More re Neolithic discoveries in the Faiyum

Al Ahram Weekly

Nevine El-Aref sheds some very welcome light on the previous reports:

At the site, known as Z-Basin, on the north shore of Lake Qaroun, an archaeological and geological team from University College of Los Angeles (UCLA) and Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RUG) stumbled upon what is believed to be the most complete Neolithic settlement ever found in Fayoum. This discovery was made when the team was surveying the site to study fluctuations in the lake level which caused artefacts to be either covered with metres of sediment or dramatically displaced by erosion.

This site was previously excavated in 1925 by Gertund Caton-Thompson, who found several Neolithic remains. This time the magnetic survey revealed that the settlement was much larger than expected and that the area excavated by Thompson was only a fraction of the site.

"I cannot stress enough how important this is," mission director Willeke Wendrich says. According to Wendrich, the Fayoum Neolithic had so far been considered as one period but this view may have to change. "Our first result of study gives us reason to believe that they might be dated to different periods within the Neolithic," he says. Careful excavation and analysis of the area will be carried out in the upcoming archaeological season in an attempt to enormously augment the knowledge of such an interesting site.

In order to understand the layout of the Qaret Al-Rusas Roman village, on the northeastern side of Lake Qaroun, without excavating it, the mission carried a magnetic survey. The map shows clear wall lines and streets in an orthogonal pattern typical of the Graeco- Roman period. The village has well- preserved Roman remains of decorated limestone blocks and traces of mud- brick walls which show up in two robber trenches.

Early studies, Wendrich says, show clearly that the site was covered by the waters of Lake Qaroun at an unknown time for an unknown period, as not only the surface is completely levelled but potsherds and limestone flakes are covered with a thick layer of calcium carbonate, which is usually indicative of a stand of 30-40cm deep water.

See the above page for the full story.