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Michael Herb & Frank Förster

From desert to town:

The economic role of desert game in the Pyramid Ages of ancient Egypt
as inferred from historical sources (c. 2600–1800 BC). An outline of the
workshop’s inspiration and objectives *

Abstract

Ancient Egyptian sources of the Old and Middle Kingdoms, both pictorial and epigraphic, give an account of a
complex system of the hunting and keeping of different species of animals from the deserts to the east and west
of the Egyptian Nile Valley. In the first part of the paper the main stages of the system will be presented. This con-
sists of the hunt in the deserts, the transport of the animals to the settlements in the Nile Valley,
their registration and keeping, and their final death in the slaughterhouses of the settlements, temples and
necropoleis. Moreover, the available data from the tomb and temple decorations of the ‘Pyramid Ages’
(c. 2600–1800 BC) will be used to create a hierarchy of the various desert species according to their economic
value in those times.
The critical section of the paper follows. The sources and information from which we can infer are one part
of our scientific work; conclusions and the questions resulting from these are the second part. What are the basics
of our historical information concerning the status and significance – both economically and culturally – of desert
animals in ancient times? Which problems follow from our knowledge, or from what we believe to be
knowledge? What kind of questions do we have to ask, and which scientific disciplines are suitable for seeking
answers? In this part an outline of the workshop, its main objectives and the present proceedings will be given.

Keywords: Egypt, Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, tomb and temple decoration, landscape, economy, desert
hunting, game keeping

1. Introduction

During the last years of the Collaborative Research Centre 389 ACACIA 1 the study of the
so-called decorations of the Egyptian tombs and temples of the Pyramid Ages – i.e. the
times of the Old and Middle Kingdoms, c. 2600–1800 BC – led to a highly surprising
result, if one has a look at the climatic development of the eastern Sahara: In ancient

* The first, main part of this introduction is by M. Herb; the second, outlining the proceedings of the work-
shop, is by F. Förster.
1 Project A5 “Environmental situation and change in north-eastern Africa: The special example of ancient
Egypt” (1995–2007), cf. Herb 2007.

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Fig. 1 Map showing the distri-

30° 32° 33°
bution of Old to Middle King-
dom tomb and temple decora-
tions containing pictorial and/
31° or inscriptional data on desert
animals (numbers of relevant
epigraphic programmes at indi-
vidual sites are given in brack-
ets).

30°
1
1 Giza (77)
2 2 Abusir (3)
3 3 Saqqara (60)
4 4 Dahshur (2)
5
5 Meidum (2)
6 Deshasha (1)
29° 6 7 Tihna el-Gebel
(Tekhna, Akhoris) (2)
8 Saujet el-Maitin
(El-Kom el-Ahmar) (1)
9 Saujet el-Amwat (1)
7 10 Beni Hasan (7)
8
28° 9 11 El-Bersheh (4)
10 12 Sheikh Said (3)
11 13 Quseir el-Amarna (1)
12
14 Meir (7)
13
14 15 E A S T E R N 15 Deir el-Gebrawi (5)
16 Asyut (1)
D E S E R T 17 El-Hawawish (11)
16
N

27°
il

18 El-Hagarsa (1)
e

17 19 Naga ed-Deir (2)

W E S T E R N 20 Hamra Dom
18 19 (El-Qasr wa es-Saiyad) (2)
D E S E R T 21 Thebes-West (7)
26° 22 Moalla (2)
20 23 El-Qab (1)
21 24 Kom el-Ahmar
(Hierakonpolis) (2)
22 25 Qubbet el-Hawa (3)
23

25° 24

0 100 km 25
24°

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Egypt there was a complex system of ‘gathering’, hunting, transporting and keeping
desert animals establishing an economic section of its own alongside other important
ones, i.e. swamp-economy, cattle breeding and agriculture.
The ancient sources (for localizations see Fig. 1) inform us that in the Egyptian deserts
at the time when the drying trend towards the today hyper-arid situation was in progress
(cf. Kuper & Kröpelin 2006; Kuper 2006), there were relatively good conditions for hunt-
ing animals such as hartebeest, addax, or ibex in quantities of ‘pieces’ from 300 to 2000.
On the one hand it seems difficult to estimate the historical value of the related sources
and their degree showing the substance (for a generally affirmative point of view, see
Herb 2006). In modern literature the ancient pictures and texts are often explained as
showing ‘ideal situations’, exaggerating the reality for reasons of propaganda or using
the desert animals to ‘construct’ every kind of religious belief (e.g., Altenmüller 1967:
24; Boessneck 1988: 35–36). On the other hand the ancient sources provide a lot of in-
formation about the biology of the animals, their ecology, behaviour, and of course the
environment they lived in – a factor being highly important in understanding their sta-
tus (cf., e.g., Estes 1991; Osborn & Helmy 1980; Osborn & Osbornová 1998; Van Neer &
Uerpmann 1989).
Looking for a deeper understanding of the interrelations between the animals and
their perception, i.e. their cultural reflection, we have to take into consideration differ-
ent kinds of data collected by different sciences such as archaeology, botany, Egyptology,
geography, prehistory, archaeozoology, and others. This workshop is based on the idea
that generating an intrinsic knowledge about desert animals in antiquity and their sig-
nificance for human beings is only possible by way of cooperation of natural and human
sciences (cf. Boessneck 1981).
In this introduction and first contribution, the reader will encounter the idea behind
the workshop. I will try to give an outline of the desert economy of the Pyramid Ages
of ancient Egypt as can be inferred from the relevant decorations of tombs and temples
of the time. The ancient sources attest the existence of an economy of the deserts, the
main stages of which will be presented. Based on the depictions and further data, an at-
tempt is made to reconstruct the economic significance of the various desert species. The
second part of the paper, given by Frank Förster, is devoted to the progress and the pro-
ceedings of our workshop, and the localization of the individual contributions: topo-
graphically, chronologically, and thematically.

2. The factors of discussion

One of the most detailed desert hunting scenes from ancient Egypt (cf. Decker & Herb
1994: 266–352) is part of the epigraphic programme of the tomb of the nomarch Dje-
hutyhotep in El-Bersheh, Middle Egypt (Fig. 2). Created in the 19th century BC – i. e. at

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the end of the chronological horizon of this contribution – the scene presents the most
important factors of our theme:
– ground-lines, plants and trees as indicators of the desert environment;
– a multitude of different species of animals;
– hunters and gamekeepers using different kinds of techniques, tools and weapons;
– information about the context of the hunt: the nomarch himself is visiting the area in
order “to control the act of fencing in the desert animals with ropes in a very high
quantity”, as stated in the accompanying inscription.

We have another source from about 800 years earlier. This is the earliest source of the
theme available from the Pyramid Ages – and in my opinion one of the most interesting.
In around 2600 BC, at the beginning of the 4th dynasty, king Snofru constructed the first
of his three pyramid-complexes near the modern village Dahshur at Cairo. The ex-
tremely damaged decoration of the valley temple contains two references to the eco-

Fig. 2 Desert hunting scene in the tomb of Djehutyhotep in El-Bersheh, Middle Kingdom, 12 th dynasty (New-
berry 1894: pl. 7; cf. Decker & Herb 1994: Dok. J 79).

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nomical inspections of the king (Fig. 3). He visited his plantations: “Controlling the
growing of fresh stone-pine and the trees of fresh myrrh” (Fig. 3-B).
Then he went on to the corrals of his desert animals:
“Controlling the corrals of the vivacious desert animals”, or – according to the reading
of the late Elmar Edel (1996: 208) – “the corrals of the vivacious antelopes” (Fig. 3-A). The
scene itself is lost and the only element we have is the figure of the king with the descrip-
tion of his activity. Nevertheless, there is a highly interesting detail: The king is looking at

A B

Fig. 3-A/B King Snofru inspecting desert animals kept in corrals (A) as well as plantations (B). Part of the recon-
structed decoration of Snofru’s valley temple at Dahshur, Old Kingdom, early 4th dynasty (slightly modified after
Edel 1996: Abb. 1, 4).

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A Fig. 4-A/B Captured desert

mammals fixed to pegs or pick-
ets (mDwt) hidden in the ground,
as represented in the tomb of
Ti at Saqqara, Old Kingdom,
5th dynasty (details from Wild
1966: pls. 165–166).

the mDwt “ground-pickets” (cf. Hannig 1995: 380), large areas that were equipped with
pegs or pickets hidden in the ground for leashing the animals to prevent them from mov-
ing freely (Fig. 4-A/B). By the way, the Egyptian language has a relating terminus techni-
cus and labels such animals as imy-mDt “fixed in the peg”. The mDwt were located inside the
Nile Valley near the settlements and towns, and in most of the sources known to us the
mDwt were prepared for cattle, as can be seen, e.g., in the tomb of Nekhetkai (Fig. 5).
So the Snofru scene informs us that desert animals were kept in the same kind of area
as cattle. Indeed we are confronted with this situation when looking at related scenes of
the so-called decorations of the Pyramid Ages. Cattle and desert animals like antelopes
or gazelles are pictured side by side in one epigraphical unit. The programme in the
tomb of Nekhetkai presents a very typical example of desert animals embedded in an
epigraphic programme of the time.
Today we know of 208 programmes from the Pyramid Ages containing information
on desert animals (Fig. 1): an inscription; a small pictorial element; a motif, for example

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Fig. 5 Domestic cattle and

desert animals pictured side by
side in an epigraphical unit of
an Old Kingdom tomb. Detail
from the mastaba of Nekhetkai
at Giza, 5th dynasty (Hassan
1953: 31, fig. 22).

of a desert animal; or a complete scene. But only 65 of these programmes report on

events and activities outside the valley in the deserts. In 184 cases, events near the
settlements in the Nile Valley, or events in both regions respectively, are described.
I am not a friend of statistics in historical research; nevertheless, these three numbers
show that the situation in the valley was the focus of the ancient Egyptian epigraphic
tradition. It would therefore be completely misleading to argue our theme without
looking at the Nile Valley. The El-Bersheh scene describes the hunting in the deserts
outside the valley; the Snofru scene refers to the events that follow on from this, in-
side the valley – clearly it would be impossible to control any desert animal inside a
corral if there was no hunt and no transport from desert to town. Both sources cover
the whole period of interest, the Old and Middle Kingdoms of ancient Egypt. And
together these sources deliver the main factors for our discussion. By looking at them
and the epigraphic tradition of the Pyramid Ages, we can try to make our way from
desert to town.

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Fig. 6-A/B Desert wildlife shown in the so-called ‘room of the seasons’ in the sun-temple of king Niuserre at
Abusir, Old Kingdom, 5th dynasty (Edel & Wenig 1974: Taf. 14, Nr. 250, 252).

3. The hierarchy of economy

The Egyptians of the Pyramid Ages understood the deserts mainly as regions that pro-
vided economic resources. The first aim of using these resources was to produce sur-
pluses, an intention we know from other important economic sections of the period:
agriculture, cattle breeding, and swamp-economy (cf. Harpur 1987; Herb 2001: 315–420;
2007).
The economic conceptualization explains why, in the 65 programmes showing situ-
ations in the deserts, there are a relatively large number of motifs and scenes dealing
with the copulation of animals, birth and proliferation, and finally the hunting and gath-
ering of animals. The desert section of the programme of the so-called ‘room of the sea-
sons’ in the sun-temple of king Niuserre at Abusir (Fig. 6-A/B), which was built around
2400 BC, can be understood within this framework: not as a description of the ‘chaotic’
deserts, but as an onomasticon of the indigenous desert animals of Egypt and a guide to
their economic utilization – in other words: a list of the economic resources of the deserts
of ancient Egypt.
It’s easy to make any kind of a list of all the species of desert animals contained in the
epigraphic tradition of the Pyramid Ages (Tab. 1, cf. Boessneck 1988: 36, Tab. 7). Using
the animals on one side and the related topographical situations delivered by the epi-
graphic tradition on the other, we can postulate different levels of contextualisation.
If we compare the entries of our animal-list with the different levels of contextuali-
sation, we may not be very surprised that the categorization of animals by the ancient

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A B

Fig. 7-A/B The lion (Panthera leo), a dangerous predator the ancient Egyptian hunters and gamekeepers some-
times had to deal with, as depicted in two Old Kingdom desert hunting scenes. A: From the tomb of Ti at
Saqqara, 5th dynasty (Wild 1953: pl. 127). B: From the so-called ‘room of the seasons’ in the sun-temple of king
Niuserre at Abusir, 5th dynasty (Edel & Wenig 1974: Taf. 16).

Egyptians are quite different from modern classifications based on zoological observa-
tions. For example: It is possible that four or even five genera of ‘gazella’ lived in the
deserts of ancient Egypt. But I doubt the capability of the ancient Egyptians to differen-
tiate them – not of course the capability of the hunters who lived and worked in the
deserts, but of the scribes who worked in the towns and produced the epigraphic tradi-
tions we use for our interpretations (cf. Keimer 1953).
So, by looking at the arrangement of the epigraphic tradition, first we see a clear dis-
tinction between the animals which were used and part of the economic system, and
those that were not used and stood outside. Secondly, we recognise a strong hierarchy
within the group of the economically used species. Some animals were illustrated and
used very often, others only rarely.

3.1. Level I: In the deserts (all animals)

In the deserts we are confronted with a multitude of different species of wild animals
(Tab. 1: first column). Some of them, such as antelopes and gazelles, were highly im-
portant to the economic system; others such as ostriches, lions or even ‘unknown’ crea-
tures were seemingly irrelevant in this context. Actually, we do not know why such
‘uninteresting’ species were dealt with in the epigraphic tradition. There are a few indi-
cations which may give an idea to explain this; however, these are vague and too am-
biguous for an interpretation that could be considered proof in a historical sense.

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IN THE DESERT IN THE TOWN 

Level I: Level II: Level III: Level IV:
Animals existing in the deserts economically in the in the
relevant towns slaughterhouses
Scimitar oryx (Oryx dammah) 151 432 70 653
Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) – – – –
Addax antelope (Addax nasomaculatus) 69 121 – 190
Ibex (Capra nubiana) 81 198 21 300
Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia) 14 17 – 31
Hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus) 78 28 – 106
Aurochs (Bos primigenius) 65 – – 65
Lion (Panthera leo) – – – –
Hyena (Hyaena hyaena) 23 74 – 97
Deer (Dama mesopotamica) 10 7 – 17
Ostrich (Struthio camelus) – – – –
Wild donkey (Equus asinus africanus) – – – –
Other large felids (Panthera pardus, Acinonyx jubatus) – – – –
Gazelles 201 404 22 627
Dorcas gazelle (Gazella dorcas)
Loder’s gazelle (Gazella leptoceros)
Red-fronted gazelle (Gazella rufifrons)
Dama gazelle (Nanger dama)
Soemmering’s gazelle (Gazella soemmeringi)
‘Small’ animals 81 15 – 96
Hedgehog (Parechinus)
Hare (Lepus capensis)
Weasel (Poecilictis libyca)
Zorilla (Ictonyx striatus)
‘Desert rats’ (Dipodidae)
Canidae – – – –
Jackal (Canis aureus)
Fox (Vulpes vulpes/Vulpes rupellii)
Fennec (Fennecus zerda)
‘Mythical’ animals – – – –
Elephant (Loxodonta africana)
Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)
Baboons, monkeys
Others

Tab. 1 Desert wildlife shown in the tomb and temple decorations of the Old and Middle Kingdoms, and the
number of attestations of individual species at the different levels of contextualisation (see text).

Again an example: Principally, in ancient Egypt there were no reasons for hunting the
lion other than reasons of recreation (or: ‘sports’) – and in this case, economy did not play
any role. Nevertheless, there are a few important aspects which do suggest taking the fac-
tor ‘lion’ into economic consideration. The lion is a predacious animal. Working in the
deserts, the hunters and gamekeepers had to avoid dangerous situations, and the places

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Fig. 8 Desert hunting scene in

the tomb of Seshemnefer IV in
Giza, Old Kingdom, 5th/6th dy-
nasty, showing the use of las-
sos and sticks for capturing the
animals (detail from Junker
1953: Abb. 63; cf. Decker &
Herb 1994: Dok. J 35).

where the gazelles and antelopes lived were highly attractive for lions as well as other
predators (Fig. 7-A/B). So, being well informed about dangerous animals, their different
species, life-cycles, their places of abode, and finally the manner of managing confronta-
tion with them was not, strictly speaking, information pertaining to economic factors, but
rather information which helped in successfully carrying out relevant activities.

3.2. Level II: In the deserts (animals economically relevant)

Not every species of desert animals, known to us from the decorations of tombs and
temples, played a role in the economy of ancient Egypt. Only some were judged to be
relevant in an economic sense; and of course only those species were gathered and
hunted (Tab. 1: second column). Looking at our references, we also recognise a dif-
ference within the group of the economically relevant species of desert animals. Some of
them – like antelopes and gazelles – were often pictured in diverse situations. Others,
such as deer or Barbary sheep, are found only in very few programmes (as for the Bar-
bary sheep, see Hendrickx et al., this volume: tab. 3). Therefore, we may conclude that
some species were more important than others.
In desert hunting it was common practice to capture large quantities of desert animals
and not to kill them. Important tools were simple sticks, throw-sticks, lassos and bows
and arrows as seen in the El-Bersheh scene (Fig. 2; cf. also Fig. 8). Of course dogs and
their leaders played an important role in the different types of hunting and gathering
(Fig. 9-A/B). The most important technique was the aHt “rope” or “rope construction”
(cf. Hannig 1995: 152), an area fenced in with a construction of thick ropes and piles of

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Fig. 9-A/B Various desert game

attacked by hunting dogs, as
represented in the tomb of Ptah-
hotep II in Saqqara, Old King-
dom, 5th dynasty (cf. Decker &
Herb 1994: Dok. J 30). A: Draw-
ing of the complete scene (Paget
& Pirie 1898: pl. 32). B: Photo-
graph of a detail (Vandersleyen,
ed., 1975: Abb. 254).

wood (Figs. 2; 10). The multiplicity of events shown in the relating iconographical units
provides a good picture of the extent of these corrals in antiquity, measuring up to
5 square miles or more. We must bear in mind that looking for wood, for the fences, and
clearing away the predacious animals were enterprises that were logistically not easy to
carry out. Observing the life-cycles of the animals within the enclosures, i. e. the lines of
‘reproduction’ there, the hunters and gamekeepers came back to the corrals every year,
or at regular intervals of two or three years or even longer (cf. Herb 2005: 29–30).
One ‘technique’ very important to the work of the hunters was the collecting of new-
born gazelles and antelopes. This is a motif often explained in Egyptology as an artificial

Fig. 10 Fence of an ancient Egyptian desert corral (aHt), consisting of thick ropes and piles of wood (cf. also
Fig. 2). Detail from a hunting scene in the mortuary temple of Sahure in Abusir, Old Kingdom, 5th dynasty (Bor-
chardt 1913: Blatt 17; cf. Decker & Herb 1994: Dok. J 20).

28 Michael Herb & Frank Förster

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Fig. 11 Captured desert animals probably transported by ship to a settlement in the Nile Valley. Representa-
tion displayed in the tomb of Ti at Saqqara, Old Kingdom, 5th dynasty (Épron & Daumas 1939: pl. 22).

element, merely filling the gaps of the composition in the decoration, or something of this
type. But the background of the motif is very real. The young animals display a distinctive
behaviour and can be easily captured: They remain fixed when their mothers leave them
for grazing or when approached by predators, and do not run away when the latter comes
close, even if the predator is a man (cf. Berke, this volume). This kind of collecting or gath-
ering of animals is reminiscent of picking fruits or reaping corn and strengthens our idea
of the deeply economic conceptualization of desert hunting in ancient Egypt.

3.3. Level III: In the towns

Not every species hunted and killed in the deserts was part of the economic system. On
the other hand, nearly every species relevant in an economic sense was hunted and gath-
ered, and then transported alive to the settlements in the valley (Tab. 1: third column).
However, the routes the animals took in the deserts confront us with a problem of the
epigraphic tradition. There is no doubt that the related transportation was a large-scale
undertaking. The gamekeepers and their game had to march many kilometres from the
hunting-grounds in the deserts to the towns in the Nile Valley, but, contrary to agriculture

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Fig. 12 Registration and presentation of cattle, desert animals and other products in front of the tomb owner.
Scene from the decorated funerary chapel of Seshemnefer III in Giza, Old Kingdom, 5th dynasty (Brunner-
Traut 1977: Beilage 1).

and swamp-economy where the workers’ routes were an important part of the epi-
graphic tradition, this is never shown. We do not know of any source that elucidates the
equivalent process in desert hunting.
So, looking at the epigraphic sources we see animals being hunted in the deserts and
only encounter them again at the places called the mDwt in the valley, where they were
kept together with domesticated animals, mainly cattle. Here in the mDwt, situated near
the towns, there were different methods of keeping and handling the animals, which
depended partly on the peculiarities of the individual species. For example, for reasons
of acclimatization an antelope received a special type of feeding (Newberry 1893: pls. 27,
30; cf. Herb 2005: 28). Whereas the hyena had to be fed in order to protect the cattle and
desert animals standing nearby in the mDwt (for a different interpretation as well as a
pertinent illustration see Fitzenreiter, this volume). Although the situation of the hyena

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Oryx Cattle Cattle Ibex Oryx

Cattle Ibex Cattle Gazelle Cattle

Fig. 13 Various offerings, including slaughtered specimens of ibex, oryx and gazelle, as represented in the
mastaba of Mereruka at Saqqara, Old Kingdom, 6th dynasty (Duell 1938: pl. 205B).

was quite different from the antelope, the Egyptian term signifying the different actions
is one and the same: wSA “feeding”.
But the most important activity carried out in the mDwt was the registration of the ani-
mals. On the way to their final destinations, they went through the valley and through
different towns. Sometimes the hunters and herdsmen drove the animals through the
countryside of the Nile Valley. However, for large parts of the longer journeys the animals
were transported by ship (cf. Fig. 11). Indeed often – but not always – we may suppose that
the desert animals were brought to the capitals and their necropoleis by ship. Whenever
they made a stop in a town or settlement, they were put into the mDwt, where they had to
be registered. Each time this occurred, the scribes wrote down the numbers on their
writing boards or papyrus-rolls (Fig. 12), enabling tomb owners to control the lists of the
products and animals brought to them from their towns in Upper and Lower Egypt. This

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is the main reason that we have information about desert animals. There was no other
artificial, scientific or even idealistic background for accumulating such information.

3.4. Level IV: In the slaughterhouses

The final stage saw the desert animals reaching the slaughterhouses of the settlements,
temples and necropoleis (Tab. 1: fourth column). This was the last stop the animals made
on their journey from desert to town and there, in the slaughterhouses, they reached the
places of their final ‘utilization’ (Fig. 13). According to the epigraphic tradition, the num-
bers of the ‘used’ species were reduced once more. For the most part the motifs and scenes
present:

– Oryx dammah (70 attestations);

– different kinds of gazelles – I guess mainly Gazella dorcas (22 attestations);
– Capra nubiana (21 attestations).

There are only two cases where we may suppose that the slaughtered desert animal is
an addax. And only in very special elements of the tradition, such as the offering list, do
we have some indications that hartebeest and hyena were used in a ritual or funerary
context (cf. Fitzenreiter, this volume).

c. 2400 BC c. 2200 BC c. 1900 BC

The Sabu list, The Tjeti numbers, The Beni Hasan list
Saqqara El-Hawawish

cattle 130 gazelle 1,023 gazelle 12,020

303 oryx (male?) 1,000 oryx –
405 cattle 2,012 ibex –
628 3,014 hartebeest 3,400
1,138 hyena 3,300
1,200 aurochs 320
1,220
1,237
11,360

gazelle 1,136
oryx (male?) 1,246
oryx (female?) 1,308

(Mariette 1889: 145–146) (Kanawati 1980: fig. 14) (Newberry 1893: pl. 38.1)

Tab. 2 Three epigraphic sources from the Pyramid Ages fixing concrete numbers of animal registrations.

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Fig. 14 Graphic chart showing the relative

economic importance of the various species
of desert animals (as well as domestic cattle),
as inferred from representations in tomb and
temple decorations of the Pyramid Ages (cf.
Tab. 1).

4. Conclusions – and a bundle of questions

From the aforementioned data we can construct a hierarchy of the importance of the
animals used in the ancient Egyptian economy of the Pyramid Ages (Fig. 14). The most
important animals were cattle and the following desert animals: Oryx dammah, different
species of gazelles, and Capra nubiana. On the next level stood species such as addax,
hartebeest, aurochs, and hyena, which were not so often used as cattle or antelopes, but
were still an important part of the system. On a level higher we meet species without a
direct economic connection, such as the lion, the ostrich, and even small animals such as
mice. Finally, at the top, we can place rare animals such as the elephant or the often
discussed but never understood ‘mythological’ creatures (for the latter cf. Quack, this
volume).
This construction of an economic hierarchy can be used in explaining the rare but
highly interesting sources from the Pyramid Ages that fix concrete numbers of animal
registrations and offer a picture of the quantities of animals the ancient Egyptians
worked with (Tab. 2; cf. also Pantalacci & Lesur-Gebremariam, this volume). One of
these lists, depicted in the 12th dynasty tomb of the nomarch Khnumhotep II in Beni
Hasan, Middle Egypt, has been selected as the logo of the workshop (Newberry 1893:
pl. 38.1; for the pictorial context see Quack, this volume: fig. 3, and Fitzenreiter, this vol-
ume: fig. 10). Here the scribe Mentuhotep presents on his writing board the registration
of the following desert mammals and their numbers (cf. Herb 2005: 26–28):

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“Hyena (Hyaena hyaena, HTt): 3,300;

Oryx (Oryx dammah/leucoryx, mA-HD): [no entry];
Aurochs (Bos primigenius, smA): 320;
Gazelle (Gazella sp. [G. dorcas?], gHs): 12,020;
Ibex (Capra ibex nubiana, niAw): [no entry];
Hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus, SsAw): 3,400.”

Although these huge numbers do not represent the results of a single hunting expedi-
tion, but rather the sum of desert animals captured during the whole ‘reign’ of the no-
march of the Oryx nome, they nevertheless remain extremely remarkable. As, for
example, the ratio between the given amounts of aurochsen and gazelles (almost 1 : 40)
shows, there is no compelling reason to doubt the realistic background and, therefore,
historical value of this source: Gazelles, being well adapted to desert environments and
able to go without water for long periods, were certainly more numerous and much
easier to capture than the large bovids, which need to drink every two or three days. So,
the list seems quite coherent and may at least partly reflect what we call reality.

However, we are far away from understanding what really happened with the animals
in antiquity, both in the deserts as well as in the towns. There are still more problems and
questions than explanations and answers. Where were the areas in the deserts that the
hunters built their aHwt “desert corrals”? 2 What did the ancient Egyptians know about
the behaviour of the various species and their migrations? Which part of this knowledge
can we recognise today in the ancient sources? Why is there no terminological difference
between the different kinds of gazella, or between Oryx dammah and Oryx leucoryx? 3 Is
it only a problem of perception and cultural reflection? What is behind such astonish-
ingly large quantities of desert game: Reality? And if so, what kind of reality? Or is it
pure fiction? In which case, we have to look for the reasons why the ancient Egyptian
scribes – or their principals – invented such intellectual constructions.

2 For the remains of a supposed ‘hunting park’ in Soleb (Nubia) – an area of about 600 x 300 m, apparently
fenced in with a construction of thick ropes and piles of wood, possibly dating from the time of Amenophis
III (New Kingdom, 18th dynasty) – see Leclant 1981 and Müller-Wollermann 2003: 34–36. Cf. also Herb 2005:
23–26. However, the rather limited extension of this area raises serious doubts about whether this was indeed
one of the large desert corrals in economic use by the ancient Egyptians as mentioned above.
3 The latter simply named mA-HD “white desert animal”, despite the fact that only Oryx leucoryx has the dis-
tinctive feature of a blinding white fur. This name and similar ancient Egyptian designations, such as mA-HsA
“furious desert animal” for the lion or mA-st for an, as yet, unidentified species, appear as rather vague terms
from our modern point of view, see Herb 2005: 31–34 and Pantalacci & Lesur-Gebremariam, this volume.

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5. An outline of the workshop, its main objectives and the present proceedings

The preceding introductory contribution by Michael Herb, only slightly modified from
the original workshop presentation, outlines the economic significance of desert animals
in ancient Egypt’s Old and Middle Kingdom times inferred from the tomb and temple
decorations of those periods. As a starting point for the conference, it raises a number of
questions resulting from his Egyptological investigations, which can be easily broadened
and complemented by others. For example: What do we know about the changing status
and economic significance of Saharan wildlife from prehistoric to present day? How has
the distribution of game populations and the behaviour of individual species been shaped
by climatic developments and the impact of humans through the millennia? To what ex-
tent can the ancient Egyptian sources be regarded as reflecting the ‘real’ animal world of
the past, and which other data (and scientific methods) can be used for corroboration?
Moreover, what ‘happened’ to transform a desert animal from an object of purely eco-
nomic interest to a religious entity playing a distinctive role in the intellectual world of
gods and myths (cf., e.g., Fitzenreiter, ed., 2003)? What do such cultural reflections on
desert wildlife tell us about the socio-economic, ideological and religious concepts of the
human cultures involved? And, last but not least: What lessons can be learned from the
study of the past to aid the protection and conservation of today’s species, which though
amazingly well adapted to some of the harshest conditions on earth, are increasingly en-
dangered by man and many face extinction?
Questions and problems like these lay at the heart of the Cologne workshop, aiming
to elucidate a rather neglected field of research by applying a broad interdisciplinary
approach. Many aspects of our general, multifaceted topic, from a number of different
perspectives, were addressed during the meeting, though some elements could only be
touched upon briefly. It goes without saying that such an endeavour can only be the
beginning of a process to initiate sensitivity and cooperation across the borders of
academic specialisation, which is often hampered by different scientific terminologies,
methods and ways of thinking. Nevertheless, as these proceedings may amply show,
this approach has turned out to be appropriate for further studies.

When comparing the workshop programme (pp. 12–13) with the actual contents of this
volume, the reader will notice that it has not been possible for some participants to hand
in their papers for publication. Also, there are a number of changes to the titles and
topics of individual articles, which are partly due to fruitful discussions that arose dur-
ing the workshop or since. On the other hand, the contribution by Laure Pantalacci &
Joséphine Lesur-Gebremariam, neither of whom attended the meeting, as well as those
of Stan Hendrickx et al., 4 Dirk Huyge, and Heiko Riemer may be regarded as most

4 In which John C. Darnell, who also did not participate in the workshop, kindly joined in.

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welcome additions. Moreover, it should be noted that parts of the results of the investi-
gations by Christian Leitz have been published meanwhile elsewhere (Leitz 2009: 304–
305).
The contributions to the present proceedings are arranged thematically in four chap-
ters, or sections. The first one, In the desert and on the river’s shore: Archaeozoological evidence
from Late Palaeolithic to Pharaonic times, contains two papers devoted to a very important
historical perspective of the theme: the investigation of the faunal remains of desert
animals that have been found at various archaeological sites, both in the Nile Valley and
in Egypt’s Western Desert. While Veerle Linseele & Wim Van Neer present an up-to-date
overview of the available bone records from the valley, from Late Palaeolithic to New King-
dom times (c. 20,000–1000 BC), Nadja Pöllath summarises the archaeozoological evidence
from prehistoric desert sites, many of which have been excavated in recent years by mis-
sions of the ACACIA project. Although concentrating on records dating from the so-called
Holocene humid phase (c. 9000–5000 BC) and the following prehistoric periods, the latter
paper also takes into account some recently discovered evidence from Pharaonic times,
when the drying trend towards today’s hyper-arid situation was well advanced. Both ar-
ticles therefore provide a diachronic and, to some extent, complementary account from an
archaeozoological point of view of what is currently known about the existence of the
relevant species and their significance for human beings in antiquity, in both the deserts
and the towns or settlements of ancient Egypt proper. The authors not only list the iden-
tified species and their attested frequency in – or disappearance from – the available
records within a given period of time, but also compare the results with the general pic-
ture provided by the ancient Egyptian tradition as outlined above. Indeed, there are a
number of discrepancies between the archaeozoological and iconographic records, for
which tentative explanations are offered. Moreover, changes in environmental conditions
as well as in human subsistence strategies are addressed, from a hunter-gatherer’s way of
life to that of sedentary Nile Valley or oasis dwellers who used domestic livestock as the
most important meat provider, and the impact this had on the role of hunting and keep-
ing wild animals. Judging from osteological evidence from Hierakonpolis (possibly
Egypt’s earliest ‘capital’ in the south) and other sites, the economic significance of desert
game had already decreased in predynastic times, and shifted towards the decisive role
that wild animals played in the ritual behaviour of the elite.

The second chapter, entitled Past and present: The distribution and behaviour of desert species,
takes a look at more recent evidence of Saharan wildlife, the study of which may be use-
ful for shedding light on developments in the past. It comprises three articles, each
focusing on a single species. Nicolas Manlius introduces the field of historical ecology
and biogeography that aims to reconstruct the population development and distribu-
tion of animals throughout time, relating in particular to the last two centuries, for which
much information is available through early travelers’ accounts, (sub-)recent observa-

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tions, etc. Taking the Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia) in Egypt as a significant exam-
ple of large wildlife, he traces the ‘history’ of a desert mammal that was once far more
widespread in the eastern Sahara than is indicated by its present distribution range.
Hunting by means of firearms and motor vehicles can be regarded as the primary reason
why Barbary sheep, as well as a number of other desert species, are reduced to refuges,
or are endangered with extinction today.
Even worse is the situation of the hartebeest, fairly well attested for ancient times
by pictorial and epigraphic as well as archaeozoological records from the Egyptian
Nile Valley, but now extinct in Egypt. Jens-Ove Heckel from the Species Survival Com-
mission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reports on a re-
cent field survey in western and north-western Ethiopia conducted to access the
current status of the Tora hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus tora) in this region, one of
four distinct hartebeest subspecies once occurring in north-eastern Africa. The results,
although preliminary, are alarming. Due to a governmental settlement programme re-
sulting in excessive devastation, as well as the exploitation of the natural habitat and
high levels of unsustainable hunting pressure, this antelope subspecies as well as other
large wildlife in the studied area are critically endangered. This provides another mod-
ern example of the negative impact of humans, both direct and indirect, on arid envi-
ronments and their fauna and flora. Certainly, the establishment and maintenance of
national parks and the development of appropriate conservation strategies are the
most important – and probably the only effective – means for a sustainable protection
of such species.
As Hubert Berke’s contribution to this section exemplifies, human activity not only
influences game populations and their distribution, but also the behaviour of Saharan
wildlife. By comparing reports from the mid-19th century with the most recent observa-
tions, he identifies a remarkable change in the flight behaviour of gazelles (in particular
Gazella dorcas) within the last two centuries, which is probably due to their increasing
persecution after the introduction of guns and motor vehicles. As this historical case
study demonstrates, zoological research in the behaviour of desert animals and their
adaptation to changing threats caused by man may provide an important source for a
better understanding of relevant data from the past.

The third chapter Protein and prestige: The hunt for desert mammals throughout time assembles,
in chronological order, four papers again concerned with the situation millennia ago. This
section highlights the economic and conceptual roles of hunting and keeping large desert
game in various epochs, ranging from Late Palaeolithic to Old Kingdom times.
Dirk Huyge & Salima Ikram discuss wild animal representations at the unique rock
art sites of Qurta in Upper Egypt, c. 15 km north of Kom Ombo on the east bank of the
Nile. About 15,000 years old, these extraordinary depictions can be ascribed to a culture
of hunters and fishermen with a mixed subsistence economy which relied on both the

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river and (to a much lesser degree) the desert for food resources. They mainly show
representations of wild cattle, but among other species gazelle and, probably, hartebeest
are also attested. The faunal spectrum clearly mirrors the ecological environment and
land use in Late Palaeolithic times, when extreme aridity, similar to the situation today,
prevailed and Nile Valley groups apparently confined themselves to the floodplain and
its immediate surroundings. The rock art at Qurta, comparable to Eurasian Palaeolithic
art in more than one respect, is tentatively related to some kind of hunting magic, aiming
to exert symbolic control over the natural environment.
Heiko Riemer’s contribution leads us to a much later period of prehistory when the cli-
mate and environment of the eastern Sahara had considerably changed and offered rela-
tively good living conditions, for both animals and humans, in regions that are void of
any vegetation today. During the so-called Holocene humid phase (c. 9000–5000 BC),
groups of hunter-gatherers roamed the Libyan Desert, usually hunting with bows and ar-
rows, and large wildlife played a dominating role in their subsistence. The paper reviews
archaeological evidence for additional hunting techniques, based on the use of foot snares
and traps. Special emphasis is laid on linear stone structures, which, according to ethno-
graphic parallels, guided the animals towards gaps in the walls where (unattended) traps
were positioned. This is in contrast to the so-called ‘desert kites’, similar structures known
from the Near East and interpreted as game drives used for the killing of larger herds by
several hunters acting in a cooperative way. This passive hunt on individual animals re-
flects the way of life of rather small and highly mobile groups.
The Barbary sheep, already addressed by Nicolas Manlius in his paper on more recent
historical evidence of this desert mammal, is the focus of the following contribution. Stan
Hendrickx et al. present two new rock art sites from the Dakhla region in Egypt’s Western
Desert showing Late Predynastic/Early Dynastic representations of Barbary sheep being
attacked by dogs (typical for representations of these periods, the hunters themselves are
not shown). These depictions apparently belong to an iconographic tradition in the Nile
Valley that is well known, and therefore seem to attest ancient Egyptian activity in the cen-
tral Western Desert during a time that was previously not expected. At that time, around
3000 BC, the climatic trend towards dryer conditions had already been underway for about
two millennia, and hunting parties from the Nile Valley who occasionally ventured that
far into the inhospitable desert would have certainly had a good reason for doing so. Ad-
dressing questions raised by these fresh findings, the authors discuss the ritual context of
desert hunting and its role in elite behaviour during early Pharaonic times, as well as the
past distribution of Barbary sheep west of the Nile.
The last paper of this section remains in the same desert region, but steps forward in
time about one more millennium, thereby returning to the situation during the Pyramid
Ages that raised the discussion. Laure Pantalacci & Joséphine Lesur-Gebremariam sum-
marise relevant textual as well as archaeozoological evidence that has been discovered by
missions of the Institut français d’archéologie orientale at the late Old Kingdom settlement

38 Michael Herb & Frank Förster

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site at Balat in the Dakhla Oasis. Dating from the end of the 3rd millennium BC, when
Pharaonic Egyptians had started to occupy and colonize the Western Desert oases, these
data provide valuable insights into the interrelation between the settlers from the Nile Val-
ley and the wildlife surrounding them. Due to the exceptional situation of having infor-
mation from the capital of a Pharaonic ‘desert outpost’ at our disposal, which encompasses
both the faunal remains of various desert species hunted and kept in confinement as well
as inscriptional material such as game lists, we get a picture that, in contrast to the con-
temporary tomb and temple decorations in the Nile Valley, is not biased by ideological or
religious concepts. Presumably wild animals attested in the records such as gazelle,
Barbary sheep and oryx, as well as canids and migrating birds were relatively easy to cap-
ture in Dakhla and its immediate surroundings, because the water ponds of the oasis and
the agricultural fields of the settlers attracted the game. Nevertheless, there are some in-
dications suggesting that hunting expeditions heading further into the desert also took
place in order to capture large numbers of animals at one time, probably for keeping them
in the farms and towns for additional meat supply.

Finally, the fourth and last chapter, In the realm of gods and concepts: Cultural reflections on
desert animals in ancient Egypt, is devoted to the cultural perception of Saharan wildlife as
can be inferred from various iconographic as well as textual sources from ancient Egypt.
In the first of four contributions assembled here, Salima Ikram provides an overview of the
large variety of wild animals depicted in the predynastic and dynastic rock art of Kharga
Oasis in the Western Desert, and discusses their possible meanings. Ranging from large
mammals such as oryx down to snakes and what has tentatively been identified as spiders,
many of the representations not only show the typical desert fauna one might expect to
find today in the eastern Sahara, but also ‘strange’ species such as elephant, giraffe, even
hippopotamus and crocodile, as well as mythological creatures. The animals depicted in
this rocky ‘desert zoo’ must have played a significant role in the spiritual as well as the quo-
tidian lives of the ancient inhabitants of the area; however, the evidence presented here
once again illustrates the notorious difficulties in interpreting – and dating – rock art: Does
the presence of an image necessarily mean that the shown species was part of the pre-
vailing landscape, or is it a record of what was seen elsewhere, perhaps a long time pre-
viously and passed on simply through an epigraphic tradition? What kind of motivation
prompted such drawings, and what was the intended meaning? As shown by several
examples, (later) Pharaonic iconography known from the Nile Valley can provide a
profitable avenue of inquiry and analysis, especially in regard to potential religious or
symbolic denotations. In most cases, however, the precise interpretation of the petroglyphs
remains ambiguous.
A prehistoric rock art motif that can indeed be convincingly explained through com-
parison with various relevant data from dynastic Egypt is presented by Dirk Huyge. It
concerns engraved representations of the wild ass or donkey, at the head of which a

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straight or curved stroke has been added, most likely representing some kind of stabbing
weapon. Depictions showing this significant detail are known from several rock art sites
both in the Eastern Desert and in the Nile Valley, and probably express a magical control
over the animal that was regarded as an incarnation of evil forces in Pharaonic times and
often associated with the god Seth, lord of the desert and all the chaotic phenomena in na-
ture. Nevertheless, as the author points out, the (domestic) donkey was of great economic
importance as the principal beast of burden in ancient times, and also used for threshing
grain, at a time when its wild relatives were still hunted in the desert. The ambivalent na-
ture of the ancient Egyptians’ attitude towards desert animals as well as other wildlife is
one of the striking peculiarities of Pharaonic civilization.
Martin Fitzenreiter’s contribution leads back to the Pyramid Ages, more precisely to the
Old Kingdom and pictorial and epigraphic data provided by the tomb decorations of this
period (c. 2600–2200 BC). Analysing the representation of animals, both domesticated and
wild, and the preparation and presentation of their meat as shown in funerary chapels of
the elite, he investigates the conceptualisation of animal based food in a society, for which
bread and beer were of paramount importance in nutrition. In doing so, to some extent,
he continues where Michael Herb’s introductory paper ends, namely in the slaughter-
houses of the settlements and necropoleis, or what has been termed “level IV” of the desert
economy at that time. The relevant scenes are discussed in the wider framework of the
meaning of such decorative programmes, and the ritual use of animal based food, in-
cluding prestigious venison, is considered, as well as conventions of artistic representation.
Surprisingly from a modern point of view, one of the few desert species shown as being
consumed is the hyena, whereas fish, although it certainly played a major role in the
Egyptian diet, never appears in the offering lists. Culinary preferences as well as the avoid-
ance of certain species in (the visualisation of) ritual contexts are among the information
that might be inferred from the sources, both on the conceptual and the dietarian level.
However, the conventional principles of Old Kingdom tomb decoration follow their own
rules, and in searching for the reality behind the pictures it is essential to look at the func-
tional (i.e. ideological, symbolic, religious etc.) background.
Last but not least, Joachim Friedrich Quack finally leads us into the world of ancient
Egyptian mythology and presents an intellectual construction of gods, deities and desert
animals interacting: the so-called “Demotic Myth of the Eye of the Sun”. Preserved in a
number of different copies dating from Roman times, but certainly drawing from earlier
sources, this narrative holds much information about the cultural perception of various
desert or steppe animals in ancient Egypt. In particular, Hathor, the daughter of the sun-god
Re, is linked with wildlife species occurring outside the Nile Valley, and she herself ap-
pears, among others, in the form of a vulture or gazelle. Several other species make their ap-
pearance in the literary composition as well as in some related texts and depictions, whether
as manifestations or as entourage of deities, or in other contexts, illustrating how deeply
animals are fixed in Pharaonic culture and religion. Zoological reality seems to be reflected

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in some passages, such as those referring to the behaviour of individual species. Moreover,
when comparing linguistically older texts with later ones, the disappearance of animals
such as oryx, ibex and ostrich is remarkable. This may be due to a real disappearance of
those species from the fauna of Egypt during the first millennium BC.

As already stated, the workshop’s narrow framework allowed us to address only a

fraction of the many aspects, problems and perspectives related to our general topic. A
critical and exhaustive assessment of the different kinds of available sources and of both
their potential capacities and, equally important, limitations for any generalised
conclusions or interpretation is certainly one of the major challenges in the future. The
cautious combination and subsequent appraisal of the various data collections (or se-
lected parts thereof) by combined interdisciplinary efforts is another. For the time being,
however, it is to be hoped that the workshop’s attempt to shed some light on the inter-
relation between man and Saharan wildlife in ancient times stimulates further studies,
such as those collected in this volume. To put it into the words of a poet:

We shall not cease from exploring

And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time

(Thomas S. Eliot, Little Gidding)

Acknowledgements

The scientific results reported here have been gained by Michael Herb during studies
undertaken within the scope of the interdisciplinary Collaborative Research Centre 389
ACACIA at the University of Cologne (project A5 “Environmental situation and change
in north-eastern Africa: The special example of ancient Egypt”, 1995–2007). The authors
acknowledge the generous funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German
Research Council, DFG).

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44 Michael Herb & Frank Förster