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An Oasis City (Hardcover)
Roger S. Bagnall, Nicola Aravecchia, Raffaella Cribiore, Paola Davoli, Olaf E Kaper, …
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Scattered through the vast expanse of stone and sand that makes up
Egypt's Western Desert are several oases. These islands of green in
the midst of the Sahara owe their existence to springs and wells
drawing on ancient aquifers. In antiquity, as today, they supported
agricultural communities, going back to Neolithic times but
expanding greatly in the millennium from the Saite pharaohs to the
Roman emperors. New technologies of irrigation and transportation
made the oases integral parts of an imperial economy. Amheida,
ancient Trimithis, was one of those oasis communities. Located in
the western part of the Dakhla Oasis, it was an important regional
center, reaching a peak in the Roman period before being abandoned.
Over the past decade, excavations at this well-preserved site have
revealed its urban layout and brought to light houses, streets, a
bath, a school, and a church. The only standing brick pyramid of
the Roman period in Egypt has been restored. Wall-paintings, temple
reliefs, pottery, and texts all contribute to give a lively sense
of its political, religious, economic, and cultural life. This book
presents these aspects of the city's existence and its close ties
to the Nile valley, by way of long desert roads, in an accessible
and richly illustrated fashion.
More than one third of the world's population lives in houses made
of unfired earth bricks or stamped earth, materials also known as
mud brick, adobe, "terre crue, pise, or rammed earth. Houses in the
middle east have been made out this material for at least 10,000
years, but in many places this form of architecture is slowly being
superceded by more recent building techniques using reinforced
concrete and concrete blocks. This study contains a description of
the remaining mud brick architecture in several villages in the
Dakhleh Oasis in Egypt. It includes a brief history of mud brick, a
discussion of the distinct local building techniques of the Oasis,
and three architectural case studies of traditional mud brick
houses in the Oasis, and it has many plans and photographs of local
houses. The study was carried out as preparation for the design and
construction of an archaeological working and training centre in
the Dakhleh Oasis, which has been made according to the local
traditions in mud brick vernacular. It is based on a field trip
carried out in 1997 by Wolf Schijns (architect), Margriet Schijns
(architect), Olaf E Kaper (Egyptologist) and Joris D Kila (art
historian).
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