Abū Ballāṣ - Abū Ballāṣ

Water jugs on the Abū Ballāṣ rock
Abū Ballāṣ · ‏أبو بلاص‎
GovernorateNew valley
height
461 m
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location
Location map of the New Valley in Egypt
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Abū Ballāṣ

Abu Ballas (Arabic:أبو بلاص‎, Abū Ballāṣ, „Father of all pitchers“) Is the name of several antique pitcher stations on the route to Gebel el-ʿUweināt or into the oasis Kufrathat were created on the edge of prominent rocks. The route, which is around 400 kilometers long, is therefore also called the Abū-Ballā engl-Weg (Engl. Abu Ballas Trail, Arabic:طريق أبو بلاص‎, Ṭarīq Abū Ballāṣ). The most famous jug warehouse is about 500 kilometers west of the Nile, 90 kilometers west of the Samīr-Lāmā rock and about 190 kilometers southwest of Courage in the valley ed-Dāchla, about halfway between ed-Dāchla and dem Gilf Kebir Plateau.

background

At least since the late Old Kingdom there was a caravan route from ed-Dāchla, which led at least to Gebel el-ʿUweināt, 500 kilometers away, or perhaps to the Kufra oasis 600 kilometers away. At that time, only donkeys were available as transport animals, but they could only cover a maximum of 200 kilometers without a drinker. To ensure the water supply for the pack animals, pitcher stations were set up on prominent rocks. The existence of this route since the Old Kingdom can be seen from the rock carvings in Abū Ballāṣ, but also from an inscription discovered in 1992 by the official Meri (Mrj) from the Old or Early Middle Kingdom and other rock inscriptions[1] remove. In two lines Meri wrote briefly: “In the year 23 of the kingdom: the administrator Meri is on his way to meet the oasis inhabitants. "[2]

According to Gerhard Rohlfs, the course of this route was still known in 1873, on which nomadic tribes from the southwest advanced to ed-Dāchla.[3]

The local jug depot was opened in 1918 by John Ball (1872–1941), first rock carvings discovered in 1923 by Kamal ed-Din Husein (1874–1932), from whom the name Abū Ballāṣ came from.[4] Already suspected around 1933 László Almásy (1895–1951) based on his knowledge of Abū Ballāṣ that there must have been at least one more station on the way to Kufra.[5] In the period from 1990 to 2000, Dr. Carlo Bergmann around 30 very different lingering posts from Dāchla to the slopes of the Gilf Kebirdating from the Old Kingdom to the Ptolemaic Period.[6] Since 2002 this route has been archaeologically investigated by scientists from the Heinrich Barth Institute in Cologne as part of the sub-project E3 “Paths and trade in arid zones” of the Collaborative Research Center 389 “Cultural and Landscape Change in Arid Africa” (ACACIA).[7]

getting there

Visiting the rock is usually part of a desert excursion to the Gilf Kebir National Park.

Of Courage Coming from, one drives about 70 kilometers in a southerly direction along the trunk road to New Valley Irrigation Project and then turn off the road into the desert. An all-terrain four-wheel drive vehicle is required to travel through the desert. After another 170 kilometers, 90 kilometers west of the Samīr-Lāmā rock, one reaches the Abū Ballāṣ rock.

There are local drivers and vehicles e.g. in the depressions ed-Dāchla and el-Baḥrīya.

A permit from the Egyptian military is required to continue to the national park. During the trip you will be accompanied by armed police officers and a military officer. For trips to the Gilf Kebir there is a separate safari department in Mū,, which also provides the necessary police escort and their vehicles. The mandatory service is of course chargeable.

Tourist Attractions

Abū Ballāṣ rock, seen from the east
Rock drawing of a cow with a calf
Rock carving of a hunter

The numerous fall quickly Jugs at the foot of the 1 Abū Ballāṣ rock(24 ° 26 ′ 20 ″ N.27 ° 38 ′ 56 "E.), especially on its northeast side. They come from the New Kingdom (18th / 19th Dynasty). Unfortunately, numerous jugs have already been destroyed by modern travelers. Only a few dozen jugs are almost intact. The height of the jugs is about 60 centimeters, their maximum shoulder width 38 centimeters, the opening diameter 9-10 centimeters and the wall thickness just under 2 centimeters. They consist of a dark gray clay core with a brick red coating.[8]

Are less noticeable Petroglyphs at two slightly elevated points on the south side of the rock. In the first, left-hand position there is a hunter with a bow and arrow, in front of him a dog, other animals and a woman. At the second spot further to the right you can see a cow suckling her calf.

kitchen

A picnic stop should be made some distance from the rock. Food and drinks must be brought along. Rubbish must be taken with you and must not be left lying around.

accommodation

Tents must be brought along for overnight stays at some distance.

trips

On the way to Gilf Kebir National Park as a rule, one also visits the beforehand Samīr Lāmā rock, later after Abū Ballāṣ the mud lion field about 30 kilometers southwest (Yardangs) in the 2 Wādī el-Aswad(24 ° 15 ′ 19 ″ N.27 ° 29 ′ 20 ″ E), also Wādī el-Baqr, or the rock group 240 kilometers southwest with the airfield of Eight Bells.

The mud lions, they are also known as yardangs, are located in the area of ​​former playa lakes, which were formed by rainwater and only existed temporarily. Hundreds of these yardangs have been created over thousands of years by wind erosion of the layers of sediments and drifting sand.

Between the Mud Lions and Eight Bells is the one 1 Signpost 22(23 ° 48 ′ 25 ″ N.27 ° 15 '32 "E.) the Paris-Dakar rally, which took place in 2000 until after Cairo led.

literature

Mud lions in Wadi el-Aswad
Mud lions in Wadi el-Aswad
Signpost 22 of the Paris-Dakar-Cairo rally from 2000

Individual evidence

  1. ↑Rhotert, Hans: Libyan rock art: Results of the 11th and 12th German Inner-African Research Expedition (DIAFE) 1933/1934/1935. Darmstadt: Wittich, 1952, P. 70 ff., Pl. XXXVI.
  2. ↑Burkard, Günter: Inscription in the Dakhla region: text, translation and comments. In:Sahara: preistoria e storia del Sahara, ISSN1120-5679, Vol.9 (1997), Pp. 152-153.
  3. ↑Rohlfs, Gerhard: Three months in the Libyan desert. Cassel: Fisherman, 1875, P. 250. Reprint Cologne: Heinrich-Barth-Institut, 1996, ISBN 978-3-927688-10-0 .
  4. ↑Prince Kemal el Dine Hussein; Franchet, L.: Les dépots de jarres du désert de Lybie. In:Revue Scientifique, ISSN0370-4556, Vol.65 (1927), Pp. 596–600, figs. 254–262. Fig. 260 shows the rock drawings. — Ball, John: Problems of the Libyan Desert. In:Geographical Journal (GJ), ISSN0016-7398, Vol.70 (1927), Pp. 105–128, two plates between pages 124 and 125, doi:10.2307/1782177.
  5. ↑Almásy, Ladislaus E.: Swimmers in the desert: in search of the Zarzura oasis. innsbruck: Haymon, 1997, ISBN 978-3-85218-248-3 , Pp. 75-76. The Hungarian original edition, Az ismeretlen Szahara, published in 1934.
  6. ↑Bergmann, Carlo: The last Bedouin: my caravan to the secrets of the desert. Reinbek: Rowohlt, 2001, ISBN 978-3-499-61379-1 , Pp. 367-459, in particular pp. 409 f.
  7. ↑Kuper, Rudolf: The Abu Ballas Trail: Pharaonic Advances into the Libyan Desert. In:Hawass, Zahi (Ed.): Egyptology at the dawn of the twenty-first century: proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists, Cairo, 2000; 2: History, religion. Cairo: American Univ. in Cairo Press, 2003, ISBN 978-977-424-714-9 , Pp. 372-376.
  8. ↑Kuhlmann, Klaus P [eter]: The Ammoneion: Archeology, History and Cult Practice of the Oracle of Siwa. Mainz: from Zabern, 1988, Archaeological publications; 75, ISBN 978-3-8053-0819-9 , Pp. 117-118, footnotes 922 f.
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