The Neolithic is thought to have arrived in Egypt via diffusion from an origin in southwest Asia, relatively late compared to neighboring locations. The authors suggest an alternative approach to understanding the development of food production in Egypt based on the results of new fieldwork in the Fayum. They provide the results of a detailed study of the Fayum archaeological landscape interpretable at different temporal and spatial scales, using an expanded version of low-level food production to organize observations concerning paleoenvironment, socioeconomy, settlement, and mobility. While domestic plants and animals were indeed introduced from elsewhere, when a number of aspects of the archaeological record are compared, a settlement system is suggested that has no obvious analogues with the Neolithic in southwest Asia. The results obtained from the Fayum are used to assess other contemporary sites in Egypt.

What have we learnt about the Nile since the mid-1970s, the moment when Julian Rzóska decided that the time had come to publish a comprehensive volume about the biology, and the geological and cultural history of that great river? And what changes have meanwhile occurred in the basin? The human popu- tion has more than doubled, especially in Egypt, but also in East Africa. Locally, industrial development has taken place, and the Aswan High Dam was clearly not the last major infrastructure work that was carried out. More dams have been built, and some water diversions, like the Toshka lakes, have created new expanses of water in the middle of the Sahara desert. What are the effects of all this on the ec- ogy and economy of the Basin? That is what the present book sets out to explore, 33 years after the publi- tion of “The Nile: Biology of an Ancient River”. Thirty-seven authors have taken up the challenge, and have written the “new” book. They come from 13 different countries, and 15 among them represent the largest Nilotic states (Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya). Julian Rzóska died in 1984, and most of the - authors of his book have now either disappeared or retired from research. Only Jack Talling and Samir Ghabbour were still available to participate again.

The Nile Basin contains a record of human activities spanning the last million years. However, the interactions between prehistoric humans and environmental changes in this area are complex and often poorly understood. This comprehensive book explains in clear, non-technical terms how prehistoric environments can be reconstructed, with examples drawn from every part of the Nile Basin. Adopting a source-to-sink approach, the book integrates events in the Nile headwaters with the record from marine sediment cores in the Nile Delta and offshore. It provides a detailed record of past environmental changes throughout the Nile Basin and concludes with a review of the causes and consequences of plant and animal domestication in this region and of the various prehistoric migrations out of Africa into Eurasia and beyond. A comprehensive overview, this book is ideal for researchers in geomorphology, climatology and archaeology.

Published in conjunction with an exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, February-May 2000, the first major showing in North America of stunning painted mummy portraits that represent a confluence of ancient Egyptian and Roman cultures and the Graeco-Roman painting tradition. The catalog concentrates closely on the paintings, their artistry, and their social context and meaning. Seven contributed essays set the context. The 122 color and 23 bandw illustrations are fully discussed and described by editor Walker, who is affiliated with the British Museum. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Although Herodot's dictum that "Egypt is a gift of the Nile" is proverbial, there has been only scant attention to the way the river impacted on ancient Egyptian society. Egyptologists frequently focus on the textual and iconographic record, whereas archaeologists and earth scientists approach the issue from the perspective of natural sciences. The contributions in this volume bridge this gap by analyzing the river both as a natural and as a cultural phenomenon. Adopting an approach of cultural ecology, it addresses issues like ancient land use, administration and taxation, irrigation, and religious concepts.

The Introduction of the book indicates the necessity to start with the archaeology of the early settlements of the West Bank of the Nile , a territory to be considered as the mother or matrix of all Egyptian civilization. It establishes the pioneer nature of this Etymological Essay in the English language, as most of the studies in keeping with its findings are to be found in the scholarly literature of Europe and North Africa. 1. Archaic Terminology: The chapter traces the origins of early settlements of the northwestern region of Egypt, the desert oases, the Fayum, the region of the Lakes, and the western portion of the delta of the Nile, by Saharan and Libyan archaic people, with specific emphasis on archaic topography which can be directly related to Modern Amazigh spoken today in North Africa (Tamazirt.) 2,The Pillar People: The review of a number of terms from the mythology and ceremonial procedures of dynastic Egypt shows the influence of those early settlers named The People of the Pillars (Intui) on the beliefs and practices perpetuated through centuries in Egypt, and the presence of an all pervasive worship of these early origins: (cult of ancestors.) 3.The Holy rulers of First Princes of Egypt: An intensive comparative review of ancient Egyptian and Modern Amazigh terms reveals that the first noble rulers of the area were of Amazigh origin. A series of families of terms link quite clearly a number of beliefs and practices to the North African cultural complex. 4.Tehuti, time and the Wisdom of the stars is a chapter delving a little more deeply into the cosmogony and cosmology of the early Egyptians, and the roots of that knowledge in archaic practices, which have parallel indicators in North Africa. 5. The Innermost Shrine from The Book of the Dead: The geography of the Land of the Beyond, Tu-at (Du-Ament), and a variety of important indices throughout the Book of the Dead indicate quite clearly that the final return of the defunct to the Blessed Land of the Ancestors was also a step by step description of their claim of descent from these original beings. The rule of “Ma-aa-at,” the organizing principle of an entire civilization for centuries, or ‘NTR,” originated in the area of the Sacred lakes and the ancient settlements of the Fayum and oasis complex. Linguistic comparison with Modern Amazigh continues to indicate the kinship of those people with North African Imazighen (also known as Berbers.) 6. A Conclusion, Notes, and an Appendix, which is the reproduction of an article published in The Amazigh Voice, a publication of the Amazigh Cultural Association in America, indicate the pioneer aspect of such a work and the direction in which further linguistic studies could bring increasing light into areas of Egyptian scholarship heretofore deemed as obscure and/or of barbarous origin. .

Located some one hundred kilometers southwest of Cairo, the Fayum region has long been regarded as unique, often described in terms that conjure up images of an idealized Garden of Eden. In An Egyptian Landscape, Claire Malleson takes a novel approach to the study of the region by exploring the ways in which people have, through millennia, perceived and engaged with the Fayum landscape. Distinguishing between the experienced landscape of state and bureaucratic record and the imagined landscape of myth, meaning, and observers’ personal influences and expectations, Malleson questions in detail where those perceptions come from. She traces religious practices, follows the tracks of myths and traditions, and investigates the roots of stories found in texts from the pharaonic, classical, and Medieval Islamic periods. She also reviews many, more recent travel writings on the region from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. The work of each author is presented in its historical and cultural context, and Malleson integrates what is known about ancient activities in the Fayum, based on the archaeological evidence from the many monuments and ancient settlements that exist in the region. Scholars and students of archaeology and landscape studies as well as general readers interested in Egypt’s history and archaeology will find this book highly engaging and enlightening.

This book provides a unique reference resource not only for geomorphologists, but for all Earth scientists. It shows how landforms vary enormously across Egypt, from high mountains to endless plains, and presents the vast heritage of forms that have developed under different climates. Richly illustrated with numerous plates and figures, it also includes a bibliography offering exhaustive coverage of the literature.