An american archaeological mission carrying out a magnetic survey has found an almost intact Neolithic settlement and the remnants of a Graeco- Roman village in Fayoum, Nevine El-Aref reports At the site, known as Z-Basin, on the north shore of Lake Qaroun, an archaeological and geological team from University College of Los Angeles (UCLA) and Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RUG) stumbled upon what is believed to be the most complete Neolithic settlement ever found in Fayoum. This discovery was made when the team was surveying the site to study fluctuations in the lake level which caused artefacts to be either covered with metres of sediment or dramatically displaced by erosion. This site was previously excavated in 1925 by Gertund Caton-Thompson, who found several Neolithic remains. This time the magnetic survey revealed that the settlement was much larger than expected and that the area excavated by Thompson was only a fraction of the site. "I cannot stress enough how important this is," mission director Willeke Wendrich says. According to Wendrich, the Fayoum Neolithic had so far been considered as one period but this view may have to change. "Our first result of study gives us reason to believe that they might be dated to different periods within the Neolithic," he says. Careful excavation and analysis of the area will be carried out in the upcoming archaeological season in an attempt to enormously augment the knowledge of such an interesting site. In order to understand the layout of the Qaret Al-Rusas Roman village, on the northeastern side of Lake Qaroun, without excavating it, the mission carried a magnetic survey. The map shows clear wall lines and streets in an orthogonal pattern typical of the Graeco- Roman period. The village has well- preserved Roman remains of decorated limestone blocks and traces of mud- brick walls which show up in two robber trenches. Early studies, Wendrich says, show clearly that the site was covered by the waters of Lake Qaroun at an unknown time for an unknown period, as not only the surface is completely levelled but potsherds and limestone flakes are covered with a thick layer of calcium carbonate, which is usually indicative of a stand of 30-40cm deep water. The mission's work extended to Karanis at the northern edge of the Fayoum depression where remains of a Graeco-Roman city can be seen. The team implemented the first phase of a feasibility study for a site management project in Karanis, going on to photograph all the standing walls and covering approximately 40 per cent of the site. "This documentation is vital for understanding the conservation needs and the deterioration of the mud brick," Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Secretary-General Zahi Hawass says. Hawass says that when a team from the University of Michigan excavated the site between 1928 and 1934 they found the houses in excellent condition with many organic remains having survived through the ages. However the site was not backfilled, and Wendrich points to damage to the buildings caused by rainfall and wind erosion. "A virtual reality model of Karanis has been produced at UCLA which will be used to study the site and to illustrate the present preservation," he says. An assessment made at the site focussed on determining its exact boundaries by comparing satellite photographs with the results of a magnetic survey in the southwest and northeast of the town, as well as the cemetery at the north side of the Cairo-Fayoum road. Excavation made at the southwest area revealed a poorly-built industrial neighbourhood at the edge of the Graeco-Roman village. Excavations in the area uncovered remains of an ancient creek or pond. At that moment it had not been established whether this fresh water source co-existed with the town or was a much earlier phenomenon. The main purpose of the magnetic survey was to better understand the archaeological and zoo-archaeological remains at Karanis in a well- excavated context, as well as understanding the life and economic activities of the people who lived at Karanis inhabitants at times. Karanis was an important town in the Graeco-Roman era when the Fayoum depression was developed for agriculture to help feed the Ptolemaic, and later the Roman, armies. The main economic purpose of the town seems to have been the production of olive oil. Large parts of two sandstone temples devoted to Sobek, Isis, Serapis and Jupiter are preserved. Most of the structures, however, are of mud brick and have suffered dramatically over time. Not only are they damaged by erosion from the desert wind, but they have also been mined on an industrial scale so the bricks could be rehydrated and used as fertile soil. A number of archaeological teams have worked at the site, most notably that of the University of Michigan in the 1920s and 1930s. The importance of the site is defined by the large amount of textual material (papyrus and ostraca) that have been unearthed, which remain until today a vital source of information. A small site museum shows some of the finds from the area. Karanis is now within the concession of the UCLA-RUG Fayoum Project.
