Archaeologists discover a 7,000-year-old settlement where agriculture was in full bloom

LA Times (Thomas H. Maugh II)

The problem is that most of the remains in the oasis have been uncovered by blowing sand, leaving few artifacts in their original setting, said archaeologist Willeke Wendrich of UCLA, who led the research. Moreover, much of the area is, ironically, being trampled by modern agriculture.

At the end of the 2006 digging season, Wendrich's team sunk a borehole into one sandy site previously excavated by Caton-Thompson and discovered subsurface evidence of bone and other artifacts. Before leaving, Wendrich managed to lease the six-acre site for a year.

When she and paleo-botanist Rene Cappers of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands returned last year, they found that the investment was worthwhile.

"What we have found here is a window into the development of agriculture" in Egypt, Wendrich said.

None of the remains of domesticated plants and animals were native to Egypt. All were originally domesticated in the Fertile Crescent of the Near East about 11,000 years ago and developed into a technology "package" over the succeeding 2,000 years.

The findings at Fayoum suggest that the technology was imported intact rather than invented locally, experts said. That possibility is supported by the discovery at Fayoum of a bracelet made from shells found only along the Red Sea, indicating that trade was occurring throughout the region.

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