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North-West Nile Delta Survey Project, Egypt
A research project of the Department of Archaeology.
Background
The project has surveyed and visited over 70 sites in the north-west Nile Delta in order to obtain archaeological information about them. The surveys have mapped and studied pottery at the larger sites and drill augering has been carried out in the western Delta to locate the course of the abandoned Canopic Branch of the river. The project is funded by the AHRC and supported by the Egypt Exploration Society. The project Principal Investigator is Dr. Penny Wilson, ably assisted by a Research Assistant (2 years funding) Dr. Roger Dickinson, geologists from the University of Mansoura, Dr. Hosni Ghazala, Professor Adam Shehat, surveyor Dr Joanne Rowland (Oxford University) and ceramicist advisors Dr Dimitrios Grigoropoulos (German Institute, Athens) and Dr Sally-Ann Ashton (Cambridge University).
The results of the project suggest that the abandonment of the Canopic Branch led to a slow decline in settlement density and population in the western delta into the 8th century AD, whereas in the north of the Delta settlements were sustained by active river branches into the 11th century AD. All of the sites also have the potential for understanding cultural change from the end of the Pharaonic period, through the Roman, Late Antique (Coptic) and early Islamic periods.
