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

31

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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Special thanks for General Ahmed El Mestikawy, Mervet Azmi For Their Great Help