Abu Ballas (the pottery hill) is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

in the

Libyan Desert The Libyan Desert (not to be confused with the Libyan Sahara) is a geographical region filling the northeastern Sahara Desert, from eastern Libya to the Western Desert (Egypt), Western Desert of Egypt and far northwestern Sudan. On medieval m ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. It lies about south-west of the Dakhla Oases and consists of two isolated sandstone cones in the otherwise flat desert. Both hills are covered with Egyptian pottery. These vessels were at the beginning of the 20th century often well preserved, but are today – due to modern tourism – very much destroyed. The site was discovered in 1918 and 1923. More recent research was undertaken in the last years. The area is name giver for the geological Abu Ballas formation.

Neolithic Occupation

Scholars suggest, that the Abu Ballas area has been occupied from about 6700 BC to around 3700 BC. They blame environmental conditions for a sudden cessation of human occupation there.

The Abu Ballas Trail

The nature of this site remained for a long time mysteries. More recent research has shown that the site was a station on an ancient desert road, called ''Abu Ballas Trail'', that connected the Dakla Oasis with the

Gilf Kebir Gilf Kebir () (var. Gilf al-Kebir, Jilf al Kabir, Gilf Kebir Plateau) is a plateau in the New Valley Governorate of the remote southwest corner of Egypt, and southeast Libya. Its name translates as "the Great Barrier". This sandstone plateau, ...

and the

Jebel Ouenat Mount Uwaynat or Gabal El Uweinat ( ', Arabic for 'Mountain of the springs') is a mountain range in the area of the Egyptian-Libyan-Sudanese tripoint. In the Tubu language (Indigenous to the region), the area is called “Tuanou,” and also � ...

. Some researchers maintain that Abu Ballas was a milestone of an ancient Egyptian trade route into central Africa or for prospecting minerals The place was installed in the late

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning –2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth Dynast ...

or early

First Intermediate Period The First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history, spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181–2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom. It comprises the seventh Dynasty, Seventh (altho ...

, when some authorities decided to arrange supply depots on a track in the desert. Abu Ballas was one of the largest. Besides the pottery there were discovered some rock carvings, stone tools and even a

senet Senet or senat (; cf. Coptic language, Coptic , 'passing, afternoon') is a board game from ancient Egypt that consists of ten or more pawns on a 30-square playing board.Crist 2019 p. 107 The earliest representation of senet is dated to 2620 BC ...

game board engraved on a stone. There are no water sources nearby, evidently all water and food was brought here from the Dakhla Oases with donkeys. Most likely people lived here only for short periods of time. The desert road was mainly in use at the end of the Old Kingdom and to a lesser extent in the

Second Intermediate Period The Second Intermediate Period dates from 1700 to 1550 BC. It marks a period when ancient Egypt was divided into smaller dynasties for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. The concept of a Secon ...

and in the

New Kingdom New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

. Rudolf Kuper, The Abu Ballas Trail: Pharaonic Advances into the Libyan Desert, in: Z.Hawass and L.Pinch Brock (ed.), Egypt and the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century. Proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists, Cairo 2000, vol.2, Cairo 2003, pp.272–276. File:AbuBallasJars.jpg, Pottery at Abu Ballas File:AbuBallasBowman.jpg, Engraving of bowman File:AbuBallasCow.jpg, Engraving of a cow suckling its calf

References

{{Saharan rock art 1918 archaeological discoveries Archaeological discoveries in Egypt Saharan rock art New Valley Governorate Archaeological sites in Egypt Neolithic sites