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Surface evidence [ Al-Qasr in the Dakhla Oasis ]
Al-Ahram ^ | 23 - 29 March 2006 | Jenny Jobbins

Posted on 03/25/2006 7:30:23 PM PST by SunkenCiv

What caught his eye was an outcrop of what had always been thought -- if any thought was given to it at all -- to be an outcrop of dried mud beneath a disused mosque on the edge of the old town. One morning this February Leemhuis was walking past the "rock" when he noticed that the sun caught a distinct line that appeared to be a course of brickwork. He called in the project's chief restorer, Rizq Abdel-Hay Ahmed, and local inspector Affaf Saad Hussein, and together they examined it more closely. Under the veneer of sun-baked mud they could distinguish several such courses. Far from being hardened earth this was mud-brick, and, moreover, the size of the bricks -- each 8x16x33 cms -- corresponded exactly to bricks in other Roman fortresses in the Western Desert. Since then other experts, including Roger Bagnold of Columbia University -- who has also walked past it many times -- have agreed the wall is Roman...

Further excavations will have to be carried out before the wall can be dated with accuracy, but one historical conundrum now appears to be solved. Agricultural accounts from the Roman town of Kellis, the site of which lies between Al-Qasr and Mut, show records of grain and wine being sent to a place named, in Greek, "Takastra". Up to now no one has known where this might be, but now it can be surmised that Takastra, "the camp" from the Latin castra (military camp), later became Qasr, making its etymological link with the Arabic qasr (fortified town) obscure.

(Excerpt) Read more at weekly.ahram.org.eg ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs

Al-Qasr in the Dakhla Oasis

1 posted on 03/25/2006 7:30:24 PM PST by SunkenCiv
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Swallowed by the Sands
Discovering Archaeology (Wayback Machine) | August 2000 | Michael A. Stowe
Posted on 08/21/2004 11:26:26 AM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1196256/posts


2 posted on 03/25/2006 7:31:09 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Yes indeed, Civ updated his profile and links pages again, on Monday, March 6, 2006.)
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To: blam; FairOpinion; Ernest_at_the_Beach; StayAt HomeMother; 24Karet; 3AngelaD; asp1; ...
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
Gods, Graves, Glyphs PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

3 posted on 03/25/2006 7:31:38 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Yes indeed, Civ updated his profile and links pages again, on Monday, March 6, 2006.)
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To: SunkenCiv

I heard that the New York Times only sends spies to Iraq and other Muslim nations. I don't know if it is true.:)


4 posted on 03/25/2006 7:51:38 PM PST by Galveston Grl (Getting angry and abandoning power to the Democrats is not a choice.)
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To: SunkenCiv
The town of Al-Qasr, otherwise known as Qasr Dakhla, lies in Dakhla Oasis deep in the Western Desert 450kms due west of Luxor. Despite its remote setting it has had a colourful history: Romans exploited the oasis for agricultural produce; Libyans, including the Sanusi, made conquering raids; and it was not far from the infamous Darb Al-Arbain slave route.


5 posted on 03/25/2006 8:09:06 PM PST by sully777 (wWBBD: What would Brian Boitano do?)
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To: SunkenCiv

Although by the time of Empire the Roman army was composed of many different ethnic/national contingents other than Romans, one wonders in amazement as the remains of far-flung outposs come to life.

And I wonder if the soldiers were withdrawn or simply disbanded as units of the Empire and became part of the surrounding tribes, leaving genetic markers in the current residents


6 posted on 03/26/2006 6:00:53 AM PST by wildbill
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To: wildbill
The outposts were there to keep the locals in line, to avoid having them launch raids in the populated Nile valley. :') Since they were in the oases (some of which have vanished in the intervening centuries), there wasn't much else to worry about -- nothing beyond but unpopulated desert. Amusing sidebar...
The Histories
by Herodotus
Book II -- Euterpe
tr by George Rawlinson
On leaving [Meroe], and again mounting the stream, in the same space of time which it took you to reach the capital from Elephantine, you come to the Deserters, who bear the name of Asmach. This word, translated into our language, means "the men who stand on the left hand of the king." These Deserters are Egyptians of the warrior caste, who, to the number of two hundred and forty thousand, went over to the Ethiopians in the reign of king Psammetichus... Three garrisons were maintained in Egypt at that time, one in the city of Elephantine against the Ethiopians, another in the Pelusiac Daphnae, against the Syrians and Arabians, and a third, against the Libyans, in Marea... on one occasion the garrisons were not relieved during the space of three years; the soldiers, therefore, at the end of that time, consulted together, and having determined by common consent to revolt, marched away towards Ethiopia. Psammetichus, informed of the movement, set out in pursuit, and coming up with them, besought them with many words not to desert the gods of their country, nor abandon their wives and children. "Nay, but," said one of the deserters with an unseemly gesture, "wherever we go, we are sure enough of finding wives and children." Arrived in Ethiopia, they placed themselves at the disposal of the king. In return, he made them a present of a tract of land which belonged to certain Ethiopians with whom he was at feud, bidding them expel the inhabitants and take possession of their territory. From the time that this settlement was formed, their acquaintance with Egyptian manners has tended to civilise the Ethiopians.
In the Selincourt translation, this is given more literally as "pointed at his private parts and said..."
7 posted on 03/26/2006 7:25:34 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Yes indeed, Civ updated his profile and links pages again, on Monday, March 6, 2006.)
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To: sully777

Thanks!


8 posted on 03/26/2006 7:26:50 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Yes indeed, Civ updated his profile and links pages again, on Monday, March 6, 2006.)
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