 Mudbrick ruins of el-Qaṣaba | ||
| El-Qaṣaba · القصبة | ||
| Governorate | New valley | |
|---|---|---|
| height | 128 m | |
no tourist info on Wikidata:  | ||
| location | ||
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El-Qasaba (Arabic:القصبة, al-Qaṣaba, „the fortified settlement center", spoken: ig-Gaṣaba) is an abandoned village in the southeast of the egyptian Sink ed-Dāchla. The settlement was one of the largest and most important in the valley in the High and Late Middle Ages. The village was repopulated at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, but abandoned again at the beginning of the 19th century. Archaeologists should be primarily interested in this site.
background
El-Qaṣaba is located far south of the trunk road that Courage With Balāṭ connects, about seven kilometers south of Balāṭ and eight kilometers west of Tineida. Only its ruins tell of the former village.
It was certainly important as a settlement at the end of the caravan route Darb eṭ-Ṭawīl.
The village has been one of the larger settlements in the ed-Dāchla depression since at least the 11th century. The Arab-Spanish historian el-Bakrī (1014-1094) named three localities for the depression and described their sources.[1] Next el-Qaṣr and el-Qalamun did he have the following to report about el-Qaṣaba:
- “At the end of the inner oasis there is a big city called Qaṣaba, "The citadel". The residents have several springs of good quality invigorating water that they use to irrigate their date palms and fruit trees. They also have three saline springs whose water they put in the sibchaLet flow, "the salt marsh," where it is converted into salt [by evaporation]. The salt of the first spring is white, that of the second is red, and that of the third is yellow. The latter is in Miṣr [Egypt] and Barqa [Cyrenaica, landscape in northeast Libya]. "
Brine springs in the vicinity of the settlement still exist today. These are those of ʿIzbat Qanāṭir (0.5 kilometers south), ʿIzbat el-Ḥāǧir (5 kilometers east) and ʿIzbat eṣ-Ṣafrā (2 kilometers northwest).
The Egyptian historian Ibn Duqmāq (1349-1407) called the place large in his list of 24 localities in the valley.[2] The settlement had vineyards and rice was grown. Today's main settlement, Balāṭ, was also named, but was not given the attribute large.
The more recent history became through excavations of the Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale in the years 1979–1982 and through the research of the German ethnologist Frank Bliss lightened. The current settlement was built at the turn of the 15th to the 16th century, not necessarily in place of the earlier settlement. Bliss led to this the ancestral line of a Sheikh Kamāl from the oral tradition, which goes back to the beginning of the 16th century. Sheikh Kamāl came from the Thachīra family, which el-Qaṣaba newly established. The family of Berber origin came from Morocco. The area of Sāqīya el-Ḥamra north of Marrakech was named as the headquarters of the family. The family later also founded the ʿIzbat ʿAin Thachīra homestead. From 1799 onwards the family moved increasingly to Balāṭ. The type of brick used and ceramic finds confirm the settlement since the 16th century. 3350 ceramic fragments of bulbous vessels, bowls and plates with and without glaze date from the 16th – 19th centuries. Century.
Inscribed evidence from el-Qaṣaba has only existed since the end of the 18th century. Décobert and Gril documented wooden lintel beams, the texts of which date from 1798/1799 (1213 AH) and 1819/1820 (1234/1235 AH) date and mark the end of the settlement.[3]
Another wooden lintel beam confirms the date of foundation. 300 meters northeast of el-Qaṣaba is the tomb of ʿAbd ed-Dāʾim, son of ʿAbd er-Raḥīm, son of Ismāʿīl el-Qaṣabī, who lived in 1561 (968 AH) dated.[3] As you can see from its name, its ancestors come from el-Qaṣaba and probably lived in the 15th century.
The settlement was abandoned in the first half of the 19th century. Its inhabitants move to Balāṭ. Everything that was useful, such as wooden components, was removed and taken away.
getting there
The journey can only be made by car or taxi. The roads up to el-Qaṣaba are paved. The village can be reached via a road junction at 1 25 ° 33 '51 "N.29 ° 14 ′ 20 ″ E the trunk road from Courage to Balāṭ, east of the village of esch-Shush (Arabic:الشوش) And 2.5 kilometers west of Balāṭ, to the south. After about 3.5 kilometers you branch off to the east 2 Branch to el-Qasaba(25 ° 32 ′ 6 ″ N.29 ° 14 '15 "E) and after another 2.5 kilometers you reach the village of ʿAin ʿAisch. In this village one turns 3 Branch to el-Qasaba(25 ° 31 '51 "N.29 ° 15 ′ 37 ″ E) to the south and after about 4.5 kilometers you reach el-Qaṣaba. The abandoned village is on the south side of the road.
The hamlet is 300 meters northeast of el-Qaṣaba 1 ʿIzbat esch-Sheikh ʿAbd el-Dāʾim(25 ° 29 ′ 44 ″ N.29 ° 15 ′ 0 ″ E), Arabic:عزبة الشيخ عبد الدائم) On the west side of the street.
mobility
The subsoil of the old settlement is sandy. When exploring the settlement, make sure that the subsoil is damp and could collapse.
Tourist Attractions
El-Qaṣaba
The 1 Ruins of the small fortified village(25 ° 29 ′ 38 ″ N.29 ° 14 ′ 54 ″ E) are located south of the street. The village has a diameter of about 110 meters.
The houses in the northern part are best preserved. The alleys separating them were probably not built over. The up to three-story houses were built from air-dried adobe bricks and only had small windows. The position of the bricks was varied to decorate the houses. Several layers in the stretcher bond alternate with upright bricks (roller layers). One house contained a silo. Today the buildings no longer contain wood or other fixtures.
To the west of the village are the huge, approximately 50-meter-long remains of the surrounding wall, which was once built for protection.
ʿIzbat esch-Sheikh ʿAbd ed-Dāʾim
300 meters northeast of el-Qaṣaba is the hamlet ʿIzbat esch-Sheikh ʿAbd ed-Dāʾim, which is still inhabited today. To the north of the hamlet is his cemetery. The most distinctive building is that 2 Tomb of the Sheikh ʿAbd ed-Dāʾim(25 ° 29 ′ 46 ″ N.29 ° 15 ′ 2 ″ E), Son of ʿAbd er-Raḥīm, son of Ismāʿīl el-Qaṣabī. The dome tomb is surrounded by a wall. The wooden door lintel at the entrance to the grave dates the year 1561 (968 AH).
accommodation
Accommodation is available in courage and in Qasr ed-Dachla.
trips
The visit of the village can be done with that of Balāṭ, Qilāʿ eḍ-Ḍabba and Tineida get connected.
literature
- : Note sur le site d’al-Qaṣaba (Oasis de Dākhla). In:Annales Islamologiques (AnIsl), vol.15 (1979), Pp. 487-493, panel XXVIII.
- : Les fouilles islamiques d’al-Qaṣaba (Oasis de Dakhla), 1980. In:Annales Islamologiques (AnIsl), vol.18 (1982), Pp. 273-286, panels XV-XIX.
- : La céramique des fouilles d’al-Qaṣaba (Oasis de Dakhla). In:Annales Islamologiques (AnIsl), vol.20 (1984), Pp. 143-149, panels XXI-XXVII.
- : Economic and social change in the “New Valley” of Egypt: on the effects of Egyptian regional development policy in the oases of the western desert. Bonn: Political working group for schools, 1989, Contributions to cultural studies; 12th, ISBN 978-3921876145 , Pp. 76, 89, 97 f.
Individual evidence
- ↑El-Bekri, Abou-Obeid; Slane, William MacGuckin de: Description de l’Afrique septentrionale, Paris: Impr. Impérial, 1859, p. 40.
- ↑Ibn-Duqmāq, Ibrāhīm Ibn-Muḥammad: Kitāb al-Intiṣār li-wāsiṭat ʿiqd al-amṣār; al-Guzʿ 5. Būlāq: al-Maṭbaʿa al-Kubrā al-Amīrīya, 1310 AH [1893], p. 11 below – 12, in particular p. 12, lines 9 f.
- ↑ 3,03,1Décobert, Christian; Gril, Denis: Linteaux à épigraphes de l’Oasis de Dakhla, Le Caire: Inst. Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 1981, (Annales islamologiques: Supplément; 1).
