An Egyptian oasis

by H. J. L. Beadnell

We may, indeed, conclude that, while the lake presumably at one time reached to a maximum level of 85 metres, it stood for a considerable period at about 70 metres above sea-level.

COFFIN-MASKS FROM BELLAIDA.

ANCIENT POTTERY FROM THE LACUSTRINE DEPOSITS.

The next step was to ascertain the altitudes of the archæological sites and the relation of the latter to the lacustrine deposits. Up to the present time levels have not been carried through to the south end of the oasis, and aneroid determinations are not of sufficient accuracy for our purpose, so that we must confine our attention in this connection to the northern portion of the depression. The ground-level of the temple of Hibis was found to be at 75 metres and the lowest of the tombs of the Necropolis at 80·6 metres above sea-level. The columbarium already alluded to, on the south-east side of the Gorn el Gennâh, is built on the denuded slopes of the lacustrine series at a level of 57·2 metres, while the base of a number of brick ruins a little to the north was found to be just over 53 metres. Finally, the ground-level at the base of the slope on which stands Qasr Zaiyan was determined as 21 metres, a bench-mark being made on the southern door of the temple at 24·52 metres above sea-level.

There are several points in connection with the disposition of the archæological remains which cannot but strike one. In the first place, they are mostly on or near the extreme margin of the lacustrine deposits; secondly, they are absent altogether from the central portion of the lake site; and thirdly, the older monuments occupy the highest levels, while there are no representatives at all of the earlier Egyptian periods. While the disposition of the monuments may, of course, be entirely fortuitous, we are justified, I think, in assuming that the lake existed well into the historic period, and may have still stood at the 65 or 70 metre level when the temple of Hibis was erected by Darius, about 500 years before the commencement of the Christian era. In the time of the Ptolemies it was certainly considerably lower, while in still later days, when the country became a Roman province, the lake had very much contracted, and probably only existed as a marshy swamp occupying the lower portions of the depression.

What age, it may be asked, is indicated by the pottery, bones, and fresh-water shells which, as already mentioned, have been found in the lacustrine deposits? Unfortunately the shells belong to species which have a wide distribution, and have persisted from early Pleistocene times right up to the present day. They do not, therefore, help us to fix the age of the deposits, except within wide limits. The bones were submitted to Dr. Andrews, F.R.S., of the British Museum Staff, and his conclusion is that they belong to two domesticated animals—one a small, lightly-built ox, the other a small horse, donkey, or zebra; unfortunately they are not sufficiently complete to be determined with certainty. Finally, as to the pottery: the types do not differ in any important respect from those associated with the towns and cemeteries of Græco-Roman age in many parts of the oasis. The barrel-shaped pot has, indeed, persisted to modern times, being, in a slightly different design, the standard water-jar at the present day in the oasis of Dakhla. The pottery, therefore, bears out our conclusions that the lake continued to exist well into the historic period.

Although flint implements have never yet been detected in situ in the lacustrine deposits, I have collected a considerable number from the area originally occupied by the lake. Some of these were found lying on the denuded surfaces of the lake beds, in positions which lead me to suppose that they have weathered out from the deposits. They are decidedly Neolithic in workmanship and character, and were, in my opinion, used by people inhabiting the depression at the time of, and probably prior to, the existence of the lake. A number of examples are shown in one of the accompanying plates; the figure in the bottom left-hand corner is, however, that of a palæolith, a typical example of those which occur on the borders of the plateau, and on or near the eastern escarpments. In the right-hand bottom corner is figured an object of very common occurrence in the oasis—a sandstone hand-grinder, probably of Roman age. With the exception of these two the specimens illustrated are all implements from the site of the lake. Flint implements were evidently in use in Kharga at a very late period, as large numbers of worked flints, mostly in the form of flakes or tools of very poor finish, occur near many of the old sanded-up wells. A considerable amount of detailed work will have to be undertaken before the different flints of the oasis can be satisfactorily arranged in chronological order.

From what period did the lake date, and to what cause did it owe its origin, are questions which cannot, I fear, be definitely answered as yet. While it is quite reasonable to consider, in the absence of any decisive evidence to the contrary, that the lake originated in early prehistoric or Pleistocene times—that it dates possibly from the time of the formation of the tufas of the Nile Valley and oasis-escarpment, when the climate was certainly much moister than at the present day—we must not forget the possibility that it was formed by artificial means during one or other of the Egyptian dynasties between 3000 and 1000 B.C.