Reconstructing the Desert and Sown Landscape of AbydosAuthor(s): Joshua TrampierSource: Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, Vol. 42 (2005/2006), pp. 73-80Published by: American Research Center in EgyptStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27651799 .

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Reconstructing the Desert and Sown Landscape of Abydos

Joshua Trampier

In 2004, the Ahmose and Tetisheri Project Geographical Information System (ATP-GIS) was created

primarily to integrate satellite imagery with site plans, survey maps, and vector data in order to inves

tigate the secular and sacred New Kingdom constructions in the desert periphery. Yet the pan oramic nature of satellite imagery challenges

one to broaden one's perspective to encompass the

largely unexplored cultivation. In the cultivation zone, there is evidence of what seems to be a net

work of relict canals, as well as relict mounding from historic earthworks and/or settlement. In

December 2004, the investigators traveled to several of these locations to assess these cropmarks and mounding. Since this groundtruthing work was chiefly meant to be a feasibility study, this paper will discuss preliminary findings and the future trajectory of the ATP-GIS.

This area was chosen to utilize remote sensing imagery for both site prospection and conservation

in the cultivated and desert zones of the Abydos region. As many have noted, survey in the floodplain in particular has become increasingly urgent for the sake of site preservation and conservation.1

Explosive agricultural, settlement, and cemetery expansion in the decades following the completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1970 threatens sites that were once secure in the desert periphery. Koms

(site mounds in the floodplain) continue to be "harvested" by local farmers for their nitrate- and

phosphate-rich sebbakh, slowly eroding any perceptible relief?and thus stratified settlement?from the

floodplain. Plowing continues to obscure cropmarks that could reveal ancient route systems, canals,

or walls.

The monuments and floodplain settlements of Abydos are far from immune to these effects, and

active steps need to be taken to preserve their cultural heritage. Remote sensing imagery can thus be

an invaluable aid for arriving at informed decisions about concession management, site location and

preservation, and, if necessary, salvage excavations. Remote sensing is a technology that archaeologists

familiar with aerial photography have quickly seized upon for site detection and analysis.2 Corona

imagery in particular provides high resolution views for a minimal amount of cost and effort.3 This

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2005 Annual Meeting of ARCE held in Boston, Massachusetts. Many thanks to the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the Sohag inspectorate for their cooperation and support of our research at

Abydos. I would like to thank project director Stephen Harvey for his invitation to work on this material, his initial observa

tions of the cropmarks, and my inclusion on the Ahmose and Tetisheri Project 2004 team. My sincere thanks to Scott Branting,

Jennifer Starbird, and Amber Meriwether for their helpful comments on earlier drafts. 1 See, for example, E. van den Brink, "A Geo-Archaeological Survey in the North-Eastern Nile Delta, Egypt; the First Two

Seasons, a Preliminary Report," MDAIK 43 (1986), 7-9. on the reasons why survey in the cultivation is crucial. 2 D. R. Wilson, Air Photo Interpretation for Archaeologists, 2nd ed. (Stroud: Tempus, 2000). Also, an extensive bibliographical

database of archaeological prospecting using aerial imagery is provided by the Aerial Archaeology Research Group website at

aarg.univie.ac.at. 3 USGS. Declassified Satellite Imagery?1 (1996) edc.usgs.gov/guides/displ.html, USGS. Declassified Satellite Imagery?2 (2002)

edc.usgs.gov/products/satellite/declass2.html. CORONA actually refers to images captured by the satellite series of the same

name, but the term has come to encompass those images taken by the LANYARD and ARGON satellites as well. According to

the National Reconnaissance Office of the United States, CORONA was the first satellite system to conduct reconnaissance

73

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74 JARCE 42 (2005-2006)

Fig. 1. South Abydos as visible in 1968 on a Corona satellite image (left). The same area in 2000 within an ASTER

satellite image (right) shows tremendous agricultural, settlement, and cemetery expansion into the desert fringe. ASTER

pixilation is due to the lower degree of image resolution relative to the Corona.

article will not attempt to analyze various types of remote sensing imagery with their attendant advan

tages and disadvantages nor provide a comprehensive list of sources for imagery.4 However, one

should note that the Center for Ancient Middle Eastern Landscapes (CAMEL) research facility based

in the Oriental Institute is developing into an indispensable digital archive for all satellite imagery, aerial photographs, and maps of varying scales of the greater Middle East.5

One advantage of remote sensing imagery layered within a GIS is their ability to reflect changes in

the historical landscape and how these changes relate to archaeological remains. Figure 1 (left) shows a Corona view of north and south Abydos as visible on Nov. 15, 1968.6 The dark areas running north

west to southeast represent the area under cultivation, and major monuments lie along the desert

fringe. To the southwest is the high limestone escarpment (the gebet). Note that the line of cultivation

is fairly constant, though there are some minor field systems into the desert northwest of the Kom es

from space. From August 1959 to May 1972, the system obtained over 800,000 images of the Earth. An Executive Order of

President Clinton in 1996 began the process of declassifying these spy satellite images, making them available for commercial

use. A second lot of satellite imagery was declassified under President Bush in 2002, and conceivably more detailed imagery will be declassified in the future. To obtain Corona imagery, see the USGS website at earthexplorer.usgs.gov. The most favor

able missions for Egypt are KH-4A, 4B, and KH-6, with image resolution as high as 67pixel. In the highest resolution imagery, locations such as the Aswan High Dam, the Suez Canal, and the Heliopolis airport were targeted because of their strategic im

portance. See Missions 4018 and 4026-4029 for high-resolution views of Aswan. 4 For a partial imagery list relevant to Egypt, see S. Parcak, "Satellite Remote Sensing Resources for Egyptologists," GM

(2004), 63-78. To Parcak's list of remote sensing sources for Egyptologists should be added two free online databases with

worldwide coverage, both of which use at least medium resolution imagery (15-30 m). These are the Global Land Cover Facil

ity of the University of Maryland (www.landcover.org) and Google Earth (earth.google.com). The former has the advantage of

downloading (principally) Landsat imagery for use in one's own GIS software, while the latter presents imagery of varying res

olutions in a seamless, awe-inspiring experience of the entire globe. 5 The Center for Ancient Middle Eastern Landscapes (CAMEL) defines its area of collection as "an enormous box stretch

ing from Greece on the west to Afghanistan in the east, and from the middle of the Black Sea on the north to the horn of

Africa in the south ... By functioning as a central repository for this data, CAMEL can . . . offer researchers the ability to grap

ple with larger regional issues in a manner that has never been possible before" (taken from the FAQ of the CAMEL website, accessible from the projects area of the Oriental Institute website, oi.uchicago.edu. Accessed July 1, 2006).

6 Corona mission 1105-2, frame 057.

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Reconstructing the Desert and Sown Landscape of Abydos 75

Sultan, around the Seti I temple complex, and to the southeast of the Ahmose Pyramid. Fig. 1 (right) shows the same region in 2000, this time with an ASTER near-infrared image.7 Note the dramatic ex

pansion of fields and roads into the desert to the northwest, west, and southwest of the wall-enclosed

Kom es-Sultan (the local center of Osiris and Khentyamentiu cults) and the Shunet ez-Zebib (the funer

ary enclosure of the Second Dynasty King Khasekhemwy). Mottled sand to the east-southeast reflects

over a century of extensive excavation of the nearby cemeteries and the residual spoil heaps from this

excavation. Cultivation has also encircled the buildings of Seti I temple complex and materialized

to the northeast of Umm el-Qa'ab, the burial mounds of the Early Dynastic kings, and traces of past excavation are also visible here. In the southeast, recent excavations have centered on the Middle

Kingdom settlement of Wah-sut.8 Its orthogonal planning can still be seen in the dark remains of

its mudbrick walls. Further southeast are the cult temples of Ahmose and Ahmose-Nefertary; the

horseshoe-shaped mound of the pyramid is visible from space.9 To the northwest of the pyramid lies

the "Ahmose Town": several estates with Egyptian, Mycenaean, Cypriot, and Pan-Grave ceramics,

along with administrative ostraca, scarabs, and domestic remains.10 This New Kingdom village likely housed the staff of the cults of Ahmose, his wife, and his grandmother.11 Excavations in 2004 pro duced a beehive granary preserved to a height of over 1 m surrounded by an array of New Kingdom mud sealings, several with the prenomen of Thutmose III.12 The extent of Ahmose Town and its

stratigraphie and positional relationship with nearby Wah-sut is still under active investigation by both

the University of Pennsylvania and University of Chicago teams.13

Rapidly determining and protecting the preserved remains of the Ahmose town and its monu

ments is critical, as ATP excavations in 2002 revealed a series of temples whose foundations were typi

cally preserved only to a brick or two in height. It is probable that the southwestern portions of the

town include the grayish patches between Wah-sut and the Ahmose pyramid in the Corona in Fig. 1

(left). On the right, an ASTER image (Fig. 1 right) shows the Ahmosid monuments and town threat

ened by Nag' el-Ghab?t; already, its cemetery has begun to expand over industrial areas and temples revealed by magnetometry survey.14

In Figure 2, the level of modern encroachment around the an

cient features and excavations is quite clear. An unexplored rectilinear structure visible in the Corona

is now obscured by the same cemetery. With the aid of this remote sensing imagery, efforts are under

way to build protective fencing for each site concerned. It is clear that the Ahmosid monuments are

in danger of being lost for good if the modern town continues its trend of expansion into the desert.

7 ASTER image captured Sept. 17, 2000, ID# ASTJL1B.003:09172000085103. ASTER imagery can be obtained from NASA at edcimswww.cr.usgs.gov/pub/imswelcome. The resolution of ASTER imagery is relatively lower than Corona, resulting in a

pixilated view when zooming in closer than 1:50,000. Figure 1 is at a scale of roughly 1:15,000. 8 J. Wegner, "A Middle Kingdom Town at South Abydos," Egyptian Archaeology 17 (2000), 8-10, J. Wegner, "The Town of

Wah-sut at South Abydos: 1999 Excavations," MDAIK 57 (2001), 281-308. 9 S. Harvey, "New Evidence at Abydos for Ahmose's Funerary Cult," Egyptian Archaeology 24 (2004), 3-6, S. P. Harvey, "The

Cults of King Ahmose at Abydos" (Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1998). See more recently the article on the Ahmosid

monuments' ceramic sequence in J. Budka, "The Oriental Institute Ahmose and Tetisheri Project at Abydos 2002-2004: The

New Kingdom Pottery," ?gypten und Levante 16 (2007), 83-120. 10 K. R. Ayrton, M.A. Currelly, and A. E. P. Weigall, Abydos Part III. 1904 (London, 1904), 37-38, LIII-LVIII, LX. 11 Surface survey in 1991 by ATP to the northwest of the Ahmose pyramid revealed a large concentration of bread molds,

beer jars, and other domestic or industrial remains. In 2002, Tomas Herbich produced a magnetometric survey of the same

area, revealing an area heavily trenched in 1966 by the Egyptian Antiquities Organization; on the surface, with little overt evi

dence of architecture. Trenches are visible as criss-crossing linear features in fig. 2. 12

Compare to Ayrton, Currelly, and Weigall, LVII at bottom, unnumbered. 13 Wegner, "The Town of Wah-sut at South Abydos: 1999 Excavations," 282-85, in figs. 1-2, 304-8.

14 S. Harvey, "Abydos," in The Oriental Institute 2002-2003 Annual Report, ed. G. Stein (Chicago, 2003), 22-23, fig. 2.

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76 JARCE 42 (2005-2006)

Fig 2. This oblique view illustrates in stark detail how modern cemetery walls have come to the very edge of the collapsed Ahmose pyramid and its town. The high-resolution image is a Digital Globe Quickbird satellite photo taken between 2002

and 2006 obtained from the Google Earth Mapping Service. It has been draped over a DEM generated from topographic points measured in 1993 (vertical features exaggerated 2x). Beneath the Quickbird image is the Corona image from Fig 1.

Square excavation units in the vicinity of the Ahmose monuments have been shown for reference.

Beyond the desert landscape of Abydos, the floodplain presents an interesting challenge for archae

ological prospection and conservation. The panoramic nature of satellite imagery affords one the

opportunity to investigate the cultivation for evidence of earlier human activity there. Once again, it is useful to observe the changes in the modern landscape, so as to establish a baseline for comparison

with evidence for ancient settlement and irrigation. Fig. 3 shows the modern hydrology of the Aby dos region as related to observed changes in irrigation from the last two centuries. The el-Kisra canal and a longitudinal dike running northwest/southeast divide the main basins (hods) of the west bank, Beni Himeil and Bardis, into eastern and western portions. Willcocks' and Ross's hydrological sur

veys conducted a little over a century ago show little deviation from this basic system of canals.15

However, the Description de l'Egypte from roughly two centuries ago names only the meandering Abu Ahmar canal, which roughly overlaps with and has been replaced by the modern el-Kisra canal.16

Digital elevation models (DEMs) can prove useful in detecting the negligible mounding in the Nile

floodplain that conceals settlement remains, relict channels, pools, dikes, and levees. From an ASTER

15 Col. J. C. Ross, Maps of Upper Egypt in Systems (Cairo: National Printing Office, 1892), pi. 19, W. Willcocks, Egyptian Irriga tion, 2nd ed. (London-New York, 1899), pi. 13.

16 Commission des sciences et arts dEgypte, Description de VEgypte: ou, Recueil des Observations et des Recherches qui ont ?t? faites en

Egypte pendant VExp?dition de VArm?e Fran?aise. Carte topographique, 9 vols. (Paris, 1828).

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Reconstructing the Desert and S

Fig. 3. The modern hydrology of the Abydos region as derived from the 1938 Survey of Egypt map of Nag' Hamm?di (1:100,000) and compared to hydrology in Ross (1892) and the Description de

l'Egypte (1828).

Fig. 4. Contour map of the Abydos region derived from an ASTER

DEM compared to basin dikes in Ross (1892).

Landscape of Abydos 77

DEM, it is possible to derive a contour map accurate to 10 m.17 Fig. 4 shows the region of interest with 10 m contour intervals dis

played as a vector overlay. Intervals greater

than 70 m above sea level were selected to

reduce clutter in the figure; moreover, only contours to the northeast of the el-Kisra

canal and west of the Nile have been dis

played. Based on its shape and orientation, one series of contour intervals running per

pendicular to the el-Kisra and Awlad Iliew

canals may be the remains of a transverse

dike. For comparison, the dikes noted in

Col. Ross' survey and the Description volume

have been plotted, revealing that the trans

verse dike precedes the features mapped two centuries

ago.18 Contours to the north

west of the "transverse dike" are also in

triguing, though these elements have not

yet been groundtruthed. Nevertheless, the

transverse dike and these contours may be

connected to the cropmark features in the

Corona imagery discussed below.

Among the modern canals of the Abydos

region is a network of braided channels that

likely represent a much older hydrological framework. The channels have long since

been silted up and filled in, but cropmarks on the fields testify to their existence. Crop marks are subsoil features produced by bur

ied archaeological or geological features.19

When crops ripen, the presence of a subsoil stone wall may stunt the growth of these

crops, because the wall causes water to drain

away more quickly than if there were only soil present (negative cropmarks). Conversely,

17 Medium resolution, ASTER DEMs such as ours are available from the NASA JPL for $80 per 60 km x 60 km swath. To

request an on-demand DEM, go to edcdaac.usgs.gov/asterondemand after one locates a stereo-pair of ASTER images in the

EOS data gateway at edcimswww.cr.usgs.gov/pub/imswelcome. 18 Ross 1892, pi. 19; Description d'Egypte. 19 W. S. Hanson and I. A. Oltean, "The Identification of Roman Buildings from the Air: Recent Discoveries in Western

Transylvania," Archaeological Prospection 10 (2003), 114-16, T. M. Lillesand and R. W. Kiefer, Remote Sensing and Image Interpre tation (New York: Wiley, 1999), 277-80, D. R. Riley, "The Frequency of Occurrence of Cropmarks in Relation to Soils," in The

Impact of Aerial Reconnaissance on Archaeology, ?d. G. S. Maxwell (London, 1983), 59-73, Wilson, Air Photo Interpretation for

Archaeologists, 67-87. Cropmarks are to be distinguished from soil marks visible on bare soil. Nor are these shadow marks

features visible from the air due to (sharp) changes in relief that appear in oblique sunlight (cf. Wilson, Air Photo Interpretation

for Archaeologists, 38-67).

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78 JARCE42 (2005-2006)

Fig. 5. Overview of cropmark features in the Abydos region rela

tive to modern features.

the additional moisture and nutrient depos its in a silted-up canal elicit a positive crop

mark recognizable as a dark linear feature on

an aerial or satellite image. Dry conditions

only enhance these differences. Cereal crops,

particularly wheat and barley, give marks of

especially good definition and resolution.

Cropmark features in the Abydos region were quite common over an area of roughly seven square kilometers, oriented south east to northwest, and when mapped they revealed an extensive pattern of singular and

braided channels suggestive of waterways

(Fig. 5). Detected cropmarks have been clas

sified by an observed degree of detectability,

following supervised pixel classification in

ArcView to enhance these features. Those

that appear quite darkly and distinctly on

multiple Corona imagery are drawn as a thick

black line, less obvious features on multiple

images are rendered in a thinner dark grey line, and ephemeral features appearing on

only one image are thin and light grey. It

should be noted that not every Corona mis

sion showed evidence of these cropmarks. Seasonal moisture levels, soil conditions,

crop type and crop maturity regularly ob scure cropmark visibility. For instance, crop

marks in this region were virtually invisible

in September 1967 and August 1968. Yet

Fig. 6 reveals the same region from May 1968 where cropmarks appeared as light and dark grey lines and patches in the soil,

generally ranging in width from five to

nearly twenty meters across. It is important to note how these cropmarks cut across

modern field systems and roads, hinting at

the cropmarks' antiquity. As one can see

from the series of light grey, roughly parallel lines in the upper left corner (labeled *T), the cropmarks are generally oriented south

east-northwest. Several features like the channel marked '2' appeared to be connected to a larger

hydrological framework, if one follows this channel south to a large dark patch located 200 meters

east of waypoint 135. Another light channel (about 500 meters of which is visible) emerges meters

west of where channel '2' intersects feature '3.' The large, dark area has provisionally been designated the "harbor," measuring approximately 660 meters long by 70 meters wide. For comparison, the

Fig. 6. Detail of dark cropmark features visible on a corona sat

ellite image (Corona image courtesy of USGS and NASA).

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Reconstructing the Desert and Sown Landscape of Abydos 79

Table 1. Visibility of cropmarks on selected Corona mission dates

Mission Date Visibility Season Moisture Crop maturity Possible crops

DS1101-1 9/18/1967 Nearly invisible Inundation Flood Little/no growth Wheat, barley, flax, sugar cane

DS1103-1 5/6/1968 Highly visible Summer Low Little/no growth Bersim, lentils, onions, sugar cane

DS1104-1 8/12/1968 Nearly invisible Early flood Increasing Little/no growth Wheat, barley, flax, sugar cane

DS1105-2 11/18/1968 Moderately visible Post-flood High Moderate growth Wheat, barley, flax, sugar cane

Theban sacred lake isheru measures about 140 by 90 meters, and the Birket Habu at Amenhotep Ill's

palace at Malqata measures 2.4 km long and 1 km wide. In general, the cropmarks in this region were

much more visible after the inundation had receded, when crops were maturing or during the early summer (see Table 1). Soil cropmarks were barely visible during the inundation season.

Uploading the cropmark shapefiles to a Garmin V GPS unit, the investigators were able to travel

straight to these features. However, during early December at the time of this investigation, many of them were inaccessible because of tall crops. For instance, the "harbor" was deep within a grove of

sugar cane. Waypoint 138 (see Fig. 6, right) was taken standing atop a major waterway, and there was

little ground cover at the time. Yet the features visible from the Corona were invisible on the ground, though the ground itself exhibited a perceptibly higher degree of moisture retention in the soil in the features. Seasonal difficulties certainly inhibit one from displaying direct documentation of this

phenomenon, though it is not certain that they would be visible from the ground even in ideal condi tions. Still, this encourages one to return to the region in early

summer when an immature second

crop or low groundcover may make these features more readily documentable.

Without directly associated archaeological materials or excavation, one cannot speedily classify the

waterways as culturally-produced, date them, or know their depth. Non-systematic surface collection

resulted in a few red-burnished body sherds and modern thick-bodied zir sherds. The red-burnished sherds could have been produced anytime between the Naqadan and Roman periods. In future sea

sons, systematic coring in the canal beds would locate associated archaeological materials and pro vide valuable data on the depth of these canals as they relate to localized silting conditions for the

Abydos region.20 At this stage, one can only tentatively suggest that the cropmarks reflected in the local vegetation lie between -0.5-2.0 meters below the surface. 21

Yet the cropmarks may indeed

reflect a much deeper (and thus older) hydrological regime that gradually rose with the level of the

floodplain receiving an annual sediment load. Only coring and excavation will begin to address some of these questions.

Are the "transverse dike" and the intriguing contours to the northwest (see Fig. 4) linked to this

system of cropmarks, i.e., are they contemporaneous? It is too soon to say whether the mounds to the

northwest of the dike conceal a large settlement, though the area containing them is roughly 3.5 km2.

20 Said (1994, 59-61) estimates the thickness of the Nile Valley silts between Aswan and Cairo to be 8.5 m, based on an

average sedimentation rate of 10.3 cm/century. Localized data are not available. 21

Wilson, Air Photo Interpretation for Archaeologists, 71, observes that cropmarks cannot practically exist far below two

meters, based on the fact that the taproots of the crops that delineate them do not grow much deeper. Indeed, "the main root

ing zone of cereal plants is only 300-400 mm deep, but there is normally at least one long root that will penetrate, if need be, to depths of 1.2 m or more in search of water."

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80 JARCE 42 (2005-2006)

Nevertheless, the perpendicular orientation of the dike contour to both modern canals and the crop mark features compare well to Willcocks' idealized depiction of the basin system as used in Upper

Egypt.22

Summarizing what is known of the cropmarks, they share a general northwest/southeast alignment with modern hydrology, though they do not directly map onto modern canals or lie adjacent to mod

ern villages (see Fig. 3). The major cropmarks, including the "harbor," roughly bisect Hod Bardis. One

would suggest that these cropmarks indicate several feeder canals (likely operating at different times) for the basin(s) that preceded the Bardis. The orientation and shape of the canals implies cultural

usage, though one cannot rule out a natural origin for these waterways. Prior to the reforms of

Mohammed Ali Pasha, irrigation systems relied upon slight modifications of natural river channel

meanders, given limitations in manpower, organization, and technology.23 The highly sinuous Abu

Ahmar canal in the Abydos region from the Description de TEgypte seen in Figure 3 reflects reliance on

such meanders.

The cropmarks are virtually invisible from the ground, both due to high crops and seasonal mois

ture levels, and early May has been suggested as an ideal time for survey. Their age is as yet unde

termined, as is their association with the transverse dike, though geomorphological coring, intense

systematic survey, and test excavations would certainly begin to address some of these questions in

greater detail.

Satellite imagery, like aerial photography, are increasingly being used to impart a fresh perspective at the level of the site. Where satellite imagery can truly show its worth is its scalability, providing both a detailed view at the sub-site level and a panoramic view at the regional level. In the Abydos

region, remote sensing imagery conceptually links the desert fringe to the cultivation and serves as a

platform for new research. Future seasons should investigate additional cropmarks, contour mounds,

and other promising archaeological signatures in the remote sensing imagery, while simultaneously

integrating geophysical, survey, and architectural data from the other projects at Abydos. Through efforts to reconstruct ancient hydrology, earthworks, and settlement in the floodplain desert, one will

hopefully begin to develop a more holistic view of the ancient landscape of Abydos.

Oriental Institute

University of Chicago

22 Willcocks, Egyptian Irrigation, pi. 14.

23 H. E. Hurst, The Nile; A General Account of the River and the Utilization of its Waters (London, 1952), 46-47.

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