This new volume in the Oasis Papers series marks the 40th anniversary of archaeological fieldwork in the Dakhleh Oasis in Egypt’s Western Desert under the leadership of Anthony J. Mills and presents a synthesis of the current state of our knowledge of the oasis and its interconnections with surrounding regions, especially the Nile Valley. The papers are by distinguished authorities in the field and postgraduate students who specialise in different aspects of Dakhleh and presents an almost complete survey of the archaeology of Dakhleh including much unpublished, original material. It will be one of the few to document a specific part of modern Egypt in such detail and thus should have a broad and lasting appeal. The content of some of the papers is unlikely to be published in any other form elsewhere. Dakhleh is possibly the most intensively examined wider geographic region within Egypt.

Papers from the Fourth Australasian Egyptology Conference held at Monash University in 2016 and dedicated to Gillian E. Bowen who retired from Monash that year. The contributions include several on Egypt’s Western Desert where Monash has been engaged in fieldwork for many years in the the Dakhleh Oasis.

Excavations by the Dakhleh Oasis Project at Ismant al-Kharab, ancient Kellis in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, revealed the presence of an extensive necropolis dating to the Roman Period, with hundreds of rock-cut tombs containing multiple burials. Termed the Kellis 1 Cemetery, it yielded a range of artifacts and many of the individuals were provided with elaborately decorated cartonnage coverings. This is the largest collection of such material yet discovered in Dakhleh. This book presents a detailed analysis of the entire corpus of cartonnage found at Kellis in a securely excavated context. These objects, which include mummy masks, foot-cases, and full body covers, were part of the burial accoutrements of the wealthier residents of the village. Stylistic and digital investigation of the artifacts suggests a well-defined craft production, with the presence of multiple groups of craftsmen using specific manufacturing techniques and local traits in their iconographic repertoire. The scale of evidence demonstrates that Kellis was a vibrant community with a dynamic funerary production in contact with nearby areas. Comparison with finds from the neighboring Oasis of Kharga, as well as with artifacts in museums collections and from the antiquities market, suggest a complex network of skilled craftsmen throughout the region. This is the first comprehensive study of the material. It has been studied in person by the author in the field enabling a detailed appraisal of the items, whether intact or fragmentary. It builds on recent research addressing regionalism and craftsmanship, and constitutes one of the main sources to investigate issues of permanence and change in the indigenous funerary customs of the area.

This handbook showcases an Africa-wide compendium of Stone Age archaeological sites and methodological advances that have improved our understanding of hominin lifeways and biogeography in the continent. The focal time spans the Pleistocene Epoch (c. 2.5 million–11,700 years ago) during which important human traits, such as obligate bipedalism that freed the hands to engage in creative activities, a large brain relative to body size, language, and social complexity, developed in the general forms that they are found today. The handbook is the first of its kind, and it is expected to play a significant role in human evolutionary research by: ❖ Collating the African Stone Age record, which exists in a fragmented state along the lines of national boundaries and colonial experiences. ❖ Showcasing emerging conceptual and methodological advances in African Pleistocene archaeology. ❖ Providing reference datasets for teaching and researching African prehistory. ❖ Making Africa’s Stone Age record accessible to researchers and students based in Africa who may not have access to journal publications where most new field discoveries are published. The Handbook features 128 chapters, of which 116 are site entries grouped by the host countries and presented in an alphabetical order. A number of those site-related entries examine multiple archaeological localities lumped under specific projects or study areas. The rest of the contributions deal with methodological topics, such as luminescence and radiocarbon dating, field data recovery, lithic analysis, micromorphology, and hominin fossil and zooarchaeological records of Pleistocene Africa. The introductory chapter provides an historical overview of the development of Stone Age (Paleolithic) archaeology in Africa beginning in the mid-19th century, and paleoenvironmental and chronological frameworks commonly used to structure the continent’s Pleistocene record. By making a good amount of African Stone Age literature accessible to researchers and the public, we wish to promote interest in human evolutionary research in the continent and elsewhere.

A wide-ranging exploration of the daily lives of ordinary Coptic Christians, from late Antiquity until today This volume brings together leading experts from a range of disciplines to examine aspects of the daily lived experiences of Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority from late Antiquity to the present. In doing so, it serves as a supplement and a corrective to institutional or theological narratives, which are generally rooted in studying the wielders of historical power and control. Coptic Culture and Community reveals the humanity of the Coptic tradition, giving granular depth to how Copts have lived their lives through and because of their faith for two thousand years. The first three sections consider in turn the breadth of the daily life approach, perspectives on poverty and power in a variety of different contexts, and matters of identity and persecution. The final section reflects on the global Coptic diaspora, bringing themes studied for the early Coptic Church into dialog with Coptic experiences today. These broad categories help to link fundamental questions of socio-religious history with unique aspects of Coptic culture and its vibrant communities of individuals. Contributors: - Nicola Aravecchia, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA - Mariam F. Ayad, The American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt - Renate Dekker, Leiden, the Netherlands - Lois M. Farag, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA - Ihab Khalil, Coptic Museum of Canada, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada - A.D. MacDonald, Sydney, Australia - Ash Melika, California Baptist University, Riverside, California, USA - Samuel Moawad, Institute of Egyptology and Coptology, Münster, Germany - Helene Moussa, Coptic Museum of Canada, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada - Alanna Nobbs, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia - Carolyn Ramzy, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada - Christina Thérèse Rooijakkers, Leiden University, Oegstgeest, the Netherlands - Youhanna Nessim Youssef, Sankt Ignatios College, University College Stockholm, Sweden

For over a century our knowledge of Egypt’s Western Desert during the Third Intermediate Period relied almost entirely on the Greater and Smaller Dakhleh Stelae. These two significant documents were purchased by Henry Lyons in 1894 in Dakhleh Oasis and indicated the existence of a substantial temple at Mut al-Kharab dedicated to the god Seth. Apart from these sources, very little information from the Western Desert could be dated to this period. Excavations at Mut al-Kharab began in 2000 and in recent years, evidence from the Third Intermediate Period temple has grown considerably. A range of artefacts has been unearthed, including decorated temple blocks, stelae, ostraka, in situ architectural remains, other small finds, and a large collection of well-dated ceramics. The scale of evidence suggests Mut al-Kharab was probably the most significant Third Intermediate Period site in the Western Desert. In light of this new material, a re-examination of activity in the Western Desert during this period has been possible. This volume presents all the available evidence relating to the western oases during the Third Intermediate Period, with a particular focus on the ceramics. Occupation appears to have been more widespread than the limited evidence previously suggested, and these oasis communities were closely connected to the populations in the Nile Valley. The Egyptian central administration continued to be interested in the Western Desert, although political control does not seem to have been consistent. Moreover, subtle yet distinct variations in the material record, including aspects of pottery traditions and religious practices, may reveal the existence of an oasis culture. As such, we are developing a much clearer picture of activity in this region.