 Houses in the old village center of el-Maʿṣara | ||
| El-Maʿṣara · المعصرة | ||
| Governorate | New valley | |
|---|---|---|
| Residents | 3.226 (2006) | |
| height | 109 m | |
no tourist info on Wikidata:  | ||
| location | ||
| ||
El-Ma'sara (also el-Masara, Arabic:المعصرة, al-Maʿṣara, „the oil press“) Is a village in the east of the egyptian Sink ed-Dāchla. The old village center in the west of the village allows an insight into the previous way of life of the population, some of which still continues today. The village center resembles that of the old centers of el-Bashandī or Tineida, el-Maʿṣara is quite simple from Courage reachable from.
background
Location and importance
The village of el-Maʿṣara is located south of the trunk road that Courage With Balāṭ connects. It is located about nine kilometers east of Mūṭ.
In the area around the village, on around 1200 acres of land, mainly agriculture is practiced. Olives, dates and various crops are grown. The water required for this is drawn from 15 wells, some of which reach a depth of 1200 meters.[1]
In the past the village was famous for its oil presses - hence its place name. They provided olive oil of high purity. But none of the old presses survived. Modern presses are now located outside the village.
history
Earliest traces of settlement around the present-day village go back to the Epipalaeolithic, the transition period between the Paleolithic and Neolithic Age. The local finds date from 7,200–6,500 BC. From 12,000 BC. BC, in the Holocene, a period of wetness set in again in the western desert, which offered suitable living conditions for nomadic hunters and gatherers. In addition to the stone tools, sandstone stone rings with a diameter of three to four meters were found here, which served as the foundation for huts. Two to 20 such rings were found at comparable settlement sites, each located at a source and spread over the entire valley. This indicates a certain sedentariness of these people, who produced food like bread and operated warehouse management.[2]
However, there was no continuous settlement. So the beginnings of today's village are also in the dark.
The first mention came from the Egyptian historian Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Duqmāq (1349-1407), who named the place for the first time in his list of 24 villages in the valley. Rice was grown around the village.[3]
The Traveler of the 19th century hardly noticed the village, they ignored it because there were no visible ancient sites of importance here. Often they followed directly from el-Hindāu Ismant or the other way around. In 1819 the Italian visited Bernardino Drovetti (1776–1852) the valley and mentioned that the village is about an hour's walk west of Ismant lies.[4] British Egyptologist John Gardner Wikinson (1797–1875), who visited the depression in 1825, reported at least 250 male residents.[5]
The British William Joseph Harding King (1869–1933), who visited ed-Dāchla in 1912, mentioned the area between Ismant and el-Maʿṣara only briefly and stated that the former fertile land in this area was now covered with a thick salt crust or from the desert was taken.[6]
In 2006 there were 3,226 inhabitants.[7]
getting there
The village is relatively easy to get to by car, taxi or public transport. It is located directly on the main road from Mūṭ to el-Chārga.
mobility
The paths in the village are not asphalted, just trampled. In the old village center, the paths are sometimes very narrow.
Tourist Attractions
The main attraction of the village is the old village center, which is located in the west of the village and is still partially inhabited. The abandoned houses are left to decay. Here and there the old houses are replaced by new ones made of concrete skeletons and stone bricks.
The mostly two-story houses were built from adobe bricks. The bricks were walled up in stretcher or truss bond, but not infrequently also with upright adobe bricks, as a roll layer. In particular, the visible house and wall walls were plastered with clay and whitewashed, sometimes also painted. Tilted bricks also serve as building decorations. The roof terraces are surrounded by an adobe or palm leaf border.
The streets were occasionally built over with the upper storey of the houses.
The houses have only a few small windows. They are empty or have a window cross or window shutters made of wood or palm fringes. There are no glazed windows. The intermediate and flat ceilings consist of palm or tree trunks that are intertwined with palm panicles. Niches and stairs in the house are also made of masonry.
The old mosque has fallen into disrepair. The prayer niche, Mihrab, and the pulpit, Minbar, are still visible.
accommodation
Accommodation is available in, for example courage and in Qasr ed-Dachla.
trips
About seven kilometers east of the village on the same side of the road is the archaeological site of Ismant el-Charab. The church ruins are located a few kilometers northwest of the village Deir el-Malāk from the 16./17. Century. About 4.5 kilometers as the crow flies southeast of el-Maʿṣara are the Roman burial chapels of Beit el-ʿArāʾis.
Individual evidence
- ↑: Optimal management for groundwater of Nubian aquifer in El Dakhla depression, Western Desert, Egypt. In:International Journal of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, ISSN1991-637X, Vol.3,14 (2011), Pp. 393-409, PDF.
- ↑: Technological organization and sedentism in the Epipalaeolithic of Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt. In:African Archaeological Review, ISSN0263-0338, Vol.9 (1991), Pp. 81-109. – : Holocene Pehistory: Interim Report .... In:Hope, Colin A.; Bowen, Gillian E. (Ed.): Dakhleh Oasis Project: Preliminary Reports on the 1994–1995 to 1998–1999 Field Seasons. Oxford [et al.]: Oxbow Books, 2002, Dakhleh Oasis Project; 11, Pp. 7-23.
- ↑: Kitāb al-Intiṣār li-wāsiṭat ʿiqd al-amṣār; al-Guzʿ 5. Būlāq: al-Maṭbaʿa al-Kubrā al-Amīrīya, 1310, P. 11 below – 12, especially p. 12, line 8.
- ↑: Journal d’un voyage à la vallée de Dakel. In:Cailliaud, Frédéric; Jomard, M. (Ed.): Voyage à l’Oasis de Thèbes et dans les déserts situés à l’Orient et à l’Occident de la Thébaïde fait pendant les années 1815, 1816, 1817 et 1818. Paris: Imprimerie royale, 1821, Pp. 99-105, especially p. 102.
- ↑: Modern Egypt and Thebes: being a description of Egypt; including the information required for travelers in that country; Vol.2. London: Murray, 1843, P. 365.
- ↑: Mysteries of the Libyan Desert. London: Seeley, 1925, ISBN 978-1-85077-957-5 , P. 41.
- ↑Population according to the 2006 Egyptian census, accessed June 3, 2014.
