University of Cologne Control posts and navigation system of the Pharaonic

The so-called Abu Ballas Trail is the 400 km long pharaonic road through the Western Desert of Egypt which starts at Balat in Dakhla Oasis (the former Old Kingdom town of Ayn Aseel) and continues to the Gilf Kebir Plateau (Kuper 2001; 2003; Förster in press). It is named after the pottery hill of Abu Ballas that had already been discovered in 1918 half way to the Gilf Kebir. Since 1999 a large number of new road stations and pottery dumps have been discovered by the modern camel nomad C. Bergmann along the trail. Consequently, the Trail was the subject of a number of ACACIA cam-paigns during the following years, and the examination of the pottery indicated that the trail was installed and used dur-ing the Old Kingdom (6th Dynasty / First Intermediate Period), and re-used during the New Kingdom, while traces of the Roman period are very rare. By far the largest number of sites along the trail date back to the Old Kingdom. The field activities during the last years mainly focussed on the excavation of the large pottery dumps, such as Abu Ballas (site 85/55), Jaqub (99/30), and others which yielded several dozens of large Old Kingdom storage jars that were most likely used as water dumps for the donkeys. The main objectives of the recent field campaign were: the survey and excavation of a number of smaller Old Kingdom stations placed between the large pottery dumps, and the survey and documentation of the road signs (Alamat) and donkey paths which connect the individual stations (Riemer in press). The latter can be seen as a contribution to the archaeology of the road itself, as little is known abou