New Book from The Oriental Institute: Bir Umm Fawakhir, Volume 2: Report on the 1996-1997 Survey Seasons

Announced today:

OIC 30.

Bir Umm Fawakhir, Volume 2: Report on the 1996-1997 Survey Seasons

By Carol Meyer, with contributions by Lisa Heidorn, Alexandra A. O'Brien, and Clemens Reichel

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Bir Umm Fawakhir is a fifth-sixth century A.D. Coptic/Byzantine  gold-mining town located in the central Eastern Desert of Egypt. The Bir  Umm Fawakhir Project of the Oriental Institute of the University of  Chicago carried out four seasons of archaeological survey at the site,  in 1992, 1993, 1996, and 1997; one season of excavation in 1999; and one  study season in 2001. This volume is the final report on the 1996 and  1997 seasons.
The goals of the 1996 and 1997 field seasons were to complete the  detailed map of the main settlement, to continue the investigation of  the outlying clusters of ruins or "Outliers," and to address some  specific questions such as the ancient gold-extraction process. The  completion of these goals makes the main settlement at Bir Umm Fawakhir  one of the only completely mapped towns of the period in Egypt. Not only  is the main settlement plotted room for room and door for door, but  also features such as guardposts, cemeteries, paths, roads, wells,  outlying clusters of ruins, and mines are known, and some of these are  features not always readily detectable archaeologically.
This volume presents the pre-Coptic material; a detailed discussion  of the remains in the main settlement, outliers, and cemeteries; the  Coptic/Byzantine pottery, small finds, and dipinti; as well as a study  of ancient mining techniques.

• Oriental Institute Communications 30
• Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 2011
• ISBN-13:978-1-885923-71-4
• ISBN-10:1-885923-71-6
• Pp. xxviii + 220; 53 figures, 108 plates, 1 table
• Softbound 9.00" x 11.75"
• $49.95

  Table of Contents

• Abbreviations
• List of Figures
• List of Plates
• Table
• Acknowledgments
• Bibliography
• Chapter 1. Introduction. Carol Meyer
• Chapter 2. Pre-Coptic Remains. Carol Meyer and Lisa Heidorn
• Chapter 3. Main Settlement 1996 and 1997 Surveys. Carol Meyer
• Chapter 4. Outliers. Carol Meyer, with contributions by Lisa Heidorn, Alexandra A. O'Brien, and Clemens Reichel
• Chapter 5. Cemeteries and the Question of Religion. Carol Meyer
• Chapter 6. Pottery from the 1996 and 1997 surveys. Carol Meyer and Lisa Heidorn
• Chapter 7. Small Finds and Dipinti. Carol Meyer
• Chapter 8. Ancient gold Mining, Miners, and Ore Reduction. Carol Meyer
• Chapter 9. Conclusions. Carol Meyer
• Appendix A. 1996 and 1997 registered objects
• Appendix B. Main settlement Room Sizes
• Appendix C. Outliers 12 and 13 Buildings
• Index
• Plates 1-107

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