow : an Analysis of Rock-Art Classification at Dakhleh Oasis
16:00 D. Zampetti, Iconography and Techniques in the Rock Art of the Tadrart Acacus and Messak Settafet (Libyan Sahara)

Coffee break

Recent Researches on the Kharga Oasis
17:00 Bahgat Ahmed, Archaeological Sites in the Kharga Oasis
17:30 D. Darnell, Pottery of Ghueita (MK-2IP-NK)
18:00 J. Darnell, Cedar of the West, Products of Bahariya, and Divine Offerings for Thebes : the Trade Relations of Gebel Ghueita in Kharga Oasis

2) Sala Donatello

Papyrology and Archaeology at El-Fayyum
15:00 M. Capasso, La cultura letteraria Greca nel Fayyum di età Ellenistica e Romana
15:30 N. Pellé, Tra scuola e filologia : la ricezione della Historiae tucididee nel Fayyum
16:00 T. Derda, New Greek Papyri from Deir el-Naqlun (El-Fayyum)

Coffee break

17:00 G. Azzarello, New Texts from the Archive of Epagathos
17:30 Ahmed Abd el-Aal, The SCA Excavations at Deir el-Banat
18:00 Ashraf Senussi, Making Pottery in Fayyum : an Ethnoarchaeological Study

Wednesday 23.9.2009

Roman presence and late antique sites
09:00 P. Davoli, Amheida 2007-2009. New Results from the Excavations
09:30 P. Kucera, Al-Qasr, the Roman castra of Dakhleh Oasis
10:00 R. Livingstone, The Textiles from Kellis

Coffee break

11:00 A. Zielinski, Archaeological exploration and conservation measure at Ayn Birbiyeh site, Dakhleh Oasis
11:30 H. Whitehouse, Vine and Acanthus - Decorative Themes in the Dakhleh Oasis and Beyond
12:00 E. Ferron, Roman Adaptation to the Environmental Particularities of the Integrated Regions to its Empire : the Example of the Oases of Kharga and Dakhleh
12:30 C. Rossi, Ain Lebekha and Umm el-Dabadib : Two Late-Roman Settlements in the Kharga Oasis

Lunch

Christianity and Christian Sites in the Oases
15:00 N. Aravecchia, The Church Complex of Ain el-Gedida, Dakhleh Oasis
15:30 D. Dixneuf, Ain el-Gedida (oasis de Dakhleh). La céramique du IVe siècle
16:00 G. Bowen, The Church of Deir Abu Metta and its Associated Structures : a Preliminary Report
16:30 M. Coudert, F. Letellier-Willemin, The Christian Necropolis of El-Deir in the North of Kharga Oasis

Coffee break

17:30 V. Ghica, D. Dixneuf, Darb al-Ghubbari. Between the End of the Roman Occupation and the Fatimid Caliphate
18:00 F. Dunand, J.-L. Heim, R. Lichtenberg, Les nécropoles d’El-Deir (oasis de Kharga)
18:30 W. Godlewski, The Earliest Hermitages in the Fayyum

Thursday 24.9.2009

Egyptian temples and religion
09:00 O. Kaper, The Reconstruction of the Temple of Thoth at Amheida
09:30 D. Klotz, Yale University Nadura Temple Project, 2009 Season

Coffee break

Textual finds
10:30 R. Bagnall, R. Cribiore, Christianity on Thoth’s Hill at Amheida
11:00 I. Gardner, The Coptic Ostraca from Qasr el-Dakhleh (2007-09)
11:30 G. Vittmann, New Texts in Demotic and Abnormal Hieratic from Mut el-Kharab, Dakhleh Oasis
12:00 F. Reiter, New Ostraka from Tebtynis

Lunch

Islamic period
15:00 Ahmed Salem, SCA Excavations at al-Qasr
15:30 F. Leemhuis, Letters from al-Qasr. Glimpses into the Life of the Qurashi Family in the 19th and the early 20th Century
16:00 A. Lyzwa-Piber, Progress in the Study of the Pottery from al-Qasr

Coffee break

Conservation and technologies
17:00 C. Silver, Mural Painting and Plaster Conservation in the Dakhleh Oasis : a Summary of Conservation Problems and the Status of Conservation Treatments
17:30 N. Warner, Amheida : Architectural Conservation and Presentation Works 2006-2009
18:00 B. Bazzani, A New Database for Recording Excavation Data

18:30 Conclusions

Posters
M. Cremaschi, S. Occhi, C. Pizzi, The Graeco-Roman Palaeo-Oasis of Dime : Origin, Apogee and Decline
T.L. Dupras, S.M. Wheeler, Children and Childhood in Kellis : a Bioarchaeological Approach
C. Lord, A Histological Investigation of Two Individuals from the Kellis Cemetery
R. Montgomerie, A Histological Examination of Preserved Lung Tissues from Dakhleh Oasis Mummies
F. Pavia, S. Maggioni, Topographical and Tri-dimensional Modeling of Amheida, Dakhleh Oasis
M.E. Peroschi, Wadi Abd el-Malik. Highlights from our Explorations
A.K. Rieger, T. Vetter, Man and Landscape in the Marmarica (Northern Libyan Desert)
M. Winiarska-Kabacinska, Function of Chipped Stone Tools from Old Kingdom Site at Ain el-Gazzareen, Dakhleh Oasis

Source : Research News in Late Antiquity

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COMMENTO

Questo sesto convegno internazionale e’ stato programmato nella sede di Lecce, città famosa per la presenza in città e nei dintorni di un barocco tutto particolare, ben diverso da altri centri pur rappresentativi esistenti in Italia e nel nord-Europa, in quanto unisce severità e imponenza alla eleganza delle forme dei suoi palazzi, delle sue costruzioni e di varie chiese.
Il tema del convegno lascerà sicuramente perplessi molti per la novità. Infatti pochi potrebbero immaginare che in un deserto, in questo caso il deserto dell’Egitto Occidentale, il cui punto in apparenza più interessante sembrerebbe l’oasi di Dakhleh.

E invece nel corso di anni di ricerche e di scavi qui si sono ritrovate le tracce di parecchie civiltà, con insediamenti molto estesi e ricchi di manufatti artistici, non paragonabili certamente ai templi dell’età dei Faraoni, ma sicuramente importanti come prestigio.

Peraltro, ed ecco la novità, anche i Romani hanno lasciato qui le tracce della loro presenza, come in tutta la fascia costiera dell’Africa settentrionale.
Questa presenza particolare sarà oggetto delle relazioni che saranno discusse il giorno 23.

Il convegno, dunque, si prennuncia sicuramente molto prestigioso e di alto livello sia per il numero dei relatori, provenienti da varie università europee ed extraeuropee, fra cui molti italiani, ma anche, come ho accennato, alla novità del tema