EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY

Modelling environmental and

settlement change in the Fayum
A multi-disciplinary team has used remote sensing, traditional geoarchaeological survey and field
scanning methods to investigate human-environment interactions throughout the past 10,000 years.
The team has recorded major climate and landscape changes, which influenced largely the extent,
pace, and nature of ecosystem development in the Fayum during the Holocene. Fekri Hassan and
Geoff Tassie report on the first three years of research (2003-2005).
In the northern part of the Fayum Depression lies Lake
Qarun, fed by a branch of the River Nile - the BahrYussef.
Since the precursor of the Bahr Yussef broke through the
ancient Hawara Channel during the mid-Pleistocene,
the level of the lake has been governed by the amount
of water entering from the Nile. During the last 40,000
years the lake level has varied between 25m above sea
level to its present 42m below sea level. Human occupa-
tion of the Fayum is recorded from the Palaeolithic to
the present, and seems to have been intimately linked to
the rich resources the lake provided.
Archaeological work has been conducted in the Fayum
for over 200 years and various studies have shown that as
well as exploiting the region’s water and its rich natural
A satellite image of the Fayum showing the locations of the drill-cores
flora and fauna, people managed and manipulated the
environment. This manipulation is first noted in the
Fayum Neolithic (5,200–4,000 BC), originally identified
by Gertrude Caton Thompson in the 1920s. During the
Twelfth Dynasty Nile inflow was managed by means of
dams and irrigation and drainage canals in the BahrYussef.
In the Ptolemaic Period lake levels declined drastically, as
a result of both climate change and hydrologic manipula-
tions for land reclamation.
In 2003, a multi-disciplinary University College Lon-
don project - ‘Environmental Change and History of
Water Management in the Faiyum Depression during
the Holocene’ was initiated by Fekri Hassan and Roger
Flower in collaboration with Mohammed Hamden.This
mainly geoarchaological project began to develop vari-
ous fieldwork programmes to document the landscape.
One component of the project involves recording all the
archaeological sites in the Fayum (Palaeolithic to Islamic)
to aid in the reconstruction of the ancient landscape and
ecology.This has led to the development of computerised
regional sites and monuments records (SMRs). One of the
central elements of this component is creating a multi-
period Geographic Information System (GIS) map of the
changing settlement patterns and water regimes of the
Fayum. The final results of the project will be presented
to the Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural
Heritage (CultNat) who are in the process of creating a
National Register of Sites and Monuments.
The Twelfth Dynasty pyramid of Senwosret II at Lahun A major environmental component of the geoar-

37
 EGYPTIAN
Drill-coring in Lake Qarun where the water is 8.4m deep
chaeological research involved taking cores using a cable
percussion drill-coring rig. In February 2003, two lake-
cores were extracted from the deepest point (c.8.4m) of
Lake Qarun.These cores were complemented with seven
terrestrial cores taken during April 2004: two near the
Bahlawan Dam and one near the Dimishkin Dam in the
Hawara Channel, and four near the Shedmu Dam (near
Itsa). During Spring 2005, a further eight terrestrial-
cores were taken: four near the Gadallah Dam at Lahun,
and one each at El-Borg, Tersa, Ain Siliyin, and Biahmu.
The longest of these cores was 27m and records the
sedimentary history of the Hawara Channel and Fayum
floodplain back to Late Pleistocene sands (c.20,000 BP).
These terrestrial-cores have been subjected to magnetic
susceptibility and sedimentological analysis and are be-
ing scientifically dated to provide a chronology of past
environmental events, such as the possible complete or
partial drying up of the lake during the First Intermediate
Period. The cores have also been studied for microfossils
(particularly diatom deposits) and stable isotopes to help
understand the environmental history of the region as well
as ceramic analysis of any pottery found. A bathymetric
survey using combined GPS/echo sounding equipment
was also conducted on modern Lake Qarun; a total of ten
transects were surveyed, covering a distance of 50 miles.
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ARCHAEOLOGY
Drill-coring at the Bahlawan Dam in the Hawara Channel
The data will be used, together with pre-existing data, to
generate bathymetric maps of the lake.
GIS maps were made to understand the diachronic set-
tlement patterning of archaeological sites and the human
uses of water in the Fayum in relation to former lake levels.
These include the various extant and textually-known
sites, as well as attributes of the changing naturally- and
culturally-modified environment. To facilitate this, the
team conducted a bibliographic survey of all literature
pertaining to excavation and survey in the region, studied
satellite imagery, and visited managed archaeological sites.
Data on 240 archaeological sites was collected (212 in the
Fayum Depression and 28 in the Fayum region, including
sites such as Gerza, Ehnasaya, Lisht, and Sedment located
on the western side of the Nile floodplain) and stored in
a relational database. The database of archaeological sites
lists the name(s), levels of investigation and bibliographic
references, periods of occupation, their size, finds, archi-
tectural features, current state of preservation and any
dangers, and georeference for each site. Using these data,
along with satellite imagery, digital elevation models and
digitised 1:50,000 topographic Survey Maps of Egypt, the
team has developed a GIS for the Fayum that shows the
changing Holocene settlement patterning and hydrologi-
cal regimes in the region.
Above:The Shedmu Dam, near Itsa, has an earthfill core
of Ptolemaic date. Although the majority of the surviving
brickwork is Ottoman, some Roman material is still visible,
particularly in the lower courses
Left:The scour pool at the Shedmu Dam
 EGYPTIAN
Top row (left to right):
a) Palaeolithic, includes the Upper, Middle and Lower
Periods and covers the period 300,000 – 10,500 BP.
The lake level is shown at +30m above sea level,
although it luctuated by +15m and -7m from this
level.
b) Qarunian (7,200 - 6,200 BC) lake is shown at +10m,
although it luctuated by +9m from this level.
Fayumian (5,200 - 4,000 BC) lake is shown at
c)
+20m, although it luctuated by +4m and -1m from
this level.
Middle row (left to right):
Predynastic Period (4,000 - 3,050 BC) lake is
d)
shown at +15m, although it luctuated by +5m and
- 25m from this level.
Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom (3,050 - 2,181
e)
BC) lake is shown at +15m, although it luctuated
by ± 5m from this level. During the First Intermedi-
ate Period the lake dropped to –20m. Although the
site of Khashmet ed-Dib is shown in the lake, Caton
39
ARCHAEOLOGY
Settlement patterning in the Fayum from
the Palaeolithic to the Late Antique Period.
The lake levels depicted are not averages,
but reflect the level during the maximum
extent of occupation in each period
Thompson and Gardner stated in 1934 that arte-
facts were found near the village, but did not say
whether the ind spot was to the north or east. At
the actual village no remains earlier than the Ro-
man/Late Antique Periods are visible.
f) Middle Kingdom (2,040 - 1,650 BC) lake is shown
at + 10m, although it luctuated by +10m from this
level.
Bottom row (left to right):
Ptolemaic Period (332 - 30 BC) lake is shown
g)
at –5m, although the lake luctuated by +5m and
–15m from this level. The sites of Shakshuk, San-
hur el-Bahariya and Kom Ezbet Aii are shown
in the lake, and although mooted as Ptolemaic,
the pottery previously identiied at these sites is
probably Roman in date. However, when the inal
dates for the lake core are received and veriied
it may clarify this situation.
Roman Period (30 BC – AD 306) lake is shown at
h)
–20m, although the lake luctuated by ±20m from
this level.
 EGYPTIAN
An ancient calcified tree stump
Around the Fayum are several palaeobeaches marking
previous lake levels (identified from the current and pre-
vious geomorphological studies). To date, four distinct
Holocene lakes have been identified, although previously
their extent and exact shape had not been fully substanti-
ated or mapped.The settlements from the various periods
of Egypt’s history (notably Neolithic, Old Kingdom,
Middle Kingdom and Ptolemaic) were mainly located
around the lake margins. It is reasoned that settlements
must always be above the corresponding lake level but
not always immediately on the edge of the lake (although
fluctuations in lake level are recorded for the various
periods).These investigations confirm that modern Lake
Qarun is the shrunken remnant of ancient Lake Moeris.
Archaeological and geoarchaeological evidence indicates
that the various lake stages were impacted upon by a
remarkable combination of climatic and human factors
during the Holocene. The geological evidence of these
past lake levels has also been incorporated into the Fayum
settlement modelling to produce a series of digital maps
of the region.
Preliminary results show that there was generally consist-
ent settlement in the Fayum from 7,200 BC, with a hiatus
The number of archaeological sites recorded in the Fayum divided by period.
In the Predynastic Period (4,000 – 3,050 BC) the Fayum had its own
distinct culture - the Moerian, and sites with Naqada remains also often
had Maadi remains. Although there are less Middle Kingdom than Old
Kingdom sites, their size and complexity is far greater
40
ARCHAEOLOGY
A diatomite rich palaeobeach located north of Lake Qarun
from 6,200 to 5,200 BC. From 5,200 BC until the present
the Fayum has been continually settled, with fluctuating
settlement density. Although the dates for the drill-cores
are still awaited, analysis of a previous drill core indicates
that Lake Qarun dried up after the Old Kingdom; prob-
ably due to a series of low Nile floods. Textual evidence
from the Middle Kingdom refers to a period of famine
and chaos during the First Intermediate Period. This
may be confirmed if the drill-cores from the lake and
the Hawara Channel indicate contemporaneous episodes
of hyper-aridity. Earthfill dams were identified for the
historic damming of the Hawara Channel at Dimishkin,
Bahlawan and Gadallah and in the floodplain at Shedmu.
Analysis of the pottery showed that the Dimishkin Dam
was erected during the Roman Period, possibly to supple-
ment the larger Bahlawan Dam (and also Shedmu) built
in the Ptolemaic Period. However, the packed-mud dam
at Gadallah dates to the Middle Kingdom and partially
overlies an Early Dynastic settlement. The analysis of the
drill-cores is on-going, and a full drill-coring programme
of the Fayum will be conducted once further funding is
secured.The results of this analysis will reveal more about
the geological history of the region, as well as more infor-
mation on landscape dynamics and human impacts.
q Fekri Hassan, Petrie Professor of Archaeology, Institute of Archae-
ology (IoA), University College London (UCL) and Geoff Tassie, an
archaeologist completing his Ph.D at the IoA, UCL co-authored this
paper with Roger Flower, a researcher in the Environmental Change
Research Centre, UCL, Mike Hughes, a GIS and Remote Sensing
specialist at the Environmental Change Research Centre, UCL and
Mohamed Abdel-Rahman Hamden, Professor of Geology, Geology
Department, Cairo University. The research is funded by the Lever-
hulme Foundation and the British Academy. The authors would like
to express their gratitude to the Egyptian National Authority for
Remote Sensing and Space Science (NARSS), the Shaduf Project and
the British Council, Agouza, Cairo for providing resources, CultNat
for supplying office space and sharing information and the EAIS for
providing digital 1:50,000 topographic maps. Many thanks also to Ri-
chard Niederreiter for the lake coring and to Ashraf el-Senoussi, Kevin
Keatings, Joris van Wetering and Andie Byrne for specific research or
comments. Photographs: the writers.