Asyut - centre of ancient trade
Final Report Abstract
Fieldwork and object studies carried out at Freie Universität Berlin (2020-2023), Gebel Asyut al-gharbi (2022-2023) and in the magazine of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities at Shutb (2021-2023) on the initiative of the Freie Universität Berlin, the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Egyptian University of Sohag and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities provided numerous indications that Asyut was part of a supra-regional, even international network. Especially, the imports that reached Asyut during Late Antiquity are outstanding, both quantitatively and qualitatively, and are particularly tangible through pottery finds. According to the sources, Asyut itself produced grain and textiles in particular in Antiquity and Late Antiquity. Due to its outstanding geographical position in terms of transport and strategy, on the one hand south of the Gebel Abu el-Feda, where passage of the Nile is dangerous due to the river’s many curves and its current, and on the other hand at the entrance (and exit) of the desert route Darb al-Arbain (The Forty Days Road), the city also functioned as a transport hub. The current finds make it clear that there was an organized supra-regional, even international exchange of goods at Asyut beginning with the last centuries of the first millennium BCE at the latest. The finds at the Tomb of the Dogs in particular indicate this: pottery from the oases of the Western Desert as well as from the Aegean and Cilicia. The results of the examination of the corresponding vessel contents and plant materials are still pending and are expected in summer 2024. In Late Antiquity, the number of imports from various areas of the Mediterranean (Tunisia, Libya, Italy, Aegean Islands, Turkey, Levant) increased, so that Asyut can be described as a trading centre for this period. There is no corresponding evidence for the period before the middle of the first millennium BCE. Although there is evidence of intra-Egyptian imports, contacts with foreign soldiers and the adoption of ideas from other cultural areas up to around this time, an interpretation as trade must be examined in each individual case and is often not given or cannot be proven. This may be due to the different source situation for Antiquity and Late Antiquity: The Pharaonic-era city is inaccessible to modern archaeology because it is densely built over by modern houses and thus an insight into the ancient settlement is denied; for Late Antiquity, however, settlements or settlement remains in the form of monastery complexes and hermit dwellings are archaeologically accessible on Gebel Asyut al-gharbi. However, this may also be due to the fact that during the Pharaonic Period, the exchange of goods was organized by the state to a certain extent. In addition, soldiers in particular can be considered a driving force in the exchange of goods.
Publications
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Die Torpassagen des Zweiwegebuchs in Assiut, in: Jochem Kahl & Andrea Kilian (eds), Asyut - The Capital That Never Was. The Asyut Project 18, Wiesbaden 2022 (Harrassowitz; ISBN: 978-3- 447-11909-2), pp. 145-153
Jochem Kahl & John Moussa Iskander
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Fragmente reliefierter lotusförmiger Fayencekelche aus Assiut, in: Jochem Kahl & Andrea Kilian (eds), Asyut - The Capital That Never Was. The Asyut Project 18, Wiesbaden 2022 (Harrassowitz; ISBN: 978-3-447- 11909-2), pp. 291-302
Ana Sofia de Carvalho Gomes
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The Desert Route of Darb el-Arba'in at Asyut, in: Jochem Kahl & Andrea Kilian (eds), Asyut - The Capital That Never Was. The Asyut Project 18, Wiesbaden 2022 (Harrassowitz; ISBN: 978-3-447-11909-2), pp. 37-57
Mohamed Osman & Jochem Kahl
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The Asyut Project: Sixteenth Season of Fieldwork (2022), in: Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur 52, 2023 (Buske; ISBN: 978-3- 96769-375-1), pp. 127-163
Jochem Kahl, Mohamed Abdelrahiem, Anna Arpaia, Andrea Kilian, Chiori Kitagawa, Jan Moje & Philipp Scharfenberger
