Rain field - Regenfeld

The Rain field (sometimes engl. Rainfield, Arabic:ريجنفيلد‎, Rīgnfīld) was a camp site of the Rohlfs expedition of ed-Dāchla through the Egyptian sand lake to Siwa on the eastern edge of the Egyptian sand sea. This was the beginning of the first crossing of the approximately 650 kilometers long sand lake. A rare event, days of rain in the desert, gave this resting place its name. And like a real sea, the story is also about a message in a bottle.

background

Rohlfs expedition 1874

In February 1874 the German Africa explorer tried Gerhard Rohlfs (1831–1896) with his expedition, which also included the geologist Karl Zittel (1839–1904) and the geodesic Wilhelm Jordan (1842–1899) belonged, originally a way from ed-Dāchla over Abū Ballāṣ to Kufra to find. However, disillusionment quickly set in, as one was faced with the then unknown Egyptian sand lake and did not know its dimensions. Rohlfs reported on this in his book "Three Months in the Libyan Desert":

“Before my arrival, Zittel had already made a recognition to the west and determined that, after various high sand chains, an unpredictable sea of ​​sand followed in the west. That was a sad prospect. Sand dunes with sand in between, so a Sandocean, that was the only thing that made it impossible for us to advance further. All other obstacles could have been defeated. Mountains could have been climbed, for they cannot be of great height in this part of the Libyan desert, because their existence would have long been proven by climatic phenomena. ... but an uninterrupted sea of ​​sand made everything to shame! "(P. 161 f.)

Due to the location of the sand dunes, the decision was made to cross the Egyptian Sand Sea, which Rohlfs called the “Great Libyan Sand Sea”, in order to go to Siwa to get:

"However, I did not immediately give up all hope, although the sand chain in front of which we camped, higher than all those which we had climbed up to now, instilled little trust." (P. 162)

“But a decision had to be made. We did not want to turn back without having done a thing, and since our recognition, as far as we had come, had determined a constant direction of the dunes, we wanted to try to go in the same direction to the north, resp. N. N. W. to advance. Perhaps after a few days' travel we reached the end of the sandy region and were then able to take a westerly direction after all; To reach Siuah by a still unknown route and so at least win a strip of 5–6 days' march width from the unexplored area of ​​the Libyan desert; in the worst case, if an advance in this direction was not possible, we could reach Farafrah by swiveling to the east. ”(p. 163)

However, the trip could not be started immediately. You were surprised by a rain that lasted for days:

“Before I made the aforementioned decision after careful consideration with Zittel and Jordan, we had the opportunity to experience a phenomenon that is certainly very seldom observed in the Libyan desert as in the Sahara, namely persistent rain. If there had already been a drop of drops on February 1st in the evening at 9 o'clock and also in the morning on February 2nd at 6 o'clock, an hour later a persistent rain began and lasted uninterrupted until February 4th at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. It didn't stop at night either. Jordan, who had made a rain gauge, recorded with it within the two days a precipitation of 16 mm. Height, in the dunes the rain penetrated 17 centimeters deep. "(P. 165)

In retrospect you could see that it was in Siwa and el-Baḥrīya not in el-Farāfra something, but in ed-Dāchla and in el-Chārga as hard as it had rained at their resting place. And before they left the campsite, which they called Regenfeld because of the event, they deposited a letter with the following contents in a bottle.

“Camp site of the expedition led by Gerhard Rohlfs into the Libyan desert. At this point, whose latitude = 25 ° 11 ′ 10 ″ NB and whose longitude = 14 ° 42 ′ E was determined astronomically by Berlin and whose sea level = 450 meters was measured barometrically, the expedition from February 2nd to 5th, 1874 in the strength of 7 men and 15 camels stored. Because of a rain that fell on February 2nd and 3rd, which was 16 mm. Provided water level, this area was called rain field. Regenfeld, February 5, 1874. G. Rohlfs. K. Zittel. W. Jordan. "(P. 166 f.)

On February 20, 1874, after 15 days, the expedition reached Siwa.

Expeditions by Kamāl ed-Dīn Ḥusein and László Almásy

Shortly before the death of his patron Kamāl ed-Dīn Ḥusein on August 6, 1932 visited him László Almásy (1895-1951). Almásy learned astonishing things from him: Kamāl ed-Dīn had decided to find the resting place of the Rohlfs expedition. His expedition started on January 18, 1924. The search turned out to be difficult because the coordinates of the Rohlfs expedition were not very precise.

And the bottle was discovered on February 24, 1924 by the British geologist who traveled with him John Ball (1872–1941) found - 50 years and 20 days after they were dumped! One was only surprised that the bottle was only covered by a few piled stones, although Rohlfs spoke of a stone pyramid. Later, however, the taller pyramid was found on the highest peak in the area. An arrow made of stones pointed in the direction of the bottle. Kamāl ed-Dīn took the Rohlfs report, but had a copy of this report and his own report returned to a bottle and sealed.

Almasy took this conversation in March 1933 as an opportunity to look for the bottle himself. He found her. And like his predecessor, he took the reports and deposited copies and his own report. And in the end it rained again ...

Other expeditions such as those of Ibrahim Lama in 1940, Samir Lama in the 1970s and Théodore Monod 1993 acted in a similar fashion. Casandra Vivian reported that by 2000 everything was gone.^[1]

Archaeological investigations in the rain field

Between 1996 and 2000, under the direction of Heiko Riemer, as part of the ACACIA (Arid Climate, Adaption and Cultural Innovation in Africa) project A1, explorations were made on the settlement history of this area. Traces of settlement of prehistoric desert dwellers in the Holocene (8900-5300 BC) have been found. Although there was a wet phase during this time, the rain field was arid. It turned out that the settlers were mobile, nomadic hunters and gatherers who set up camps on rainwater lakes. A special find was that of walls made of stones at a short distance, but their function is controversial.

getting there

You can get this point from Courage in ed-Dāchla over Abū Ballāṣ and the rock formation el-Burg (the tower) or from Abū Minqār in el-Farāfra from with an all-terrain four-wheel drive vehicle. You need a local driver who can be found safely in ed-Dāchla. The route Abū Minqār – Regenfeld – Abū Ballāṣ is an alternative, but rarely used, route to the Gilf Kebir National Park represent.

Tourist Attractions

There is nothing to see today except the stone pyramid. The last letter and its bottle as well as the iron boxes have disappeared today - probably as coveted objects by souvenir collectors.

kitchen

You can take a break here. 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 the overnight stay.

literature

• Expeditions
  • Rohlfs, Gerhard: Three months in the Libyan desert. Cassel: Fisherman, 1875, Pp. 161-177. Reprint Cologne: Heinrich Barth Institute, 1996, ISBN 978-3-927688-10-0 .
  • Almásy, Ladislaus E.: Swimmers in the desert: in search of the Zarzura oasis. innsbruck: Haymon, 1997 (3rd edition), ISBN 978-3852182483 , Pp. 161-173. Expeditions by Kamāl ed-Dīn Ḥusein and László Almásy.

• Archaeological research
  • Riemer, Heiko: Regenfeld 96/1: Great Sand Sea and the question of human settlement on whaleback dunes. In:Krzyżaniak, Lech; Kroeper, K.; Kobusiewicz, M. (Ed.): Recent research into the Stone Age of Northeastern Africa. Poznań: Poznań Archaeological Museum, 2000, Studies in African Archeology; 7th, ISBN 978-8390752969 , Pp. 21-31.
  • Gehlen, B.; Kindermann, K.; Linstädter, J.; Riemer, H.: The Holocene Occupation of the Eastern Sahara: Regional Chronologies and Supra-regional Developments in four Areas of the Absolute Desert. In:Jennerstrasse 8 (Ed.): Tides of the desert: contributions to the archeology and environmental history of Africa in honor of Rudolph Kuper = tides of the desert. Cologne: Heinrich Barth Inst., 2002, Africa Praehistorica; 14th, ISBN 978-3927688001 , Pp. 85-116.
  • Riemer, Heiko: Holocene game drives in the Great Sand Sea of ​​Egypt? Stone structures and their archaeological evidence. In:Sahara: preistoria e storia del Sahara, ISSN1120-5679, Vol.15 (2004), Pp. 31-42.

Web links

• Subproject A1 of the ACACIA project of the University of Cologne.

Individual evidence