Année de la campagne : 2020 (6 janvier -2 février) Autorité nationale présente : Le ministère du Tourisme et des Antiquités (MoTA) était représenté par Osama Mahdey Ahmed Mouhamed et Abdel Aleem Mouhamed Tentawy Mahmoud Numéro et intitulé de l'opération de terrain : 17152 Désert Oriental Composition de l'équipe de terrain : L'équipe était composée de Thomas Faucher (archéologue, numismate, IRAMAT-CRP2A, Bordeaux), Bérangère Redon (archéologue, CNRS-HiSoMA, Lyon), Adam Bülow-Jacobsen (papyrologue, photographe), Charlène Bouchaud (archéobotaniste, CNRS-MNHN), Dominique Cardon (spécialiste des textiles,
Excavations at the Ptolemaic–Early Roman animal necropolis at Syene/Aswan in Upper Egypt revealed the presence of more than 300 domestic animal skeletons. Sheep predominate in this assemblage, but dogs, cats, and cattle were ritually buried as well. Animals have been deposited in toto in shallow pits without prior mummification. Ongoing archaeo- zoological analysis of sheep shows some interesting patterns meriting a closer look. Methodologically the discrepancy between age estimates based on eruption and/or abrasion of teeth and the individual’s epiphyseal status is of particu- lar interest. To quantify this discrepancy, we compared recordings with those obtained from a modern population of known-age sheep: the Karakul population housed in the Julius Kühn Collection in Halle an der Saale, Germany. The rate at which tooth wear takes place in the different populations is evaluated and possible causal relationships discussed. Be- ing essential to reconstruct demographic profiles, an approach to estimate tooth-wear rate in ancient sheep populations will be presented.
Area 13c, located in the town centre of modern Aswan in Upper Egypt, was excavated in 2005 by the Joint Swiss-Egyptian Mission working at Old Aswan. A sequence of houses from the late Ptolemaic period up to the late Roman period was documented at the site. Among the terracotta objects found in one of the houses, a miniaturised clay scabbard has features typical for the gladius scabbards known from military camps of the fi rst and early second centuries from other Roman provinces. Similar terracottas were interpreted as toys, attributes of statues or votive off erings. However, the fi nd context of the object from Syene demonstrates that-together with other clay objects-it belonged to a room decoration or was part of a house altar. Perhaps the object was dedicated as a votive by a soldier, since there are some indications for Roman military presence in this part of Syene.
In 2020, during excavations in the Wadi al-Ghozza in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, archaeologists from the French Archaeological Mission to the Eastern Desert of Egypt discovered a well-preserved Flavian praesidium. This small and unusually shaped fort, identified in ostraca found in the fortress as Berkou (Βɛρκου), lay along a track leading from ancient Kaine (Qena) to the imperial quarries at Porphyrites. The fort lay over the remains of a Ptolemaic village and incorporated elements from the water system of the older settlement. This article presents the results of those excavations, including an overview of the fort's architecture and associated finds, as well as a discussion of its role in the regional transportation and security network that supported Roman exploitation of the nearby porphyry quarries in the 1st c. CE.
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