Dakhleh Oasis and the Western Desert of Egypt under the Ptolemies

The present volume, a modified version of James C.R. Gill's 2014 Monash PhD dissertation, goes a long way towards correcting the errors that underlay that earlier assessment, offering a critical new tool that should prevent any repetition of such problems in future studies.The introductory chap...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antiquity 2017, Vol.91 (355), p.261-263
Main Author: Gates-Foster, Jennifer
Format: Review
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeology
Ceramics
Deserts
Excavation
Historic artifacts
Oases
Repetition
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The present volume, a modified version of James C.R. Gill's 2014 Monash PhD dissertation, goes a long way towards correcting the errors that underlay that earlier assessment, offering a critical new tool that should prevent any repetition of such problems in future studies.The introductory chapter frames the problem by briefly outlining the history of archaeological research in the oases, with particular emphasis on Dakhleh, and summarising the historical evidence for the relationship between the oases and the Nile Valley in the Ptolemaic period.In Gill's hands, the results produced by this mundane methodology are rather exciting, for he offers a substantial corpus of diverse Ptolemaic forms and wares from Mut al-Kharab (a notable achievement in its own right), which provides definitive proof that there was substantial activity in this area during the Ptolemaic period despite the absence of any associated architecture, and in contrast to the established narrative of Ptolemaic decline.
ISSN:0003-598X
1745-1744
DOI:10.15184/aqy.2016.240