Wadi Khashab: Unearthing Late Prehistory in the Eastern Desert of Egypt

The 5th millennium BC megalithic ceremonial complex at Wadi Khashab in

the Eastern Desert of Egypt is located almost directly in the middle of

the Eastern Desert, on a wadi trail connecting the Valley of the Nile

with the Red Sea. The volume presents the results of three seasons of

excavation of this site, which featured a human burial in the center of

several burials of cattle and sheep, within an enclosure of upright

stone slabs that must have formed an eye-catching landmark for many

miles up and down the wadi, also for the pastoral communities traversing

the mountains in later times.
The study of the animal remains from

this remote site in the poorly known Eastern Desert has provided a very

well documented series of osteological, osteometric and

archaeozoological data on early cattle and sheep. It adds to the current

knowledge of cattle domestication in the Neolithic and early cattle

mobility in northeastern Africa, offering unique information on the uses

of domestic livestock not only in the funerary traditions, but also in

mobility systems. It also contributes to the discussion on the origins

and domestication of the auroch in Africa, pointing to a local African

origin for the cattle.