Wadi Khashab (PPMA 5)

Piotr Osypiński, Marta Osypińska and Iwona Zych, Wadi Khashab. Unearthing Late Prehistory in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, (=Polish Publications in Mediterranean Archaeology 5). Leuven–Paris–Bristol: Peeters Publishers

Polish Publications in Mediterranean Archaeology is a PCMA UW book series published by Peeters Publishers.

This open-access publication was made possible with support from the Ministry of Education and Science program for “Internationalization of Research of the Archaeological Centres of the University of Warsaw in Egypt, Peru, Georgia and Montenegro” and thanks to a grant from the ‘Initiative of Excellence – Research University’ (IDUB).

Leuven 2021
ISBN 9789042943810
e-ISBN: 9789042943827
pages: XVIII-150

The 5th millennium BC megalithic ceremonial complex at Wadi Khashab in the Eastern Desert of Egypt is located almost directly in the middle of the Eastern Desert, on a wadi trail connecting the Valley of the Nile with the Red Sea. The volume presents the results of three seasons of excavation of this site, which featured a human burial in the center of several burials of cattle and sheep, within an enclosure of upright stone slabs that must have formed an eye-catching landmark for many miles up and down the wadi, also for the pastoral communities traversing the mountains in later times.

The study of the animal remains from this remote site in the poorly known Eastern Desert has provided a very well documented series of osteological, osteometric, and archaeozoological data on early cattle and sheep. It adds to the current knowledge of cattle domestication in the Neolithic and early cattle mobility in northeastern Africa, offering unique information on the uses of domestic livestock not only in the funerary traditions but also in mobility systems. It also contributes to the discussion on the origins and domestication of the auroch in Africa, pointing to a local African origin for the cattle.

Piotr Osypiński, PhD, is a researcher and adjunct at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He is a prehistorian, a specialist in Stone Age tools, and a field archaeologist with extensive experience in Egypt and Sudan. He was the Principal Investigator of the Wadi Khashab Project in Egypt and collaborates on a number of grant projects in Egypt and Sudan, notably the PalaeoAffad Project. He has authored a number of articles in leading journals in the field.

Marta Osypińska, PhD hab., is a researcher and assistant professor at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Her research focuses on animals in ancient eastern African societies, archaeozoology of Africa as well as of early medieval Poland. She is the Principal Investigator of the PalaeoAffad Project and has published monographs and articles in thematic journals in her field.

Iwona Zych, MA, is a researcher at the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw. She has extensive archaeological experience in Egypt and has co-directed the Polish–American Berenike Project in the Red Sea coast of Egypt. She is currently Chief Editor of the journal Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean.

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