LIFE

Living in a fringe environment – Investigating occupation and exploitation of desert frontier areas in the Late Roman Empire

The scope of LIFE was to offer a complete set of archaeological and environmental data to be used to investigate Late Roman settlements along frontier desert areas and to reconstruct the underlying strategy to control the empire’s desert edges.
The case study was the chain of Late Roman fortified settlements that punctuate the Kharga Oasis (Egypt’s Western Desert), that in the Fourth Century represented a portion of the southern boundary of the empire.
The project included a detailed study of Umm al-Dabadib, the best-preserved site, and a comprehensive study of the settlements.
The sites have been studied using a combination of classic and innovative investigation techniques: 3D survey of the architectural remains, archaeological excavation of specific portions of both the built-up areas and the agricultural systems, archaeobotanical analyses, ceramic studies, analyses of satellite images, within the wider frame of an environmental study of the area and a historical analysis of the textual sources.