With Donkeys, Jars and Water Bags Into The Libyan Desert The Abu Ballas Trail in The Late Old KingdomFirst Intermediate Period

With donkeys, jars and water bags into the Libyan Desert: the Abu Ballas Trail in the
late Old Kingdom/First Intermediate Period

Frank Frster
The Dakhla Oasis, situated some 300km from the Nile Valley in Egypts Western Desert, can be regarded as the most southwesterly outpost of pharaonic civilisation. When an exceptionally strong sand storm revealed, in 1947, the first traces of the late Old Kingdom town at Ayn Aseel in the eastern part of the oasis, it came as quite a surprise to the scientific, Nile-oriented community (though some ancient monuments and artefacts of later date had been known before). Over nearly 30 years, the systematic research by missions of the Institut franais darchologie oriental (IFAO) and the Dakhleh Oasis Project (DOP) has revealed many aspects of ancient life in this remote region, the archaeological potential of which is far from being exhausted. The recent discovery of a long-distance desert route, which extends the known limit of Egyptian influence several hundred kilometres further towards the heart of the continent, is another surprise. In 999 and 2000, the German desert traveller Carlo Bergmann found several sites which form a chain of staging posts on an almost straight line, the end of which lies close to the Gilf Kebir Plateau in the Libyan Desert, about 400km southwest of its starting-point in Dakhla (fig. 1).2 The midpoint of the trail is the well known, but for a long time mysterious, Abu Ballas or Pottery Hill site where large amounts of pharaonic pottery were discovered as early as 1918 and 1923, respectively (figs. 24).3 Rudolph Kuper, for many years interested in the riddle of these pots, immediately initiated investigations of the new sites within the prehistoric research programme of the Collaborative Research Centre ACACIA at the University of Cologne. This paper, presenting some of the results of the ACACIA project, will focus on the material evidence, practical use and possible purpose of the trail in the late Old Kingdom
2 3
See, for example, the fairly personal account of Ahmed Fakhry, in Textes et langages de lgypte pharaonique, 21922. Bergmann, Der letzte Beduine, 367460. Kemal el Dine and Franchet, Revue scientifique 65 (1927), 596600; Ball, Geographical Journal 70 (927), 22, n. ; Jarvis, Three Deserts, 11416. Cf. Frster and Kuper, Sahara 14 (2003), 1678. Cf. Bergmann, Der letzte Beduine, 40910; Kuper, in Caneva and Roccati (eds.), Acta Nubica. Proceedings of the X. International Conference of Nubian Studies, 39. Cf. Kuper, Antiquity 75 (2001), 8012; id., in Friedman (ed.), Egypt and Nubia: Gifts of the Desert, 910, pls. 1823; id., in Hawass and Pinch Brock (eds.), Proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists, 372 76; id., BSFE 158 (2003), 1726, figs. 26; id., in Caneva and Roccati (eds.), Acta Nubica. Proceedings of the X. International Conference of Nubian Studies, 35761, figs. 210; Frster, in Bubenzer et al. (eds.), Atlas of Cultural and Environmental Change in Arid Africa, 1303; Frster and Kuper, Sahara 14 (2003), 1678; Kuhlmann, in Jennerstrasse 8 (ed.) Tides of the Desert, 14958; Riemer, in Bubenzer et al. (eds.), Atlas of Cultural and Environmental Change in Arid Africa, 1345; Riemer et al., MDAIK 61 (2005), 291350; Schnfeld, Wegstationen auf dem Abu Ballas Trail. Preliminary reports on individual field and study seasons of the ACACIA project have been submitted for publication in ASAE.
http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/research/publications/bmsaes/issue_7/foerster.html
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or (early) First Intermediate Period. The physical remains of that period are by far the most numerous and informative along the trail. Moreover, there is a strong connection with the oasis capital and administrative centre at Balat/Ayn Aseel around the late Sixth Dynasty, allowing the use of the local chronology established by IFAO colleagues. Other periods of pharaonic activity are attested on the route as well, principally through ceramic evidence. This material has been thoroughly studied by Stan Hendrickx, also revealing vessels of the Second Intermediate Period, the later Eighteenth Dynasty and the Ramesside Period. In addition, a few artefacts point to Roman and Islamic times; others can be dated to the Predynastic or Early Dynastic Periods. But whatever happened on the trail during its apparently episodic use over the centuries, the activities in the late Old Kingdom or First Intermediate Period have left the most distinctive and abundant traces. Clearly these Egyptian enterprises did not venture into barren, hostile regions hitherto totally unexplored. A few years ago, Olaf Kaper and Harco Willems reported on some Fourth or Fifth Dynasty hilltop sites on the periphery of Dakhla which had been used as watch posts in order to control the access roads to the oasis from the east as well as from the south. Similar sites along the southwestern fringes of the oasis, excavated by the ACACIA project, can now be added (fig. 5).7 Another remarkable discovery by Carlo Bergmann, a desert camp site with hieroglyphic rock inscriptions some 0km southwest of Dakhla, demonstrates an Egyptian interest in that area already at the time of Khufu and Radjedef. According to the analysis of the epigraphic material by Klaus Peter Kuhlmann, pharaonic expeditions of up to 00 men came here to procure mineral powder used for paint.9 Although this site, the socalled Radjedef s Water-Mountain (Chufu 0/0), is several kilometres off the Abu Ballas Trail, where no pottery of the early Old Kingdom has yet been found, it is difficult not to conclude that the Egyptian settlers of later times already had knowledge of the regions to the south and west. Crossing the vast, waterless terrain between Dakhla and the Gilf Kebir must always have been a risky challenge in pharaonic times when, until the introduction of the domesticated camel in the first millennium BC,0 the principal beast of burden was the donkey. Without any wells in between and only sparse vegetation at best, small groups of desert travellers
7
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Kaper and Willems, in Friedman (ed.), Egypt and Nubia: Gifts of the Desert, 7994. Riemer et al., MDAIK 61 (2005), 291350. Bergmann and Kuhlmann, GEO Special 5 (2001), 1207; Kuhlmann, in Jennerstrasse 8 (ed.), Tides of the Desert, 1338, figs. 210; id., MDAIK 61 (2005), 24389; Kuper, BSFE 158 (2003), 2633, figs. 712; Kuper and Frster, EA 23 (2003), 258. Kuhlmann, MDAIK 61 (2005), 24551, figs. 18. For the ongoing debate on the appearance of the domesticated camel in Egypt see, inter alia, Midant-Reynes and Braunstein-Silvestre, Or 46 (1977), 33762; Ripinsky, JEA 71 (1985), 13441; Rowley-Conwy, JEA 7 (1988), 2458; Brewer et al., Domestic Plants and Animals: The Egyptian Origins, 1045; Pusch, &L (99), 10718; Osborn and Osbornov, The Mammals of Ancient Egypt, 1557; Kuhrt, in Leahy and Tait (eds.), Studies on Ancient Egypt in Honour of H.S. Smith, 17984. The economic role of the donkey in ancient Egypt is a topic that has not attracted much scholarly attention. For a general overview see Brewer et al., Domestic Plants and Animals: The Egyptian Origins, 99100 and Osborn and Osbornov, The Mammals of Ancient Egypt, 1326 (with further references). See also the recent study by Janssen, Donkeys at Deir el-Medna. A small clay model of a loaded donkey has been found in Balat, see Boutantin, BIFAO 99 (1999), 61, figs. 201 (no. 71).
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THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL
could hardly have carried more than the provision in water and food they and their animals would need for the journey - and this had to be well prepared. An elaborate system of cairns (alamat) made of loose stones is one of the features of the trail (fig. 6),2 and sometimes the tracks of the donkeys leading to these points of orientation are still visible after thousands of years (fig. 7). Donkey bones and droppings have been detected at some sites, and small stone circles measuring up to two metres in diameter might well have served as basins for watering or feeding them (fig. 8).3 In the late Old Kingdom or First Intermediate Period, some authorities decided to install supply depots at regular distances in order not only to facilitate transits for donkey caravans, but to free their backs for other goods that needed to be transported. A great number of large earthen storage jars, identical to the ones used in Balat at the same time in terms of typology and fabric, had been selected for that purpose (figs. 910). Being 5060cm in height and with a capacity of around 30 litres, however, they exceed the average size of the vessels used in the capital of the oasis (which are 3040cm in height). At about twenty sites, usually at the foot of prominent sandstone hills, the remains of some 300 vessels of this type have been found, mostly broken and heavily eroded. The original number was probably much higher, and more concentrations may still await discovery. According to descriptions given by John Ball, Prince Kemal el-Din and C.S. Jarvis, more than a hundred jars, still in a good state of preservation and dumped in regular order, were excavated at Abu Ballas in 1923 (cf. fig. 3). Unfortunately, the site is now bereft of much of its original material due to the activities of off-road tourists. Some of the storage jars bear incised potmarks that are also known from Balat (which apparently represents the departure point for the trail), especially marks known from the area of the governors palace at Ayn Aseel.7 A mark resembling the hieroglyphic sign for h, , occurs frequently (fig. 10), and a few combinations of hieroglyphs are probably to be considered as personal names, identifying the owner of the content before the vessel has been reused. Large collective storage areas necessitating such identifications of personal ownership are, up to now, only known from the residence.9 The variety of about thirty different potmark motifs, incised both before and after firing, adds to the suspicion that the trails storage facilities had been produced in the pottery workshops of the administrative centre, but not specifically for this purpose. Many of the jars, which were probably closed with a piece of leather when filled or re2 3
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Cf. Riemer, in Bubenzer et al. (eds.), Atlas of Cultural and Environmental Change in Arid Africa, 1345. Cf. Riemer et al., MDAIK 61 (2005), 3045, fig. 7, pl. 45c. For a representation of a resting donkey, incised (next to another one) on a Ramesside storage jar found at Muhattah el-Homareen (site Jaqub 99/33), see Kuper, Antiquity 75 (2001), 802, fig. 5. Soukiassian et al., Balat VI, 107; Valloggia, Balat I, 150. Larger vessels do occur in Balat, but rarely (e.g., Minault-Gout, Balat II, 1678; Castel et al., Balat V, figs. 14552). See above, n. 3. Cf. Frster and Kuper, Sahara 14 (2003), 1678, figs. 12. For the residence of the local dynasty of state-controlled rulers of the oasis (HqAw wHAt) see Soukiassian, EA 11 (1997), 1517; Soukiassian et al., Balat VI. Cf. Pantalacci, in Soukiassian et al., Balat VI, 4569, figs 269 [592b, 1389], 270 [647e]. Op.cit., 333, 7 with n. .
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filled,20 show mineral stains characteristic for the evaporation of liquids. Water was of course the most basic need in these desert environments.2 Nevertheless, some of the vessels might have contained grain or other foodstuffs deposited for the donkeys and their drivers. This assumption was recently evidenced by the finding at one of the smaller stations of a jar still containing some barley grain (figs. 1112). Multiple erosion lines caused by wind-blown sand are visible on the exterior of some vessels. They always occur at an angle of 2045 degrees compared to the central axis of the jars but at different places, thus indicating a repeated use after they had lain empty for a while. For how long or for how often the jars were used is however difficult to estimate. The sites along the trail where late Old Kingdom/First Intermediate Period pottery has been found differ much in size and structure. Sometimes there are only a few sherds without any further archaeological context, probably the remains of one or two jars accidently broken during transport. Others yielded more vessels which had carefully been stored in rock shelters close to where people were to spend the night. The most important sites, however, are those where several dozen vessels had been deposited and where simple stone structures, hearths, rock engravings and a number of other artefacts attest a temporary occupation for more than one day or night. Two sites, the original Abu Ballas site (figs. 24) and one named Muhattah Jaqub by Carlo Bergmann22 where some 70 jars have been excavated (figs. 1314), belong to this latter category. Besides the storage jars, both sites yielded similar cups and bowls, as well as large vats used for the preparation of bread dough (see below). Furthermore there are identical potmarks. These two sites are therefore not only contemporaneous but should be considered elements of the same operation(s). Obviously some people stayed here for a while, probably to keep watch over the provisions until they would be needed. Senet-game boards made of local sandstone (fig. 15), reworked pottery sherds and flint stones used as tools (fig. 16), and a few rock engravings, elucidate how they spent their time at these lonely outposts. Among the latter, there are rows of notches which may be interpreted as a counting of days (figs. 1718). More sophisticated rock art is attested at Abu Ballas: a scene showing a bearded Libyan (?) hunter with two dogs chasing a gazelle (fig. 19), and one depicting a cow suckling its calf (fig. 20).23 For Muhattah Jaqub a spiral motif may be mentioned (fig. 21). Rock shelters, some of which were furnished with small walls made of loose stones as well as with hearths, had been used as resting places (fig. 22). At Abu Ballas, a small cave (c. 2x.m, max. height .2m) halfway up the southeastern slope of the hill, thus affording a good vantage point, was excavated by the ACACIA-team in 2002 (figs. 234). One of the duties of the men stationed here apparently was to prepare bread on a comparatively large scale, probably in order to supply the members of the caravan to come. Sherds from two large vats, each with a capacity of more than 0 litres, have been found at
20
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22 23
Cf. Balcz, MDAIK 5 (1934), 78, fig. 105. Some fragments of thin leather pieces have been excavated at Abu Ballas in 2002. Using pottery deposits as artificial water reservoirs appears to be an age-old technique of long-distance desert travel, cf. Herodotus III, . Bergmann, Der letzte Beduine, 3868, 392, 415. Already discussed by Rhotert, Libysche Felsbilder, 704, pl. XXXVI [36].
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Abu Ballas, and three or four are attested for Muhattah Jaqub (figs. 256).2 Curiously, one of them has a representation of a standing king wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt on its outer, flat, bottom, incised before firing (figs. 278). Since inscriptions are almost entirely missing from the trail, this depiction of an unnamed pharaoh is the only evidence so far which might attest to activities of an official nature. The two sites under discussion also provide a clue for understanding the pattern of distribution of the main supply depots. Muhattah Jaqub is situated almost 80km northeast of Abu Ballas, where the next large depot has been installed (cf. fig. 1). This distance most probably relates to the donkeys ability to go without water for two or three days,2 an ability the Egyptians certainly made use of. Thus, the pack animals either walked c. 0km per day and were watered at the end of every second, or they needed three days at a rate of c. 25 30km to cover the distance, getting their water at the end of every third. Though the former figure cant be excluded, comparative data, both of ancient and more recent times, suggests the latter to be more realistic under the given circumstances. Moreover, the positions of intermediate, smaller sites where people could spend the night before arriving at a main depot supports such an interpretation. Of course, one cannot expect a mathematically exact distribution of supply depots but one that had been dictated by practical considerations and experience. More difficult terrain along some parts of the route would certainly have increased the journey time, and this is only one of the factors which might have had an impact on daily travel rates. Nevertheless, assuming an average rate of c. 2530km per day for a pack train consisting of, perhaps, 50100 donkeys, it can reasonably be argued that the journey from the Dakhla Oasis to the outskirts of the Gilf Kebir Plateau (or vice versa) could take around two weeks. Presumably, the journeys were undertaken in the colder seasons, i.e. in winter or early spring times, when winter rains might even have provided fresh grass in places, especially in the surroundings of the mountainous region of the Gilf Kebir, frequently blessed with cloud-cover.2 Setting up such a chain of supply depots must have been a logistical challenge and a laborious task as well. The storage jars weigh 1415kg on average; filled with water, they could attain c. kg in weight, not easy to handle in the heat of the desert. To avoid a loss of precious water if a donkey lost its load, the vessels would have been transported empty, and filled at their final destination. Most probably, the water had been carried separately in light, flexible water bags which usually were made of goat skins (so-called girbas).27 Though today often replaced by the plastic jerrycan, this device was and still is the most essential equipment of bedouins and other desert travellers (figs. 2930). A curious clay object found at Balat and said perhaps to represent a hippopotamus may actually be a model of such a water bag.2 The jars, on the other hand, were probably carried in baskets. At one of the stations used in
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Similar vats were found in Balat: Soukiassian et al., Balat III, 11213, pl. 33; Castel et al., Balat V, 132, fig. 135 [C78]; Soukiassian et al., Balat VI, 503, fig. 335 [1228/1]. Osborn and Osbornov, The Mammals of Ancient Egypt, 132; Dill, Life, Heat, and Altitude, 0, 09. Amounts of pressed dry grass, perhaps collected and deposited for use as animal fodder, have recently been found at some of the smaller stations along the trail. Cf., for example, Gasse, in Menu (ed.), Les problmes institutionnels de leau en gypte ancienne et dans lAntiquit mditerranenne, 1723. Soukiassian et al., Balat III, 27, pl. (no. ).
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Ramesside times (Muhattah el-Homareen), such a means of transportation has been found, still covered with vessels of that period (fig. 31). Using donkeys, jars and water bags to prepare a way through the desert - how exactly did this work? Without taking into account the additional weight of packing devices such as baskets and ropes, a donkey load may well have consisted of either four empty jars or two large water bags, each filled with c. 30 litres of water (cf. figs. 323). Distributing these loads of c. 60kg evenly on the animals flanks was of course important. In order to place a water depot of c. 3000 litres at Abu Ballas, for example, 2 donkeys were needed to carry a hundred containers, and 50 more to get the vessels filled. However, during the c. 200km journey from Dakhla to Abu Ballas and back again, the animals as well as their drivers would need provisions, which could only have been provided at intermediate supply stations. The successive installation of these supply stations and the re-filling of their storage capacities was evidently an enormous effort involving many donkey convoys. Revealing pharaonic advances far into the Libyan Desert and thereby contributing to the early history of trans-Saharan traffic is interesting enough. Furthermore, the archaeological evidence of the trail allows insights into the methods and strategies of long-distance desert travel at the end of the third millennium BC. But what was the reason for using the route in such a manner in the late Old Kingdom/First Intermediate Period? What motivated such an expenditure of resources? The answer probably lay on the backs of the donkeys, once all the stations were ready for use. But whatever the pack animals transported, traces have yet to be found in the archaeological record. In order to offer a hypothetical explanation, two main aspects have to be dealt with. Firstly, what was the final destination of the caravans (certainly not the Gilf Kebir), and secondly, when exactly did the activities take place? Due to excavated material, the latter can be answered more easily: the cups and bowls used at the stations (fig. 34) have their best parallels in findings from the so-called premire phase post-incendie at Ayn Aseel. This is the local phase that immediately followed the deliberate destruction by fire of the governors residence around the end of the reign of Pepi II.29 We do not know what this decisive event meant to the line of governors in the late Sixth Dynasty and thereafter. But we do know that some governors still (or again) reigned in the oasis in the First Intermediate Period.30 Two radiocarbon dates from charcoal samples, stratigraphically connected with those cups at Abu Ballas and Muhattah Jaqub, center around a calibrated age of 2190 30 years BC (KIA203, -20). Accepting a long duration for the First Intermediate Period,3 this would lead us to the very end of the Old Kingdom, i.e. the Eighth Dynasty, or the beginning of the following epoch. Some simple motifs, engraved on the rocks of the trails stations and known from contemporary button seals, fit well with this chronological context: for example swastikas (fig. 35), looped ropes (fig. 36) and the spiral form from Muhattah Jaqub already mentioned (fig. 21).32 The hunting scene from Abu Ballas (fig. 19) can best be compared with
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Soukiassian et al., Balat VI, 912, 5213, figs. 1, 5; Soukiassian, EA 11 (1997), 1517. Cf. Aufrre, gypte. Afrique & Orient 18 (2000), 414; Pantalacci, in Pantalacci and Berger-el-Naggar (eds.), Des Nferkar aux Montouhotep, 23. See Seidlmayer, in Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, 119; id., GM 157 (1997), 8190. Cf. Beckerath, Chronologie des pharaonischen gypten, 1435. Cf. Wiese, Die Anfnge der gyptischen Stempelsiegel-Amulette, pls. 27 (nos. 5557), 50 (nos. 10401); Pantalacci,
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similar scenes painted on First Intermediate Period bowls that have been found at the Qubbet el-Hawa near Aswan (figs. 3738).33 Where the trail ultimately led to is, on the other hand, difficult to answer. The nearest places with permanent water are the Kufra Oases in modern Libya, some 350km to the northwest of the eastern fringes of the southern Gilf Kebir, and Gebel Uweinat, some 200km to the southwest. Kufra, however, surrounded by seas of sand, is rather isolated and probably became important for trade-caravans only with the introduction of the camel.3 Therefore, and for other reasons, it is to be assumed that the next leg of the route led towards Gebel Uweinat, the island-like most elevated feature in the whole of the eastern Sahara, which is provided with a number of rain-fed wells at its foot (in Arabic, Uweinat means the small fountains).3 From here it would be possible to reach more southern regions in the territory of modern Sudan or Chad. To date, however, no evidence has been found in the Gebel Uweinat, nor in the Gilf Kebir proper, that attests to an Egyptian presence there.3 Epigraphic material from Ayn Aseel might help to throw some light on the matter. A few letters of administrative contents, written on clay tablets and stored in the archives of the governors palace before it was destroyed, prove the existence of Egyptian relations with distant regions, the names of which are otherwise unattested. One letter records a complaint that a potter has not yet arrived at a place called Rudjet (RwDt), probably one of the villages in the oasis (western?) outskirts, in order to prepare a way for the chief of a foreign region called Demiiu (r irt wAt HqA n mi-iw).37 Another letter mentions that something should be taken from a granary that enriches (or fills, sxwd) the way of the same chief.3 Apparently, the local administration took some measures to facilitate movements of foreign groups coming
in Pantalacci and Berger-el-Naggar (eds.), Des Nferkar aux Montouhotep, 238, figs. 4 (no. 3816), 5 (no. 4421), cf. p. 236, fig. 2. Kuper, in Hawass and Pinch Brock (eds.), Proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists, 373; id., in Friedman (ed.), Egypt and Nubia: Gifts of the Desert, 910, pl. 21 (image inverted); id., BSFE (2003), 1920, fig. 4; cf. Decker and Herb, Bildatlas zum Sport im Alten gypten, 314, pl. CXLII (J 49). For the dating of the bowls according to Seidlmayer see Stnkel, in Petschel and von Falck (eds.), Pharao siegt immer, 22 (no. 2). In the 1930s, the Hungarian desert explorer Ladislaus E. Almsy proposed that Abu Ballas was a water station marking the first third of a route connecting Dakhla with the Kufra Oases. In his opinion, one of the valleys of the western Gilf Kebir Plateau, Wadi Abd el-Melik (which he claimed was the legendary lost oasis of Zarzura), was another intermediate stop after two thirds of the distance. See Almsy, Schwimmer in der Wste, 1089. For Gebel Uweinat, situated in direct prolongation of the trail (cf. fig. 1), and its exploration see Simons, in Schiffers (ed.) Die Sahara und ihre Randgebiete III, 4239; Czerniewicz et al., Journal of African Archaeology 2 (2004), 8196. Except for, perhaps, a single sherd found already in 1980 in the southwestern part of the Gilf Kebir Plateau (B.O.S. site Wadi el-Akhdar 80/55) which has only recently been identified by Stan Hendrickx as belonging to a storage jar of the late Old Kingdom/First Intermediate Period. Tablet no. 3: Pantalacci, BIFAO 98 (1998), 30610, fig. 1; cf. Posener-Krieger, in Lalou (ed.), Les tablettes crire de lAntiquit lpoque Moderne, 456, fig. 7. See also Pantalacci, in Eyre (ed.), Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Egyptologists, 3. Tablet no. 3: Valloggia, Les oasis dgypte dans lAntiquit, 96, fig. 81; Posener-Krieger, in Lalou (ed.), Les tablettes crire de lAntiquit lpoque Moderne, 45. Laure Pantalacci kindly provided me with a complete transliteration and translation of the text.
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to Dakhla, measures that included the delivery or disposal of pottery and grain. A connection between the subject of the letters and the slightly later establishment of the trails supply depots seems reasonable. But where is Demi-iu to be located? Since the place-name can be translated as village (or perhaps better: landing-place) of the island,39 it is, again, tempting to think of Gebel Uweinat and one of the wells at its foot. In the 920s, about 0 people of the Goran tribe, originating from northern Chad, had settled here for some years, and their leader, Sheikh Herri, was known as the king of Uweinat (fig. 39).0 Was the chief of Demi-iu a forerunner of Sheikh Herri, 4000 years ago? In recent centuries, nomadic tribes from the south, such as the Goran or Tibu, frequently came to the Uweinat and Gilf Kebir when, during the rainy season or shortly after, the region offered good pastures for their animals. This was probably an ageold tradition. In northwestern Sudan, where better climatic conditions prevailed in ancient times, there is archaeological evidence indicating that highly mobile groups of pastoralists roamed vast areas of the eastern Sahara around the end of the third millennium BC. Domestic donkeys had served as pack animals, and the specific pottery of these groups has been found, for example, in the Laqiya region, in Wadi Hariq and up to the Wadi Howar in the south.2 There is reason to assume that the transhumance cycles of the nomads, who might have been termed TmHwLibyans by the Egyptians, not only encompassed these areas, but also the Uweinat region and the Nile Valley south of the Third Cataract.3 The latter includes the region where the Kerma state emerged, an important trading centre probably to be identified with the Yam country of Egyptian records. The famous biography of Harkhuf, and other sources, indicate that by the late Sixth Dynasty, some generations before the stations of the Abu Ballas Trail were established, it had become increasingly difficult to reach Yam due to a confederacy of hostile chiefdoms in Lower Nubia: Irtjet, Setju and Wawat. On his third journey to Yam during the reign of Merenra, Harkhuf preferred a route he called the oasis road (wAt wHAt) instead of one closer to the Nile, probably to avoid trouble. This time, however, he found his trading partner not at his residence in Yam, but on his way to smite TmHw-Libyans to the western corner of heaven. Harkhuf wisely followed and satisfied (sHtp) him, as the text in his rock tomb at the Qubbet el-Hawa near Aswan concisely states. The journey was most successful: Harkhuf returned to
39 0 2
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Cf. Posener-Krieger, in Lalou (ed.), Les tablettes crire de lAntiquit lpoque Moderne, . See Hassanein Bey, Rtsel der Wste, 1945, fig. facing p. 192. Cf. Almsy, Schwimmer in der Wste, 168223, esp. 21521. Jesse et al., Journal of African Archaeology 2 (2004), 12364; Jesse, in Kroeper et al. (eds.), Archaeology of Early Northeastern Africa, 9871004. Cf. Jesse et al., Journal of African Archaeology 2 (2004), 1568; Czerniewicz et al., Journal of African Archaeology 2 (200), . Cf. Bonnet, in Wildung (ed.) Die Pharaonen des Goldlandes, 89; Manzo, changes et contacts de long du Nil et de la Mer Rouge dans lpoque protohistorique, 1720 ; Obsomer, in Bruwier (ed.), Pharaons noirs. Sur la Piste des Quarante Jours, 3952 (with further references). For an inscribed execration figure from Balat mentioning Yam see Grimal, in Mlanges offerts Jean Vercoutter, 11121. Sethe, Urkunden des Alten Reichs I, 12031; Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature I, 237; cf. the most recent study by Obsomer, in Bruwier (ed.), Pharaons noirs. Sur la Piste des Quarante Jours, 3952.
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Egypt with 300 donkeys laden with all sorts of good products such as incense, ebony, oils, panther skins and ivory. When he passed by, on his way back closer to the Nile, the residence of the ruler of Irtjet, Setju and Wawat, his pack train was escorted by troops from Yam, guaranteeing a safe passage. Among the valuable goods Harkhuf finally delivered to his king there was also the information that Libyan tribes coming from the west or northwest were, at least sporadically, in contact with Yam. So, in short, the Abu Ballas Trail may not have been the first leg of a route destined to open up new territories, or markets, in Kufra, northern Chad or the Darfur region in Sudan when the central power of the Egyptian state was already in an advanced state of deterioration. Rather, it may have been part of a route that ultimately led to the Nile Valley in Upper Nubia. In a time when more direct communication between Egypt and Yam had become a serious problem, the search for an alternative trade route might well have become a requirement. Libyan nomadic groups could have acted as middlemen or intermediaries, and one of their leaders who could have managed part of the profitable traffic perhaps had a temporary base at Gebel Uweinat. The main tasks of the local administration in Dakhla would have been to organize communications, engage Libyan groups to participate, and to make the most difficult desert stretch between the Gilf Kebir Plateau and the Dakhla Oasis passable for donkey caravans. It almost goes without saying that this scenario raises a number of questions and will remain a mere hypothesis until new material comes to light. In any case, the archaeological evidence does not attest to a very intense or long use of the Abu Ballas Trail in the period under discussion: the pottery seems most homogeneous and the rock engravings found at some of the stations are comparatively few in number. The four rows of notches at Muhattah Jaqub (fig.18) may well represent the minimum number of seasons when all of the trails supply stations were ready for use. In the Middle Kingdom, probably in the Twelfth Dynasty, the steward (imy-rA pr) Mery left a short semi-hieratic inscription, the only one so far known from the trail, at a conspicuous rock about 30km southwest of Dakhla (Merys Rock: fig. 40, cf. fig.1). As it states, Mery set out in regnal year 23 of an unnamed king in order to search out the oasis dwellers (r Da(r) wHAtyw, fig. 41).7 The arrival of foreign groups at Dakhla in the late Old Kingdom or early First Intermediate Period was probably part of the collective memory in much later times, when a chain of forts was set up in Lower Nubia, in order to control direct access to the regions further south. We do not know how far Mery advanced on his reconnaissance trip, but no Middle Kingdom pottery has been found along the trail. It was not before the early New Kingdom that large amounts of storage jars were once again been dumped between Dakhla and the Gilf Kebir, but this is another story the Abu Ballas Trail has to tell.
7
Published by Burkard, Sahara 9 (1997), 1523. Cf. Baud et al., BIFAO 99 (1999), 7, fig. 8; Kuhlmann, in Jennerstrasse 8 (ed.), Tides of the Desert, 1568, figs. 1718. Burkards reading requires the modifications outlined by Darnell, Theban Desert Road Survey in the Egyptian Western Desert, Vol. , 73. For the function of the Second Cataract forts see Trigger, JSSEA 12 (1982), 16; Kemp, Ancient Egypt. Anatomy of a Civilization, 16678; Smith, JARCE 28 (1991), 10732.
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Acknowledgements This is a slightly altered version of a paper read at the British Museums international colloquium Egypts great oases: the archaeology of Kharga, Dakhla and the roads of the West (July 1920, 2006). I would like to thank Vivian Davies for his kind invitation to contribute to this stimulating meeting. A more in-depth analysis of the pharaonic use of the trail will be found in this authors Ph.D. dissertation, Der Abu Ballas-Weg. Eine Langstreckenroute in der Libyschen Wste (Oase Dachla - Gilf Kebir) und ihre Nutzung in pharaonischer Zeit (University of Cologne, in preparation). The scientific investigation of the Abu Ballas Trail reported here has been carried out within the scope of ACACIAs subprojects A Climatic change and human settlement between the Nile Valley and the Central Sahara and E3 Routes and trade in arid zones. ACACIA (Arid Climate, Adaptation and Cultural Innovation in Africa) is a Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 39) at the University of Cologne generously funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft since 1995. My sincere thanks go to Rudolph Kuper who, as the head of subproject E3, entrusted me with dealing with this fascinating subject from an Egyptologists point of view, as well as to my colleagues Stan Hendrickx, Michael Herb, Heiko Riemer and Peter Schnfeld who contributed to the research in many ways. The analysis by Stan Hendrickx of the trails pottery deposits has been made possible by a grant of the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen, Belgium. Nadja Pllath (Institut fr Paloanatomie und Geschichte der Tiermedizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt Mnchen) and Stefanie Nubaum (SFB 39 ACACIA) investigated the animal and plant remains. Work in Egypt was kindly permitted by the Permanent Committee of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and supported by Maher Bashendi and Sayed Yamany, Chief Inspectors, Dakhla Oasis. Bibliography Almsy, L.E., Schwimmer in der Wste. Auf der Suche nach der Oase Zarzura. Mnchen: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag2, 1999 [new and enlarged edition of Unbekannte Sahara. Mit Flugzeug und Auto in der Libyschen Wste. Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1939]. Aufrre, S.H., Et les oasis? Relations entre les oasis mridionales et Thbes, gypte, Afrique & Orient 18 (2000), 414. Balcz, H., Die Gefdarstellungen des Alten Reiches, MDAIK 5 (1934), 4594. Ball, J., Problems of the Libyan Desert, Geographical Journal 70 (1927), 2138, 105128, 209 22. Baud, M., Colin, F. and Tallet, P., Les gouverneurs de loasis de Dakhla au Moyen Empire, BIFAO 99 (1999), 119. Beckerath, J. von, Chronologie des pharaonischen gypten. Die Zeitbestimmung der gyptischen Geschichte von der Vorzeit bis 332 v. Chr. MS 46, Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 1997. Bergmann, C., Der letzte Beduine. Meine Karawane zu den Geheimnissen der Wste, Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 200. Bergmann, C. and Kuhlmann, K.P., Die Expedition des Cheops, GEO Special 5 (2001), 120 7.

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Bonnet, C., Das Knigreich von Kerma, in Wildung, D. (ed.), Die Pharaonen des Goldlandes. Antike Knigreiche im Sudan [exhibition catalogue, Reiss-Museum Mannheim]. Mannheim: Waanders Uitgevers, 1998: 8995. Boutantin, C., Les figurines en terre crue de la ncropole de Balat, BIFAO 99 (1999), 41 . Brewer, D.J., Redford, D.B. and Redford, S., Domestic Plants and Animals: The Egyptian Origins. Warminster: Aris & Phillips Ltd, 1994. Burkard, G., Inscription in the Dakhla Region. Text, Translation and Comments, Sahara 9 (1997), 1523. Castel, G., Pantalacci, L. and Cherpion, N., Balat V: Le mastaba de Khentika. Tombeau dun gouverneur de lOasis la fin de lAncien Empire. FIFAO 40/12. Le Caire: Institut franais darchologie orientale, 200. Czerniewicz, M. von, Lenssen-Erz, T. and Linstdter, J., Preliminary Investigations in the Djebel Uweinat Region, Libyan Desert, Journal of African Archaeology 2 (1) (2004), 8196. Darnell, J.C., Theban Desert Road Survey in the Egyptian Western Desert, Vol. : Gebel Tjauti Rock Inscriptions 145 and Wadi elHl Rock Inscriptions 145. OIP 9. Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2002. Davies, N. de Garis, The Rock Tombs of El Amarna, IV: The Tombs of Penthu, Mahu, and Others. Archaeological Survey of Egypt 16. London: Egypt Exploration Fund, 1906. Decker, W. and Herb, M., Bildatlas zum Sport im Alten gypten. Corpus der bildlichen Quellen zu Leibesbungen, Spiel, Jagd, Tanz und verwandten Themen. HdO I, XIV, 12. Leiden, New York and Kln: Brill, 1994. Dill, D.B., Life, Heat, and Altitude. Physiological Effects of Hot Climates and Great Heights, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 93. Fakhry, A., The Search for Texts in the Western Desert, in Textes et langages de lgypte pharaonique. Cent cinquante annes de recherches 1822-1972. Hommages Jean-Franois Champollion. BdE 64/2. Le Caire: Institut franais darchologie orientale du Caire, 1973, 20722. Frster, F., The Abu Ballas Trail: a Pharaonic Donkey-caravan Route in the Libyan Desert (SWEgypt), in Bubenzer, O., Bolten, A. and Darius, F. (eds.), Atlas of Cultural and Environmental Change in Arid Africa. Africa Praehistorica 21. Kln: Heinrich-Barth-Institut, 2007, 1303. Frster, F. and Kuper, R., Abu Ballas (Pottery Hill): Call for Information, Sahara (2003), 1678. Gasse, A., Lapprovisionnement en eau dans les mines et carrires, in Menu, B. (ed.), Les problmes institutionnels de leau en gypte ancienne et dans lAntiquit mditerranenne. BdE 110. Le Caire: Institut franais darchologie orientale, 1994, 16976. Grimal, N.-C., Les noys de Balat, in Mlanges offerts Jean Vercoutter. Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations. 1985, 11121. Hassanein Bey, A.M., Rtsel der Wste. Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1926. Henein, N.H., Poterie et potiers dal-Qasr, Oasis de Dakhla. BdE 116. Le Caire: Institut franais darchologie orientale, 997. Janssen, J.J., Donkeys at Deir el-Medna. Egyptologische Uitgaven 19. Leiden, Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 200. Jarvis, C.S., Three Deserts. London: John Murray, 1936. Jesse, F., Pastoral Groups in the Southern Libyan Desert: The Handessi Horizon (c. 2400
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1100 BC), in Kroeper, K., Chlodnicki, M. and Kobusiewicz, M. (eds.), Archaeology of Early Northeastern Africa. In Memory of Lech Krzyzaniak, Studies in African Archaeology 9, Poznan: Poznan Archaeological Museum, 2006, 9871004. Jesse, F., Krpelin, S., Lange, M., Pllath, N. and Berke, H., On the Periphery of Kerma The Handessi Horizon in Wadi Hariq, Northwestern Sudan, Journal of African Archaeology 2 (2) (2004), 12364. Kaper, O.E. and Willems, H., Policing the Desert: Old Kingdom Activity around the Dakhleh Oasis, in Friedman, R. (ed.), Egypt and Nubia: Gifts of the Desert. London: The British Museum Press, 2002, 7994. Kemal el Dine, H. and Franchet, L., Les dpots de jarres du dsert de Lybie [sic], Revue scientifique 65 (1927), 596600. Kemp, B.J., Ancient Egypt. Anatomy of a Civilization. London and New York: Routledge, 1989. Kuhlmann, K.P., The Oasis Bypath or the Issue of Desert Trade in Pharaonic Times, in Jennerstrasse 8 (ed.), Tides of the Desert - Gezeiten der Wste. Contributions to the Archaeology and Environmental History of Africa in Honour of Rudolph Kuper. Africa Praehistorica 14. Kln: Heinrich Barth Institut, 2002, 12570. Kuhlmann, K.P., Der Wasserberg des Djedefre (Chufu 01/1). Ein Lagerplatz mit Expeditionsinschriften der . Dynastie im Raum der Oase Dachla, MDAIK (200), 24389. Kuhrt, A., The Exploitation of the Camel in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, in Leahy, A. and Tait, J. (eds.), Studies on Ancient Egypt in Honour of H.S. Smith. EES Occasional Publications 13. London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1999, 17984. Kuper, R., By donkey train to Kufra? - How Mr Meri went west, Antiquity 75 (2001), 801 2. Kuper, R., Routes and Roots in Egypts Western Desert. The Early Holocene Resettlement of the Eastern Sahara, in Friedman, R. (ed.), Egypt and Nubia: Gifts of the Desert, London: The British Museum Press, 2002, 112. Kuper, R., The Abu Ballas Trail: Pharaonic Advances into the Libyan Desert, in Hawass, Z. and Pinch Brock, L. (eds.), Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twentyfirst Century: Proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists, Cairo 2000, Vol. 2: History, Religion. Cairo, New York: American University in Cairo Press, 2003, 3726. Kuper, R., Les marches occidentales de lgypte: dernires nouvelles, BSFE (2003), 1234. Kuper, R., News from Nubias western hinterland, in Caneva, I. and Roccati, A. (eds.), Acta Nubica. Proceedings of the X. International Conference of Nubian Studies Rome 914 September 2002. Roma: Universit di Roma La Sapienza, 2006, 35563. Kuper, R. and Frster, F., Khufus mefat expeditions into the Libyan desert, EA 23 (2003), 258. Lichtheim, M., Ancient Egyptian Literature. A Book of Readings, I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 1973. Manzo, A., changes et contacts de long du Nil et de la Mer Rouge dans lpoque protohistorique (IIIe et IIe millnaires avant J.-C.). Une synthse prliminaire. Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology = BAR International Series 72. Oxford: Archaeopress, 999. Midant-Reynes, B. and BraunsteinSilvestre, F., Le chameau en gypte, Or 46 (1977), 337
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2. Minault-Gout, A., Balat II: Le mastaba dImaPepi (Mastaba II) fin de lAncien Empire. FIFAO 33. Le Caire: Institut franais darchologie orientale, 1992. Newberry, P.E., Beni Hasan, Part I. Archaeological Survey of Egypt [1]. London: The Egypt Exploration Fund, 93. Obsomer, C., Les expditions dHerkhouf (VIe dynastie) et la localisation de Iam, in Bruwier, M.-C. (ed.), Pharaons noirs. Sur la Piste des Quarante Jours. Catalogue de lexposition du 9 mars au 2 septembre 2007 par le Muse royal de Mariemont. Mariemont: Muse royal de Mariemont, 2007, 3952. Osborn, D.J. and Osbornov, J., The Mammals of Ancient Egypt, The Natural History of Egypt . Warminster: Aris & Phillips Ltd., 1998. Pantalacci, L., La documentation pistolaire du palais des gouverneurs Balat-Ayn Asil, BIFAO 98 (1998), 30315. Pantalacci, L., Les habitants de Balat la VIme dynastie: esquisse dhistoire sociale, in Eyre, C.J. (ed.), Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Egyptologists, Cambridge, 39 September 1995. OLA 82, Leuven: Peeters, 1998, 82937. Pantalacci, L., Sceaux et empreintes de sceaux comme critres de datation. Les enseignements des fouilles de Balat, in Pantalacci, L. and Berger-el-Naggar, C. (eds.), Des Nferkar aux Montouhotep. Travaux archologiques en cours sur la fin de la VIe dynastie et la Premire Priode Intermdiaire. Actes du Colloque CNRS - Universit Lumire-Lyon 2, tenu le 57 juillet 2001. Travaux de la Maison de lOrient et de la Mditerrane 40. Lyon: Jean Pouilloux, 2005, 22938. Posener-Krieger, P., Les tablettes en terre crue de Balat, in Lalou, . (ed.), Les tablettes crire de lAntiquit lpoque Moderne. Bibliologia 12. Turnhout: Brepols, 1992, 4152. Pusch, E.B., Ein Dromedar aus der RamsesStadt, &L 6 (1996), 10718. Rhotert, H., Libysche Felsbilder. Ergebnisse der XI. und XII. Deutschen InnerAfrikanischen Forschungs Expedition (DIAFE) 1933/1934/1935. Darmstadt: L. C. Wittich, 1952. Riemer, H., The Archaeology of a Desert Road the Navigation System of the Abu Ballas Trail, in Bubenzer, O., Bolten, A. and Darius, F. (eds.), Atlas of Cultural and Environmental Change in Arid Africa. Africa Praehistorica 21. Kln: Heinrich-Barth-Institut, 2007, 1345. Riemer, H., Frster, F., Hendrickx, S., Nussbaum, S., Eichhorn, B., Pllath, N., Schnfeld, P. and Wagner, G., Zwei pharaonische Wstenstationen sdwestlich von Dachla, MDAIK 61 (2005), 291350. Ripinsky, M., The Camel in Dynastic Egypt, JEA 71 (1985), 13441. Rowley-Conwy, P., The Camel in the Nile Valley: new Radiocarbon Accelerator (AMS) dates from Qasr Ibrm, JEA 74 (1988), 2458. Schnfeld, P., Wegstationen auf dem Abu Ballas Trail. Dynastische Fundpltze aus der Western Desert gyptens. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Institut fr Vor- und Frhgeschichtliche Archologie der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitt zu Bonn, Bonn 2004. Seidlmayer, S.J., Zwei Anmerkungen zur Dynastie der Herakleopoliten, GM 7 (997), 8190. Seidlmayer, S.J., The First Intermediate Period (c. 21602055 BC), in Shaw, I. (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000, 11847. Sethe, K., Urkunden des Alten Reichs I. Urkunden des gyptischen Altertums, . Abt., Bd. I. Leipzig:

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Hinrichs, 933. Simons, P., Uweinat, ein Insel-Gebirge am Grenzkreuz, in Schiffers, H. (ed.), Die Sahara und ihre Randgebiete. Darstellung eines Naturgroraumes, III: Regionalgeographie. Afrika-Studien 2. Mnchen: Weltforum Verlag, 1973, 4239. Smith, S.T., Askut and the Role of the Second Cataract Forts, JARCE 28 (1991), 10732. Soukiassian, G., A Governors Palace at Ayn Asil, Dakhla Oasis, EA 11 (1997), 1517. Soukiassian, G., Wuttmann, M., and Pantalacci, L., Balat VI: Le palais des gouverneurs de lpoque de Ppy II: Les sanctuaires de ka et leurs dpendances. FIFAO 46, Le Caire: Institut franais darchologie orientale, 2002. Soukiassian, G., Wuttmann, M., Pantalacci, L., Ballet, P. and Picon, M., Balat III: Les ateliers de potiers dAynAsil. Fin de lAncien Empire, Premire Priode intermdiaire. FIFAO 34. Le Caire: Institut franais darchologie orientale, 990. Stnkel, I., Schale mit Darstellung eines nubischen Jgers, in Petschel, S. and von Falck, M. (eds.), Pharao siegt immer. Krieg und Frieden im Alten gypten [exhibition catalogue, GustavLbcke-Museum Hamm]. Bnen: Kettler, 2004, 221 (no. 214). Trigger, B.G., The Reasons for the Construction of the Second Cataract Forts, JSSEA 2 (1982), 16. Valloggia, M., Balat I: Le mastaba de Medou-Nefer. FIFAO 31/12. Le Caire: Institut franais darchologie orientale, 9. Valloggia, M., Les oasis dgypte dans lAntiquit. Des origines au deuxime millnaire avant J.C. Gollion: Infolio ditions, 200. Wiese, A.B., Die Anfnge der gyptischen Stempelsiegel-Amulette. Eine typologische und religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung zu den Knopfsiegeln und verwandten Objekten der 6. bis frhen 12. Dynastie. OBO Series Archaeologica 12. Freiburg, Gttingen: Universittsverlag Freiburg and Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Gttingen, 1996.

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Fig. :
Satellite image showing the chain of archaeological sites along the Abu Ballas Trail. The square in the inset marks the area between Dakhla and the Gilf Kebir crossed by the trail.
Fig. 2:
Abu Ballas or Pottery Hill (site Abu Ballas /), the northern (on the right hand) of two lonely sandstone cones, some 200km southwest of the Dakhla Oasis (photo: R. Kuper). uthwest
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Fig. 3:
Northern pottery depot at Abu Ballas, once consisting of more than a hundred late Old Kingdom/ First Intermediate Period storage jars. Photograph taken by J. Ball after excavation in 1923 (Ball, Geographical Journal 70 (1927), fig. facing p. 125, above).
Fig. 4:
Prince Kemal el-Din at the southern depot at Abu Ballas which included some Eighteenth Dynasty amphorae. Obviously the vessels had been arranged for the picture taken by J. Ball in 1923 (Ball, Geographical Journal 70 (1927), fig. facing p. 125, below).
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Fig. 5:
Map showing Old Kingdom hilltop sites on the periphery of Dakhla, used as watch posts to control the oasis eastern, southern and southwestern fringes (Riemer et al., MDAIK 61 (2005), 295, fig. 1). Note the course of the Abu Ballas Trail, suggesting Balat/Ayn Aseel as point of departure.
Fig. :
The trails largest road sign, or alam: a carefully stacked pile of stones more than two metres high (Muhattah Umm el-Alamat, site Jaqub 99/30). The impressive construction also served as a windbreaker for a small resting area at its foot, delimited by two dry stone walls (photo: R. Kuper).
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Fig. 7:
Ancient donkey track passing-by a simple upright stone slab (photo: R. Kuper).
Fig. :
One of a number of small stone circles which probably served as basins for watering or feeding donkeys (Muhattah Umm el-Alamat, site Jaqub 99/30, photo: R. Kuper).
9
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Fig. 9:
Some late Old Kingdom / First Intermediate Period storage jars (as well as the lower part of an Eighteenth Dynasty amphora) found at Abu Ballas (photo: R. Kuper).
Fig. 0: Drawing (S. Hendrickx) of one of the better preserved storage jars bearing a upper body.
-potmark on its
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Fig. 11: Lower part of a storage jar still containing remains of barley grain (site Jaqub 00/20, excavated in March 200, photo: H. Riemer).
Fig. 2: Detail of the remains of barley grain (photo: H. Riemer).
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Fig. 13: Sandstone hill at Muhattah Jaqub (site Jaqub 99/31). In the foreground the remains of storage jars half-buried in the sand (photo: R. Kuper). .
Fig. : Some of the jars after excavation (photo: R. Kuper).
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Fig. : Stone slab incised with a grid of thirty squares and thus most probably representing a senet-game board (photo: R. Kuper). The artefact, seen and photographed in front of the small cave at Abu Ballas (cf. figs. 2324) in October 2000, has since disappeared. Fragments of senet-game boards made of local sandstone were also excavated at Muhattah Jaqub (site Jaqub 99/31).
Fig. 16: Tools made of reworked pottery sherds (nos. 14) as well as of flint and other stones (nos. 59) excavated at Muhattah Jaqub (Schnfeld, Wegstationen auf dem Abu Ballas Trail, fig. 66).
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Fig. 17: Row of notches engraved upon a rock face at a resting place at Abu Ballas (photo: R.Kuper).
Fig. 18: Four rows of notches engraved upon rock faces at resting places at Muhattah Jaqub (Schnfeld, Wegstationen auf dem Abu Ballas Trail, fig. 52).
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Fig. 19: Rock engraving at Abu Ballas showing a Libyan (?) hunter with two dogs chasing a gazelle (photo: R. Kuper).
Fig. 20: Representation of a cow suckling its calf at Abu Ballas (photo: R. Kuper).
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Fig. 21: A spiral motif, one of a few rock engravings at Muhattah Jaqub (photo: R. Kuper).
Fig. 22: Dry stone wall surrounding a small resting area beneath a rock shelter at Muhattah Jaqub (site Jaqub 99/32, photo: R. Kuper).
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Fig. 23: Entrance of a small natural cave halfway up the southeastern slope of the Abu Ballas hill, excavated in spring 2002 (photo: R. Kuper).
Fig. 24: Ground-plan showing the caves dimensions as well as the position of findings within the rock niche area in front of it: fragments of storage jars, cups and vats (Schnfeld, Wegstationen auf dem Abu Ballas Trail, fig. 12). Note the hearth on the lower left and the position, marked by B, of the notches shown in fig. 17.
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Fig. 25: One of the vats found at Muhattah Jaqub (photo: R. Kuper).
Fig. 26: Drawing (S. Hendrickx) of the vat shown in fig. 25.
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Fig. 27: Representation of a standing pharaoh, incised on the flat outer bottom of a broken vat found at Abu Ballas (photo: R. Kuper, drawing: S. Hendrickx).
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Fig. 28: Detail of fig.27. Note the necklace and the staff, or shepherds crook, in the kings left hand.
Fig. 29: The famous representation of an Asiatic caravan in the Twelfth Dynasty tomb of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hasan (Newberry, Beni Hasan I, pl. 3). Two of the men carry water bags slung on their shoulders.
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Fig. 30: A bedouin boy with a water bag made of a goat skin (from an old postcard by Lehnert & Landrock, Cairo).
Fig. 3: The well-preserved remains of a woven basket or bag uncovered below an assemblage of Ramesside storage jars at Muhattah el-Homareen (site Jaqub 99/33, photo: R. Kuper).
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Fig. 32: Below: transport of four water jars in two baskets fixed on donkey-back, modern Dakhla (Henein, Poterie et potiers dal-Qasr, Oasis de Dakhla, 168, fig. 102). Above: a donkey carrying two vessels as depicted in the Eighteenth Dynasty tomb of Mahu at el-Amarna (de Garis Davies, The Rock Tombs of El Amarna IV, pl. 2, lower right).
Fig. 33: A donkey carrying two large water bags made of animal skins. Detail from a modern trade caravan in northern Chad (photo: M. Meerpohl).
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Fig. 34: Types of late Old Kingdom/early First Intermediate Period cups and bowls found at some stations along the trail (drawings: S. Hendrickx)
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Fig. 35: Rock engravings at Muhattah Harding King (site Jaqub 99/35, photo: R. Kuper). On the right, a swastika-like motif which probably developed from a combination of four antelopes foreparts as found on late Old Kingdom/First Intermediate Period button seals (cf. Wiese, Die Anfnge der gyptischen Stempelsiegel-Amulette, 84 (fig. 29), 1335, pls. 247).
Fig. 36: Looped ropes engraved on a broken stone slab found at site Jaqub 00/21. The hieroglyphic signs on the right may be read as snb, health (photo: S. Hendrickx).
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Fig. 37: Painted bowl, dated to the First Intermediate Period, from a tomb at the Qubbet el-Hawa near Aswan (photo: R. Kuper).
Fig. 38: Another painted bowl from the Qubbet el-Hawa bearing a similar decoration (photo: R. Kuper). Both desert hunting scenes, showing a Nubian and an Egyptian individual, respectively, accompanied by two dogs, can easily be compared to the rock engraving at Abu Ballas (fig. 19).
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Fig. 39: Sheikh Herri (on the left), the king of Uweinat in the 920s, and one of his fellows (Hassanein Bey, Rtsel der Wste, fig. facing p. 192).
Fig. 40: Merys Rock (site Meri 95/5, photo: R. Kuper).
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Fig. 41: The semi-hieratic rock inscription left by the steward Mery (photo: R. Kuper).

With Donkeys, Jars and Water Bags Into The Libyan Desert The Abu Ballas Trail in The Late Old KingdomFirst Intermediate Period

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With Donkeys, Jars and Water Bags Into The Libyan Desert The Abu Ballas Trail in The Late Old KingdomFirst Intermediate Period

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With donkeys, jars and water bags into the Libyan Desert: the Abu Ballas Trail in the

late Old Kingdom/First Intermediate Period

THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL

THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL

THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL

THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL

THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL

THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL

THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL

THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL

Fig. 2: Detail of the remains of barley grain (photo: H. Riemer).

Fig. : Some of the jars after excavation (photo: R. Kuper).

THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL

THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL

THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL

THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL

THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL

THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL

THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL

Fig. 40: Merys Rock (site Meri 95/5, photo: R. Kuper).

THE ABU BALLAS TRAIL

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