Sheikh Muftah culture

The Sheikh Muftah culture is attested in the western desert of Egypt and flourished in the third millennium BC, from about 3200 to 2000 BC.

The people of the Sheikh Muftah culture were most likely nomads. Their pottery was mainly found at different sites near the oases of Dakhla and Kharga. From the middle of the third millennium BC onwards, these oases came under Egyptian control and it seems that Egyptians and people of the Sheikh Muftah culture lived close nearby. Some Sheikh Muftah culture sites were found very close to Egyptian settlements.

Typical artifacts of the Sheikh Muftah culture are the pottery vessels, made of clay that is found at the oases and of another clay also known from contemporary Egyptian pottery. Most vessels are simple bowls. Decorated pottery is rare.^[1] Ceramic imported from the Nile valley was also common. The Sheikh Muftah culture people used stone tools. A very typical object type are small stone rings, called Clayton rings in archaeology. Their function is unknown. The economical base of the people were cattle and goats. Hunting animals, mainly gazelles, is also attested but seems to be rarer.

Few man made structures were found at the excvataed sites. The only remains are fire places and pits. ^[2]

References

1. Stan Hendricks, Frank Förster, Merel Eyckerman: The Pharaonic pottery of the Abu Balls Trail: 'Filling stations' along a desert highway in southwestern Egypt, In: Frank Förster, Heiko Riemer: Desert Road Archaeology in Egypt and Beyond, Cologne 2013, ISBN 9783927688414, 341-343
2. Mary M. A. McDonald, Charles S. Churcher, Ursula Thanheiser, Jennifer Thompson, lnes Teubner, Ashten R. Warfe: The mid-Holocene Sheikh Muftah Cultural Unit of Dakhleh Oasis, South Central Egypt: a preliminary report on recent fieldwork, in NYAME AKUMA No. 56 December 2001, 4-10