Dates

Field Projects

Work carried out (summary)

1900s up to WWII

The discovery of Abu Ballas "Pottery Hill" in the Western Desert of Egypt by Lieut. More and J. Ball in 1917

Recorded new site

1925 Caton-Thompson and Gardner began work in the Faiyum Depression

Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic survey and excavation (geology and archaeology)

1926 Sandford and Arkell surveys in Kom Ombo area

Survey of Pleistocene contexts and discovery of Lower Palaeolithic artefacts

1926 Bovier-Lapierre

Discovery of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic artefacts in the Abassiya area of Cairo

1930-1932 Caton-Thompson and Gardner work in Kharga Oasis

Excavation of Acheulean contexts and survey of local geology and palaeo-environment

1931 Clayton recorded the site of Wadi Sura (The Cave of Swimmers) in the Gilf Kebir

Recorded new site

1938 Bagnold Expedition to Uweinat and Gilf Kebir

Excavation of three Acheulean and Neolithic sites

1938-1939 Winkler’s study of Western Desert rock art

The first dedicated and systematic survey of rock art in the Gilf Kebir and Uweinat

1962 until the Egyptian-Israeli Conflict

1962-1966 Nubian Salvage Campaign (due to flooding of Nubia as a result of the construction of the Aswan Dam), carried out by Combined Prehistoric Expedition

Salvage of prehistoric sites in southern Egypt.  Excavations still continuing.

1966-1969 Italian Expedition work in the Faiyum Depression

Excavation of Neolithic sites

1967 Combined Prehistoric Expedition work in a wider area of southern Egypt

Survey and excavation

1969 Combined Prehistoric Expedition investigation of Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic in the Faiyum

Survey and excavation, radiocarbon dates.

1972 to Present

1970s Ben Gurion University Survey of Sinai

1972-1975 Combined Prehistoric Expedition in Dakhleh Oasis and southern Western Desert

Excavation and survey of Lower and Middle Palaeolithic and Neolithic sites

1973 - 1979 Survey of Sinai (Oren)

1976 Combined Prehistoric Expedition in Kharga Oasis

Middle Palaeolithic and Early Neolithic sites excavated

1975-1976 Fekri Hassan in Siwa Oasis

Geological investigations, and the discovery of new sites, most dating to the Neolithic

1976 Belgian Middle Egypt Prehistoric Project between Qena and Asyut

Lower, Middle, Upper and Late Palaeolithic sites.

1977 Sinai Projects by Bar Yosef, Phillips, Gladfelter and Gilead

Clarification of hunter-gatherer occupations in Sinai

1977-1983 German Archaeological Institute in Cairo

Excavations at Merimde Beni Salama

1977 Combined Prehistoric Expedition in Napta

Further excavation

1978-1980 Combined Prehistoric Expedition at Wadi Kubbaniya and elsewhere in the Western Desert

Further excavations and survey

1979-1981 Polish team from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow in the Faiyum Depression

Survey and excavation at the Qasr el Sagha area of the Faiyum Depression, producing radiocarbon dates

1981 University of Washington State in the Faiyum Depression

Survey and excavation on the southern edges of the Faiyum Lake Qarun

1981 Italian Archaeological Mission of the University of Rome in Farafra Oasis

Survey and excavation

1981 and 1988 Besiedlungsgeschichte der-ost-Sahara Project in the Western Desert and Gilf Kebir

Survey and excavation of archaeology, geology and early environments.

1981-1984 Combined Prehistoric Expedition at Wadi Kubbaniya

Continued excavations and survey of Western Desert areas

1984 and 1986 the University of Illinois, Chicago, in South Sinai

Exxcavation of Upper Palaeolithic sites

1985 Belgian Middle Egypt Prehistoric Project of Catholic University of Leuven

Survey of Middle Egypt, discovery of several new Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sites and excavation of some sites

1990-1998 Dakhla Oasis Prehistoric Project

Survey and identification of artifact assemblages

1990-2001 Cologne University Collaborative Research Centre 389 (ACACIA) in the Western Desert

Holocene sites in the Western Desert between the Oases and the Nile Valley, around Djara

1990-2003 Combined Prehistoric Expedition returned to Napta Playa and other Western Desert sites

Survey and excavation

1994 Belgian Middle Egypt Project in Eastern Desert

Excavation of cave with Palaeolithic layers near Qena at Wadi Sodmein

1995-1996 University of Washington archaeological Expedition in s.w. Sinai

Survey

1996 Combined Prehistoric Expedition in Sinai

Survey and excavation

1996 Southern Methodist University (SMU)

Survey, discovery of new sites, and excavations.  Sites dating to Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age

2001 Belgian Middle Egypt Prehistoric Project

Discovery of Palaeolithic sites in Naqada area

2001-2003 The Kharga Oasis Prehistoric Project

Survey along southern Kharga oasis to clarify Palaeolithic archaeology

2003 Italian Archaeological Mission of the University of Rome

Clarification of stratigraphy of the Wadi El Obeiyd Neolithic sequence