Contents
The Early Dynastic or the Archaic Period
The Second Intermediate Period
2. Geography, Climate, and People
Controlling the Eastern Desert
Modern Interest in the Eastern Desert
Archaeological and Anthropological Work in the Eastern Desert
3. A Roman Imperial Road and the Northern Part of the Eastern Desert
Sites along the Via Nova Hadriana
Sites in the Northern Eastern Desert
Stone Quarries in the Late Predynastic to Late Pharaonic/Late Dynastic Periods
Stone Quarries in the Roman period
Satellite Settlements of Mons Porphyrites
Wadi Umm Wikala (Mons Ophiates)
Quarry Roads, Water Stops, and Forts
5. The Joys and Sorrows of the Desert Survey
Global Positioning System Technology
Some of the More ‘Interesting’ Surveys
The Burning Land Rover Survey, January 1989
Stuck in the Sand for Three Days: The Aborted January 1999 Survey
The Hottest Survey We Ever Had: Summer 2001
6. Gods of the Desert: The Temples and Shrines of the Eastern Desert
Roman and Early Christian Sanctuaries
Sanctuaries at the Hard Stone Quarry Settlements
Sanctuaries at the Emerald Mining Settlements
Sanctuary at a Settlement of Unknown Function
Christian Remains in the Eastern Desert
7. The Horn of Plenty: International Trade
Archaeological Remains of Ports
Causes of Death of the Harbors
Extent and Nature of the Trade
Costs of the Trade in Roman Times
The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
Individuals Involved in the Commerce
Written Evidence from the Desert Roads
8. Burying the Dead in the Eastern Desert
9. El Dorado: Gold Mines in the Eastern Desert
Gold Mining Sites in the Eastern Desert
The Earliest Inhabitants of the Desert
Settlements of the Ptolemaic and Roman Period
Forts on the Myos Hormos–Coptos Road
Settlements with Unknown Functions
Construction of Houses in the Roman Period
11. The Ma‘aza, ‘Ababda, and Bisharin Bedouin
12. Land of Gemstones: Emerald and Amethyst Mines in the Eastern Desert
Times of Year to Travel in the Eastern Desert
Sources of Water in the Eastern Desert
14. The Roads from Berenike to the Nile
Roads Leading to and from Berenike
Berenike–Apollonopolis Magna (Edfu) Road
15. The Last Frontier: The Southernmost Sites in the Eastern Desert
Indigenous Peoples and ‘Immigrants’ in the Eastern Desert in Ptolemaic and Roman Times
Enigmatic Settlements in the Eastern Desert