RECENT.
1.—Sand-dunes, Salines and Superficial Deposits.
Blown Sand, carried along by the prevailing north and north-west winds, is heaped up against all obstacles in its path, such as hills and vegetation; sometimes it is carried over these obstacles, only to fall and accumulate in the wind-shadow on the other side. The cultivated lands of the villages are for the most part surrounded by sand-accumulations, and some low dunes occur in various parts of the oasis; the positions of the latter will be better gathered from the maps than from any mere description. Baharia itself is more free from sand than any of the oases to the south of it, but even here the deposits of this material are very considerable, and as already mentioned extensive sand-dunes occur on the desert to the east, at a short distance from the depression.
Salt-swamps occur in the north of the oasis, having probably been produced by the overflowing of springs forming lagoons, which have taken the salt from the surrounding clays, the water from the springs only containing a small percentage of salt. The salt-swamps round Mandisha are now covered with a thin rough dry white crust of salt mixed with clay and sand; when this is broken through a salty sludge is seen to exist below, sometimes in a quite liquid state; the depth of sludge is probably not very great, but there is enough to immerse a camel up to its neck, as was found by experience during the survey.
Clays.—Sandy clays of recent origin occur at isolated spots on the floor of the oasis, notably near Ain el Haiss, where they are now being rapidly removed by the action of the wind. Many of the springs are also depositing a certain amount of clay on the low ground.
The Tectonics of the oasis.
The rocks of the district have undergone a considerable amount of disturbance along certain lines.
The most important fold is a well-marked syncline beginning at the west scarp in lat. 28° 7′ N. and running across the depression in a direction 30° north of east until it strikes the eastern escarpment in lat. 28° 23′. This synclinal fold is remarkably sharp, the width being generally only a few hundred metres, but the dips so strong as to bring the limestone beds nearly vertical in places. Along the line of fold we find the whole of the series 6 and 7 brought down to the level of the floor of the oasis, but on either side the beds so quickly regain their horizontal position that no trace of the folding is to be seen ([Plate VII]). The White Chalk in these folds is always altered by pressure into a hard crystalline limestone, as are also the limestones of the Cenomanian below. The fold is not actually continuous across the area, but is in reality made up of a number of long narrow ellipsoidal depressions, or cup-shaped hills, in which the end-dips are always less strong than those of the sides. At its most southerly point, where it runs into the scarp 14 kilometres north-west of Ain el Haiss, the two series 6 and 7 are found dipping northwards at angles up to 40° (and at one spot 78°). On the other side of the fold the same beds dip southwards at only 5°, and the appearance of the fold at this point suggests the existence of an accompanying fault (fig. 1).
Fig. 1.—Section across Syncline, 12½ kilometres N.W. of Ain Haiss.
a. Shales and sandstones with Exogyra, Arca, Cucullaea, etc., Neolobites vibrayeanus, etc. b. Hard crystalline limestone with flints. c. Sandstone passing into hard quartzite. d. Variegated sandstones with bands of sandy limestone. e. Hard dark-brown siliceous crystalline limestone. f. Calcareous grit (≡ bone-bed) passing in part into sandstone, and capped by hard crystalline limestone with shells.
Between this point and Jebel Hefhuf the fold is marked by a line of low isolated limestone-capped, cup-shaped hills, the largest and best marked of which is 16 kilometres north of Ain el Haiss. Here the maximum dip amounts to 55° on the western side of the basin-shaped hill.
Jebel Hefhuf is, perhaps, the most striking part of the fold. The southern portion owes its existence entirely to this syncline, consisting as it does of a long, and remarkably narrow, ridge-shaped hill of folded rocks. Dips of 50° and 60° are common in places, and the limestones implicated in the fold are usually rendered hard and highly crystalline. The highest crystalline limestones in Jebel Hefhuf probably represent the White Chalk, but the beds are too crystalline to show any traces of fossils.
It is noteworthy that all the basaltic rocks of the oasis occur on the north-west side, and at no great distance from this syncline. To the north-east of Jebel Hefhuf the line of fold passes apparently between the range of elongated hills west of Harra and the larger somewhat triangular hill to the north of it, and although the limestones and clays of these hills show a considerable amount of folding they do not exhibit it in so striking a manner as Jebel Hefhuf.
Continuing the line till it cuts the last scarp, we arrive at a prominent sandstone headland, in the gullies on either side of which the folding can be very well seen. To the west of the headland the beds are thrown sharply up in the valley so as to be nearly vertical; this up-throw has resulted in an actual fault, the denuded edges of the vertical sandstone and clay-beds being overlain by a horizontal bed of limonite. The nose of the promontory is of sandstone, this being thrown up somewhat on the south-east side of the fault; the upper sandstone and clay beds dip south-east again somewhat sharply on the face of the headland and come down to the level of the oasis floor. It would seem therefore that at this point we have the syncline between two sharp anticlines, the north western of which has culminated in the fault.
The southern end of the oasis is cut out in a well-marked gentle anticline.
On the west side from Ain el Haiss southwards the whole succession of Cretaceous rocks dip steadily to the north-west at from four to five degrees, while those on the east scarp show an equally constant dip to the south-east, which increases further north, till in the neighbourhood of lat. 28° 5′ its magnitude reaches 45°; it becomes gradually less further northwards. Owing to this strong tilting of the beds, the large hill near the scarp consists entirely of sandstones and clays with a cap of quartzite and limonite, although nearly or quite as high as the scarp; the beds here recover their nearly horizontal position at a very short distance north-west of the line of folding, as do also those of the plateau on the other side the line.
Besides the above-described disturbances of the beds, there are some smaller local disturbances which are extremely well-marked. Thus for instance the large flat-topped hill in N. lat 28° 7′ and E. long. 28° 48′, like several smaller hills E.S.E. of it, bears a cap of limestones, although its height is less than that of the sandstone hills around it. The section of this hill at its western side is as follows:—
| Top. | Metres. | ||
| Silicified limestone | 0·6 | ||
| Hard impure chalk | 2·4 | ||
| Silicified limestone | 1·2 | ||
| Pale green soft sandy andclayey limestone | 6·1 | ||
| Sandy ferruginousconglomerate | 0·3 | ||
| Clays with sandy and ferruginous layers,extending to oasis floor. | approximately | 22·0 | |
| 32·6 | |||
The beds are horizontal, and the neighbouring smaller hills which possess a similar limestone covering are precisely of the same height. It would seem impossible to account for these limestone caps in the midst of higher sandstone hills except by assuming that they mark the positions of islands, subsequently denuded, in the post-Eocene lake which deposited the limonite caps on the other hills; at the same time they evidently represent part of a synclinal fold, though the horizontal position and non-crystalline character of the beds show that this syncline must have been wide and shallow. It is scarcely possible to think there can have been a locally calcareous deposit from the lake which generally deposited the sandstone and limonite; the sudden transition from the black sandstone and limonite of the surrounding hills to the snow-white limestones of those under consideration is so strongly marked in the field as to forbid such a supposition. At the same time, no fossils were found in the beds, so they cannot be satisfactorily correlated with the limestones of the oasis-scarps, and they are of somewhat variable character at different points of the hill.
It is evident then that in the south part of the depression the Cretaceous beds as a whole form a large flat anticline, which is continuous with that of Farafra to the south.[58] This bears out the statement of Capt. H. G. Lyons,[59] some years ago, that he believed Baharia and Farafra Oases to lie on an anticlinal at right angles to that of Dakhla and Kharga. The anticlinal and synclinal folds of Baharia are parallel and were evidently produced by the same earth-movements.
Age of the folding.Within the oasis-area too, some other traces of folding are visible; in lat. 28° 11′ N., long. 29° 1′ E. are two small hills of clays and sandstones (the latter locally green in colour), the beds of which dip about 30° E. and W. respectively, showing a local anticline whose axis runs nearly north-and-south. In this neighbourhood, as in the oasis generally, it is not possible to trace the folding in the beds of the low ground, owing to its thick sandy covering.
Another point of disturbance is on the western plateau in N. lat. 28° 26′, E. long. 28° 49′, some 11½ kilometres north-west of El Qasr. Here (Fig. 2) along a N.E. and S.W. line, crossing an otherwise level plateau, the Eocene beds, and probably also the Cretaceous below, are thrown up in a sharp anticlinal fold, which however, is not continuous but consists of a number of isolated bulges, with dips up to 50°. The plateau at this point consists of Eocene Operculina and Nummulitic limestone, and the effect of the anticlinal fold is to expose the beds of sandstone below, which, as already mentioned, are probably Cretaceous.
Fig. 2.—Sketch showing probable relations of Eocene and Cretaceous in anticline on Western Desert plateau, 11½ kilometres N.W. of El Qasr.
Eocene.—1. Grey crystalline limestone. 2. Hard white gritty chalky limestone. 3. Grey calcareous sandstone. 4. Limestone with Nummulites and Operculina.
Upper Cretaceous.—5. Calcareous-grit. 6. White sandstone. 7. Crystalline limestone. 8. Cenomanian clays and sandstones with Exogyra flabellata, E. Mermeti and E. olisiponensis, etc.
With regard to the age of the tectonic movements which produced the synclinal and anticlinal folds of Baharia, it must be admitted that it is not easy to speak with absolute certainty, owing to want of evidence at one or two points. It appears certain, however, that they belong to two great movements, separated by a vast interval in time. The first disturbance of the beds would appear to have taken place at the end of the Cretaceous period, when it seems probable that the area in question underwent upheaval into dry land. It seems tenable that it was during this movement that the large flat anticline, so well seen in the south part of Baharia and in the north of Farafra, was produced, as the Eocene beds forming the plateau immediately to the east of the Cretaceous beds do not show any sign of disturbance.[60] The subsiding Cretaceous land, on which these Eocene deposits were laid down, must therefore have had the form of a long, flat, irregular ridge of anticlinal structure, probably extending from Dakhla through the oases of Farafra and Baharia to Abu Roash.
The other folds of Baharia, being parallel to the anticline just dealt with, would at first sight appear to date from the same movement. With regard to the syncline, however, two observations appear which force us to consider its age as very much later; these are, first, the occurrence of nummulites and other Eocene fossils within the fold at a point 16 kilometres north of Ain el Haiss, and secondly, the fact that at the northern extremity of the fold, where it meets the eastern scarp, the Eocene beds are affected. With regard to the first of these, the beds themselves, from which the fossils had been derived, were not observed to be actually affected by the fold, and therefore the evidence here, although suggestive, is not conclusive. The evidence at the north end of the fold, however, if substantiated, proves that the age of the fold must be post-Eocene. With regard to the anticlinal fold on the north-western plateau there is no question, as this clearly affects the Eocene beds; it also is parallel to the other folds. These folds affecting Eocene beds, lead us to the conclusion that there was another period of possibly ever more important earth-movements, of the exact date of which we cannot be certain, although it is not impossible that it was closely connected with those great earth-movements of Pliocene times, which gave rise to the chief topographic fixtures of N.E. Africa and S.W. Asia.
Summary.Summary of the Geological History of the Oasis.—The oldest[61] sedimentary deposit in Egypt is the Nubian Sandstone of the Cretaceous. From the general absence of marine shells in this rock we may premise that the deposit was laid down in an inland sea or lake, which must have covered an enormous extent of country. In the northern part of Egypt the upper part of the Nubian Sandstone becomes fossiliferous, the fauna having an undoubted Cenomanian aspect; this is the case in Wadi Araba, at Abu Roash and in Baharia. Further to the south, however, as in Dakhla, the Nubian Sandstone first becomes fossiliferous in Senonian times. We may explain this difference in the two localities on the supposition that a gradual subsidence was taking place with a corresponding gradual encroachment of the sea from the north, which covered the northern part of the country (including Wadi Araba, Abu Roash and Baharia) in Cenomanian times but did not reach the latitude of Dakhla till considerably later, i.e., in Senonian times.
From the Cenomanian onwards throughout the Cretaceous, the Baharia area was one of continued subsidence, the lithological and palæontological characters of the beds showing evidence of a gradual increase in conditions of depth, until the maximum was reached in the deposition of the White Chalk in Danian times.
Between the deposition of the uppermost Cretaceous rocks and the Eocene it is probable that a considerable interval elapsed, during which the Cretaceous was elevated into land, with much folding and fracturing of the rocks and subsequent denudation.[62] It was probably during this upheaval that the Cretaceous of Baharia assumed its anticlinal structure.
Subsequently, subsidence taking place, the Eocene sea submerged the area, and deposits were laid down on the uneven Cretaceous land in an unconformable and overlapping manner. In Baharia the lowest member of the Eocene of Egypt, the Esna Shales, is not present, although further to the south towards Farafra it has been observed. On the east side, some sandstones and clays met with below the white chalk beds of the outer plateau may belong to this division.
The first undoubted Eocene deposits in the Baharia area are the limestones with Operculina and Nummulites which unconformably overlie different members of the Cretaceous in the north and west sides, and eastward of the south end. The whole of the Eocene deposits are here, however, only a few metres thick, which contrasts strangely with the enormous thickness of the deposits of the same age in the Nile Valley. This is intelligible, however, on the supposition that near the subsiding Cretaceous land the conditions for continued accumulation of deposits were not so favourable as further to the east, where deeper water conditions obtained.
Subsequently, in Post-Eocene times, the whole underwent upheaval, and it is probable that during this elevation the main synclinal fold[63] was produced, together with the minor anticline. The evidence for placing the date of the formation of the syncline anterior to the deposition of the ferruginous grits, limonite, etc. (Series No. 3) stands on the following basis: the absence of proof of the folding in question having affected the beds of Series 3, and the presence of a horizontal deposit of limonite on the upturned edges of the strata, at the point where the fold meets the eastern scarp ([page 66]). About the same time, probably, basalt and dolerite was intruded into the Cenomanian rocks below.
Formation of depression.As a result of the sharp folds the upper limestones were cracked, and their denudation by natural agencies followed, forming a slight hollow similar in shape to that which the oasis now exhibits; the agent of denudation cannot be stated with certainty, but whatever force came into operation it would find easy work in the cracked-up rocks, and still easier would be its task in partly removing the soft Cenomanian sandstones and clays after the harder limestones had disappeared. The primary excavation of the hollow was followed by the formation of a great lake, in which were laid down deposits of sandstone, quartzite, and iron-ore; this lake doubtless surrounded islands, represented to-day by those hills which still preserve their limestone-caps; it extended, or similar lakes existed, beyond the oasis-limits, forming the quartzites and ferruginous sandstones passed on the way from Maghagha to Baharia, and was perhaps continuous with the Oligocene and post-Oligocene sea which covered a large part of the country to the north.
In later times the area finally became continental and denudation gradually sculptured the oasis to its present form; this sculpturing would no doubt proceed rapidly in the moist climate which is known to have existed in Egypt in Pliocene and early Pleistocene times, and is being continued to-day by the powerful agency of the desert wind-borne sand and changes of temperature.
The water-supply of the oasis is probably derived from the tropical rains of the mountainous regions of Central Africa, the water from which penetrates the ground and flows northwards along permeable beds of sandstone, etc., in which it is confined by other impermeable strata, until tapped naturally or artificially in the great oases or depressions of the Libyan Desert.
[35]Voyage à Méroé, etc., op. cit.
[36]Geologie, u. Palæontologie der Libyschen Wüste. Cassel, 1883.
[37]Zittel had divided the Cretaceous of the Western Oases into the following main divisions:—
| Top. | ||
| 1. | Well-bedded limestone and earthy chalk. | |
| 2. | Greenish and ash-grey shaly clays. | |
| 3. | Beds with Exogyra Overwegi. |
[38]On the Stratigraphy and Physiography of the Libyan Desert of Egypt, Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., Nov. 1894, Vol. 50, p. 535.
[39]Letter from Prof. Zittel to Capt. Lyons, dated May 19th, 1894. It was afterwards suggested (Beadnell, op. cit. Int. Geol. Congress, p. 10) that these specimens were possibly not E. Overwegi at all, and Mr. Bullen Newton, of the British Museum, who has undertaken the determination of the Baharia collection, confirms this, stating that the so-called specimens of Exogyra Overwegi, referred to in Capt. Lyons’ paper, are in reality examples of E. mermeti.
[40]A short account of the geological structure of Baharia has already been published:— Beadnell, op. cit. (Découvertes Géologiques Récentes, etc.) Int. Geol. Cong. 1900; Paris, 1900.
[41]This, with the 6 metres of Eocene limestone above, gives the height of the hill above the floor as 174 metres. Ascherson gives 162, but the difference is probably due to our readings being commenced on the lowest ground in the neighbourhood, where the oldest beds were exposed.
[42]The specific names given in this report are based on determinations made by Dr. Blanckenhorn in Cairo and by Mr. Bullen Newton at the British Museum.
[43]In connection with the discovery of Cenomanian deposits in Baharia Oasis, vide, Geological Magazine, Nos. 127, 430, 432, 1900 (H. J. L. B.).
[44]A very striking feature of the brown limestones is the abundance in them of calcite-lined cavities; these are often arranged in planes parallel to the bedding, as is well seen for instance in the hills north-west of Harra.
[45]Mr. Gorringe first drew attention to the presence of fossil wood in these beds.
[46]An analysis of this bone-bed is given in Report on the Phosphates of Egypt, Geol. Surv. Egypt, publication, Cairo. 1900.
[47]Beadnell, Dakhla Oasis, its Topography and Geology. Geol. Surv. Egypt. Report, 1899, Pt. IV. Cairo. 1901, pp. 96-98.
[48]Barron and Hume, Topography and Geology of the Eastern Desert of Egypt, Geol. Surv. Report, Cairo, 1903.
[49]It may perhaps be that the lowest limestone bed disappears, having thinned out, in which case it is difficult to distinguish the sandstones and clays of this division from those of the one below.
[50]Zittel, op. cit.
[51]As it seems probable that the Lower Mokattam is a somewhat local development of the upper part of the Libyan Series, and it being difficult or impossible in many areas to separate the two, we shall in our description of the Eocene of this oasis make no attempt at a division.
[52]Chapman, Geol. Mag. Dec. IV, Vol. IX, Feb. and March, 1902, pp. 62-67, 106-114.
[53]It should be noted here that the presence of an overlap was suspected by Capt. H. G. Lyons as long ago as 1894, as in his paper (op. cit. 535) he says:—
“At the north-east and east of the Baharia Oasis the Upper Mokattam beds, characterized by Ostrea Fraasi and O. Cloti (as kindly determined by Dr. Zittel), occur 30 miles north-east and 20 miles east of Upper Cretaceous beds containing Exogyra Overwegi in the oasis, and with a difference in altitude of less than 200 feet. As there is no marked dip of the beds, we have evidently an overlap of the remainder of the Cretaceous beds and the Libyan and Lower Mokattam beds of the Eocene, and this inference is borne out by the short distance between the Cretaceous and Miocene outcrops to the west on Dr. Zittel’s route to Siwa.”
[54]Voyage à Méroé, I., p. 189. The same observer also noted the presence of nummulites in the northern scarp, and the ferruginous nature of the sandstones composing the hills of the oasis (p. 190).
[55]Zeitsch. d. Ges. f. Erdkunde zu Berlin, 1885, p. 134.
[56]Geol. d. Liby. Wüste, 1883, pp. 122, 123.
[57]Le Ligurien et le Tongrien en Égypte, Bull. Soc. Géol. France, sec. III, vol. XXI (1893).
[58]Beadnell, op. cit. (Farafra Oasis) p. 28.
[59]Lyons, op. cit. pp. 537-540.
[60]Op. cit. (Découvertes Géologiques Récentes, etc.) pp. 855-856.
[61]We except, of course, the very local areas where a Carboniferous fauna has been detected.
[62]Compare, op. cit. The Cretaceous Region of Abu Roash, etc.
[63]Or, as suggested above, these folds may have been produced in later times, i.e., Pliocene, when important earth-movements were known to have taken place in N.E. Africa and S.W. Asia.
CHAPTER VI.
Antiquities.
The archæological remains of Baharia Oasis admit of a classification, based on their ages, into the following three groups:—
| (a) | Egyptian, consisting principally of a stela of the 18th, a tomb of the 19th, and temples of the 26th Dynasty. |
| (b) | Roman, including the ruins of an arch and various other structures; also the subterranean aqueducts still in use for conveying water from springs to the cultivated land. |
| (c) | Coptic, embracing the ruins of several villages and a church. |
As the literature concerning these is mostly fragmentary and scattered, it may be well to describe briefly the various remains, following the above classification.
(a) Egyptian Antiquities.
The oldest inscription yet found in Baharia is that on a stela of the time of Thothmes II, which was discovered by Ascherson in 1876 to the west of Bawitti.
This stela is of historical importance, as being not only the oldest of all antiquities from the oases, but also older than any inscription bearing reference to the oases, and as proving that even at the beginning of the New Empire the Egyptians had taken possession of the oases and erected temples to their gods therein.
Ascherson was also the first to record the existence of the ruins of an Egyptian temple in the oasis. This structure is marked on his map[64] as existing some 2 kilometres north-west of El Qasr; he appears, however, to have noted no inscription on the walls (the only parts remaining) and his brief references to it in his memoir do not give any data as to its age.
In his recent visit (1900) to Baharia, Steindorff[65] discovered the remains of two Egyptian temples. The first of these exists under modern dwellings in the middle of the village of El Qasr, in a farm belonging to the Omda. It contains at present only one room, with no inscriptions except on the roof, whence, however, we learn that the building was erected during the reign of King Apries (B.C. 588-570) to “Ammon-Re, the Lord of the Oasis, who dwells in Desdest,” by a certain Weh-eb-Re-nofr and one Ded-Khens-ef-Onkh.
The second temple found by Steindorff, erected by the same “Prince and Ruler of the Oasis” Ded-Khens-ef-Onkh, lies about 2 kilometres south-west of El Qasr. It was erected in the reign of Amasis (B.C. 569-526) and is therefore of somewhat later date than the foregoing. The large room, excavated from sand by Steindorff, has its walls ornamented with representations of Egyptian deities, the colours of which are admirably preserved.
It is curious to note that at least one, and perhaps both, of the temples discovered by Steindorff had been previously visited by Ascherson in 1876. This observer mentions (op. cit. p. 140) “a well preserved underground chamber which serves as a dwelling for the servants of the Omda, which may be of Egyptian origin. On the roof of this chamber (which is 7·25 metres long, 2·40 metres broad, and 2·90 metres high) is a line of inscription,” which latter he was unable to read owing to the darkness. There can be no doubt of the identity of this place with the first of the temples described by Steindorff. Further on in his memoir (p. 142) Ascherson also mentions a ruin called “Qasr Megasba, a sandstone structure having its sides oriented to the four cardinal points, 8·5 metres long, 6·9 metres broad, with a small entrance-hall to the south and a large room which can only be entered through the smaller one.” He relates that the door-way is walled up with crude brick, and does not say whether he entered the building or not, so that it is not certain whether this place is identical with Steindorff’s second temple. The distance of the ruin from El Qasr, as shown on Ascherson’s map, is about 4 kilometres, i.e., double that mentioned by Steindorff, but otherwise the nature of the building is strongly suggestive of an identity.
In his exploration of the large Necropolis east of El Qasr and Bawitti, Steindorff records the finding of a tomb of the New Empire, dating from the beginning of the 19th Dynasty (B.C. 1300). On clearing out this tomb, extremely interesting decorations were found on its walls. The tomb consists of several chambers hewn in the rock, only two of which are decorated with reliefs, and belonged to a certain Amenhotep, prince of the Northern Oasis and of the Oasis Huye. The explorer records that on one of the walls of the first chamber Amenhotep is represented sitting by his wife, his people bringing to him all kinds of drinks and food, including fish; on another wall he is seen superintending the manufacture of wine, while on a third is a lively representation of the funeral of the deceased. The pictures on the walls of the second room are of similar kind, but of a more religious character.
Steindorff remarks that this is the first important tomb of Egyptian age to be found in the oases of the Libyan Desert. It appears to have been used later on for other interments, as several clay mummy-shaped coffins were found; from these the mummies had disappeared, but a few relics such as scarabei, a gold earring, a bronze mirror, etc., were found.
To the Egyptian period also belongs a limestone statue of the same Ded-Khens-ef-Onkh who erected the two temples of the 26th Dynasty already mentioned; Steindorff found this in one of the houses at El Qasr.
A sandstone ruin situate 2 kilometres due west of Zubbo, mapped but not examined by the Survey, would appear to be that of another small Egyptian temple. It is marked on Cailliaud’s map as “débris de Temple,” but is not mentioned in his description.
Yet a fifth temple in Baharia would seem to be represented by the ruin “Qasr Mayesra,” 2 kilometres north-west of Mandisha, visited by Ascherson. This ruin, which is also mentioned by Belzoni, Cailliaud, and Wilkinson, is a small structure of sandstone 7·91 metres long, 6·24 metres broad, having only one room (entered from the north), and oriented to the cardinal points. The stones of this ruin have Greek letters and other signs cut in them, possibly mason’s marks; they are so striking as to have been seen from a distance through a telescope by Belzoni.
The rock-tombs south-east of Mandisha, mentioned by Ascherson (l.c. p. 145), may possibly be further remains of the Egyptian epoch, and the same is the case with some rock-chambers found by the Survey in the south part of the oasis, some 3 kilometres south of Ain el Haiss. The latter are excavated in an isolated rock-mass (sandstone) some 20 metres in diameter and 6 metres high. The chief entrance is on the south-east side of the rock, by what looks from a short distance like a mere crack; this entrance leads into a series of four small low chambers (each about 3 metres square), with a deeper channel running along the centre. Other similar chambers are found entering from the north side. No inscriptions appear to exist except a few Arabic scratches near the principal entrance, and the chambers were empty.
(b) Roman Antiquities.
The Roman structures in the oasis differ generally from those of the Egyptian era in being built of crude brick instead of stone. They show, however, a great solidity of construction; for this reason these erections of the Romans have in many cases outlasted those of the Coptic period which were built long afterwards; in Baharia the old Roman underground aqueducts still serve for the conveyance of water from the springs to the irrigated tracts, and the present inhabitants are far too indolent to construct similar channels for themselves.
According to Ascherson (l.c. p. 140) the village of El Qasr owes its name to a Roman castle, abundant remains of which still exist under the modern houses.
The most important of the Roman ruins of Baharia was however until recently an arch situated close to the north of El Qasr. Cailliaud (l.c. p. 183) describes the structure (as seen in 1820) as consisting of an “arc de triomphe” standing on an embankment 39½ metres long, with a dressed stone revetment;[66] this embankment rises 10 metres from the ground-level at the north side, and is level with the soil of the village to the south. The principal façade is to the north. The courses of the masonry are 27 to 30 centimetres high, and show a peculiar construction, headers and stretchers being built in alternate courses. The wall, which was about 2·3 metres thick, and built with a strongly-marked batter, had an ornamental cornice all round; above this came a sort of parapet 90 centimetres high. The substance of the embankment is a kind of concrete of irregularly-shaped stones set in cement.
The arch itself rises from the embankment in the middle of the north façade, and is of the Doric order, its length being 7·48 metres. At the time of Cailliaud’s visit only the central arcade was still standing; from it one could descend by a flight of steps on to the lower ground. The façade was ornamented with pilasters, and on each side of the arch was a niche decorated with small columns. In one of the main pillars Cailliaud saw a spiral staircase leading to a terrace on the top of the arch. The stones are frequently marked with Greek letters, doubtless to guide the builders; no hieroglyphs or other evidences of the Ancient Egyptians could be seen in the ruins.
This interesting ruin was found in a far less perfect state of preservation on the visit of Ascherson in 1876, the revetment-wall having mostly disappeared, possibly owing to an earthquake which is said to have taken place in the oasis about 1840. The latest traveller to visit the ruins (Steindorff, 1900) found that the whole structure had fallen.[67]
The ruin known as Qasr Alam, situated about 2½ kilometres west of Bawitti, visited by Wilkinson and by Ascherson, is a rectangular crude-brick structure on a slight eminence. Only the lower parts of the walls remain, and Wilkinson speaks of it as “an insignificant crude-brick ruin.” Ascherson obtained a bronze hawk (now in the Berlin museum) found in this place.
Wilkinson mentions another ruin, similar to the above, 1 kilometre south-west of El Qasr; this does not appear to have been since noted. There is no evidence to show the date of either of these structures.
A nearly square building with battered walls and a fortified appearance, situated among the ruins of the Coptic village some 4 kilometres E.S.E. from Mandisha may possibly be a Roman fort. Cailliaud gives its size as 14·7 metres long, 12 metres wide, with walls 8 metres in height, the single door being to the east. The interior is full of debris, so that the arrangement cannot be well seen.
The same doubt as to age occurs concerning some underground chambers at El Qasr, in one of which Virchow[68] found an urn, and similar structures at Bawitti mentioned by Ascherson.
There is less uncertainty concerning a large crude-brick ruin in the south-east part of the oasis, some 6 kilometres E.S.E. of Ain el Haiss. This ruin, mentioned by Belzoni (l.c., p. 427), Cailliaud (l.c., p. 194, and Pl. XXXVI, fig. 1), and Wilkinson (l.c., p. 361), stands conspicuous on an eminence; it is of considerable size, its length being over 87 metres, and the walls being 6 metres high. In the interior is the debris of dwellings. It appears to have been a Roman castle. Belzoni and Cailliaud mention also a square building with small chambers, with a square pit cut in the rock in the centre; this lies about 1 kilometre S.S.W. from the castle, and is regarded by these discoverers as an ancient bath.
To the Roman period may possibly belong a large crude-brick rectangular enclosure close to Ain el Haiss. This building is 75 paces square, with a main door on the west side, and has walls about 2 metres in height. The brickwork is peculiar, a course of stretchers three bricks deep being followed by two courses of headers set on edge, with one or two rows of bricks in a perpendicular position down the centre; the walls are 50 centimetres thick. The interior of the place is a large court, with numerous small rooms at the north and south sides and two others on the west. The rooms are used at the present day by the men of Bawitti when they come to gather the rice-crop at Ain el Haiss. It is not a little remarkable that no reference to this large structure is to be found in Cailliaud’s account; its position (some 300 metres only south-west of the sheikh’s tomb at Ain el Haiss) would seem to preclude the possibility of confusing it with the other ruins he describes. He gives however (l.c. p. 195) the latitude of El Haiss as 28° 0′ 32″,[69] “latitude du couvent chrétien,” from which it would appear likely that he considered this place a convent. There is no evidence to decide whether the building is of Roman or Coptic origin.
Far more enduring and more important (in a modern sense) than any of their buildings, were the extensive excavations carried out by the Romans for the improvement of the water-supply of oasis. In the neighbourhood of Bawitti especially, long series of shafts sunk in the sandstones and clays which form the ground, are frequently to be seen. These shafts, which vary from 1 to 3 metres in diameter, are sometimes round, sometimes rectangular, and are placed at only short distances apart. They are connected below with long tunnels, along which flows the water from the springs. Cailliaud mentions the existence of ten of these ancient aqueducts near Mandisha, eight of which still conveyed water in 1820; he entered one and followed it for 40 metres. He counted no less than fourteen shafts connected with this tunnel in a length of 150 metres, and records that one measured had a rectangular shape, 1·45 metres by 0·45 metres, and was perfectly cut in the rock, with footholds for the descent of the workmen. The largest aqueduct found by Cailliaud is south-west of El Qasr; its size is such that a man is able to walk in it. This tunnel, which now contains no water, leads from an excavation 5 metres in diameter by 8 metres deep, and in a length of 55 metres it is entered by ten shafts. In the same neighbourhood Cailliaud counted more than thirty other aqueducts, mostly coming from the south, like those of Mandisha. Four of these discharge their water into a huge excavation 70 metres diameter and 12 metres deep. The only example of an underground aqueduct at present known to exist in the south part of the oasis is one discovered by Ascherson a few kilometres east of Ain el Haiss; it is at present dry.
Though more abundant in Baharia than in any other of the Egyptian oases, doubtless on account of the relatively shallow depths at which water is there reached, these Roman levels are not peculiar to Baharia, several existing in Farafra,[70] one of which was noticed by Ascherson (l.c. p. 137); other examples have been found at Ain Um Dababib and near Gennah in Kharga.[71] It appears, too, that underground aqueducts of the same nature exist abundantly in the oases of the Algerian and Moorish Sahara.
(c) Coptic Antiquities.
Some 4 kilometres E.S.E. from Mandisha are the ruins of a Coptic[72] village, which appear to be those described and figured by Cailliaud, although he gives the position as “est 35° nord de Zabou” Cailliaud characterises these remains as “miserable ruins,” but mentions specially, besides the fort referred to, two ruined churches, larger than the other structures. The first of these is 11·1 metres long, 6·50 metres wide, and has walls still 6 metres high; a principal door opens to the south, while another smaller door is situated on the north side. The interior presents only one room, with a niche in the wall; there are three windows on each of the two longer sides. The second ruin is of about the same size; on each of its longer sides are nine niches in the wall, and higher up are six small openings for light. The building appears to have been vaulted. The ancient habitations which form the remainder of the ruins are of a uniform type—low vaulted dwellings surmounted by terraces, access to which is got by steps. The entire village has a circumference of about 520 metres. The name of the locality where these ruins exist is not without interest. Ascherson quotes it as “Denise,” while Wilkinson gives “Bayrees;” the name, like that of Beris in Kharga Oasis, doubtless comes from the old Egyptian root “rs” (the south).
Another Coptic village existed in the south-east part of the oasis, in a district now called Uxor, some 10 kilometres east of Ain el Haiss. The principal ruin is that of a church, built of crude brick, 19·8 metres in length.[73] The exterior displays only four bare walls, battered, with two doors in the east part opening respectively north and south. In the interior is a nave, and on each side are three arcades forming small chapels; in the centre is a niche ornamented with small columns with volute capitals.
Above the chapels a gallery runs round the building. The columns of the nave have capitals rudely modelled on the plan of the lotus-flower of the ancient Egyptians. The remains of fresco paintings can still be traced on the walls, with Greek crosses and fragments of inscriptions. Ascherson records that he visited this ruin in 1876 and found it in about the same state as Cailliaud narrates, though he was unable to discover the inscriptions on the walls which that author and Wilkinson refer to.
Besides the two above-mentioned, a third Coptic village seems to have existed about 7 kilometres south-west of Mandisha, at the south end of the range of hills which will be seen on the map. This village has not been seen, apparently, by any European traveller, though its position was pointed out to Ascherson from a distance, under the name “Merharet-el-Fama.” Information was derived on a visit to Ain Jafarra (6 kilometres south of Mandisha) that some ruins existed a short distance to the north-west, and this would appear to coincide with the position given by Ascherson; time unfortunately failed for an excursion in search of them.
[64]Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin, Band 20, 1885, pp. 110-160.
[65]Berichte der philologisch-historischen klasse der Konigl. Sachs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, 1900, pp. 209-239.
[66]Belzoni, as remarked on [p. 8.] mistook this revetment-wall for that of a temple of Jupiter Ammon, and the builder’s stone-marks for the remains of a Greek inscription.
[67]Op. cit. p. 226.
[68]“Gesichtsurne aus der kleinen Oase”; Sitzungsber. der Berliner anthropol. Gesellschaft, 1876, pp. 171, 172 (with woodcut).
[69]The Survey observations give 28° 2′ 11″ N. as the latitude of Ain el Haiss, thus placing it about 3 kilometres further north. Jordan’s value, 28° 1′ 55″ substantially confirms this; the small difference is doubtless due to different points of observation being used.
[70]Op. cit. Farafra Oasis, etc., p. 12.
[71]Kharga Oasis, etc., p. 82.
[72]Op. cit. p. 149. Pl. XXXVIII.
[73]Op. cit. p. 193 and Pl. XXXVI, Fig. 2.