ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT
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Topography and Geological Aspects of the Western Desert
The land of Egypt forms a one million square kilometre in the northeastern corner of Africa. The Nile Valley splits this land from south to north, east of it is occupied by the Eastern Desert and the Sinai Desert, west of it lies the Western Desert, which is the eastern part of the Great Sahara. In the depressions of this desert, the Oases lie in a curved row almost parallel to the Nile River defined by the lines of convergence at the weaker points in the earth crust between the various geological eras. The topography and geology shows that the regional dip of the strata is towards the north, which means that the southern regions are the oldest exposed features declining in height and age into a younger north. Therefore Uweinat and the Gilf Kebir in the south form the Palaeozoic Sandstone Plateau rising 1000 meters above sea level, they merge into the Eocene Limestone plateau at Dakhla and Kharga at about 500 meters above sea level, followed by the central desert formations of the Cretaceous era at Farafra and finally to the lower northern Miocene limestone plateau about 130 meters below sea level in the Qattara depression. To the east of the Oases runs the Nile and to the west lies one of the most arid territories of the Earth, the Great Sand sea, characteristic of its infinite parallel rows of high dunes extending sometimes for as long as 150 kilometres. They slope gradually from northwest to southeast with a 172-degree angle, following the path of the northwestern wind that blows almost all year round. The Western Desert elevated from the bottom of an ancient shallow tropical sea called Thetys some 40 Million years ago at the end of the Eocene period, forming a great plateau covered by limestone beds During the long period of time since then, many enormous changes have created its present shape. The desert was formed in gradual steps, its contours and rocks emerging due to big tectonic events, continental drifts, advancing and retreating of glaciers, volcanic activity and changes in atmospheric circulation along with masses of sand deposited by erosion. Finally the imprints of the basic elements, especially the sharp wind blowing usually low and shaping the earth surface and any stable obstacle, explaining the many coned hills scattered all over the desert. All this has made this desert what it is today, a vast expand of a diverse topography, one of its kind in the whole world.
Sallum
Sidi Barani
M e d i t e r r a n e a n
M
S e a
R K E S D
Sidi Abd el Rahman E
A
31
A
Borg El Arab
P Damanhur Tanta Zagazig El Mansura
S EZ A NAL
El Arish
Rafah
AVERAGE YEARLY TEMPERATURE CHART OF THE WESTERN DESERT
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El-Moghra Protectorate
Wadi elNatroun 30
I
Timsah Lake
Month
JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER
Min
4 5 7 8 10 15 18 17 15 12 8 5
Max
22 25 29 35 37 38 40 39 37 35 29 25
Banha
PYRAMIDS OF SA AR A
30
DeQat pr t e
Siwa Protectorate Western Sector
Qara Oasis
a n ar ssio
Whale Valley
Qarun Protectorate
L
PYRAMIDS OF GIZA
Suez
Oyoun Musa
Ain Sukhna
Sinai
Ras Sidr
Taba
Pharaohs Island
Temperatures in Celsius
Siwa Protectorate Middle Sector
29
Siwa
Cleopatra Bath O a s is Gabal El Dakrur
Siwa
Gabal El Mawta
Siwa Protectorate Eastern Sector
Wa di El Rayyan
El Rayyan Protectorate
El Fayoum Beni Suef
Zafarana
International road
29
Dual carriage road i rack City International boundary
Nuweiba
St Catherin e Area Dahab
L I B YA
Nuwamisa
El Bahrein
Sitra
Fayoum Oasi s
28
The Great Sand Sea
a to r st c We rote tP White Deser
rn
D ern
se e
rt
D es
Bahariya
Oases
hite W
ert
El Minya
ST PA L S MONASTERY MONS PORPHYRITES
Gu
Bawiti
ST ANTHONY S MONASTERY
Ras Gharib
fS ue z
El Tur
MO NT MOSES
lf of Aqaba
Gu
lf
28
r e r st Ea se De
te
S
Ras Mohamme d
st
We
Ain Dalla
27
Farafra Oasis
Ea
rn ste
i Wh
te D
r ese
Ab
uh
ar
ek
Du
Asyut
ne
E G
S
27
Line East 25
Nile River
Sohag
Abu Minqar
26
New
Va l
le
Qena DANDARA Qus VALLEY OF
THE KINGS
Qena
H I A D MAT MA AM
26
Silica Valley
Dakhla Oasis
Regenfeld
L Al Kharga Oasis
Esna
KARNAK
d
e
25
25
Marsa AlamS
Gilf
Wadi Abd El Malik
El-
K
eb
Abu Ballas
Baris
ir
TEMPLE OF SOBEK & HAREORIS
24
Gilf El-Kebir
te
Pro te
SAAD EL A LI THE HIGH DAM
A
PHILAE
Shayyb Mount
rba
ien
Mestikawy Cave
Tropic of Cancer
Wadi Soura
Rou
Berenice
24
Ras Banas
El-A
KALABSHA
Wadi El-Furaq
23
Wadi Wissaa
Memorial
Bir Tarfawi
Lake Nasser
Shalatin
23
Peter and Paul
Tushka
A Halaib
22
EINA T MO NT M
22
AB SIMBEL
Karkur Talh
Line North 22
S U D AN
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Are the prehistoric humans of the Egyptian deserts the origin of the Pharaonic civilization in the Nile Valley? The Egyptian deserts are now extremely arid and almost uninhabited, receiving less then a quarter of an inch of rainfall each year, but was this always the case? Scattered everywhere are signs of human habitation, indicating a wider cultural history then believed until recently. Very long ago, humans were able to live in these desert regions due to different weather conditions. The oldest known civilization in Egypt dates back to the Palaeolithic Age 300,000 BC indicated by the discovery of Acheulean tools made of flint, quartzite or sandstone typified by their large oval shape. Many of them found in Gilf El Kebir and the Sandsea. They were used for hunting and gathering of wild plants. This hunting people travelled great distances after their food in savannah- like regions and already used fire. Climate conditions are proven to have greatly reversed over the years between Wet periods and Dry Periods. During Dry Periods, these people went down into the valleys where their tool making technologies improved according to the different purposes they needed them for. Some 150,000 years ago, specialized tools started to emerge and a culture known as the Playa civilization(Playa: low areas near water) to be dated back to approximately 70,000 to 35,000 years ago, began using more advanced ways of semi cultivating lands, capturing and holding animals within their groups. Then in the Upper Palaeolithic Age, about 33,000 years ago man discovered the making of blades, which helped him greatly to develop better tools for his use like the microlith, a tiny flint tool indicating a vital evolution in the refinement of production methods and food storage. During the Neolithic Age, alternating wet and dry cycles continued but people started taking refuge in the NileValley and first evidence of Prepastoral cultures followed, not only around the Nile River but also in other valleys scattered on the high plateaus. The most famous is the Nabta Playa lying only 100 Km west of Abu Simbel. The last wet climate cycle began around 9,000BC and ended 3,200BC. Very dry climate set in and forced people to leave the higher regions forever heading east toward the oases and the Nile bringing with them their accumulated various knowledge of semi agricultural techniques, artcrafts and basic practices of village- like social organization. These are the ancestors of the Pharaonic ethnic group, developing over the years to a great Civilization. The ancient prehistoric drawings in Gilf Kebir and Uweinat can be linked through the later carvings and engravings in the various desert valleys to the more sophisticated arts of the famous Pharaonic Temples in the Nile Valley.
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te
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Special thanks for General Ahmed El Mestikawy, Mervet Azmi For Their Great Help
