**Lecture** If you are in Portland, OR on **Mon, Mar 16, 7:15pm** come to @reed.edu and
hear about the 2026 field season at Amheida. “Making the Desert a City: Recent Discoveries from Ancient Trimithis in the Dakhla Oasis of Egypt.” #amheida2026 @archaeological.org events.reed.edu/event/making...
Well, this may or may not be it for our season. We may get an extension, but this is likely it for B10 this year. We got to the floors in Rms 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10, but ran out of time for Rm 2. So, for now, we backfill to dig another day, insha’allah. #amheida2026 #romanegypt #archaeology
We got some nice coverage about the four lovely students from Matrouh University who visited us this year to gain archaeological experience! English: mau.edu.eg/posts/detail... Arabic: www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details... #amheida2026 #romanegypt #archaeology @isawnyu.bsky.social
Four young women in headscarfs posing for a selfie outside.
A young women in a headscarf using a level to take an elevation while a man to the left looks on.
Two people sitting on either side of a fallen piece of plaster, cleaning it with brushes. Orange flags mark important spots near them.
The young women in headscarves work at a table to reassemble an ancient pot. Near them on the table is a green tub of sand and shards of pottery.
This week we are hosting four fantastic Egyptian students from #matrouhuniversity, Arwa, Nadia, Rahma, and Manar, during their holiday break. They are learning about everything from stratigraphy, to to ceramics, to conservation—and clearly having a blast! #amheida2026 #dakhlaoasis
**Dakhla Bird Quiz** Who am I? Answer tomorrow! #dakhlaoasis #ancientbirds #amheida2026
An architectural plan of a building with labels designating Building 10 and Room 2 in orange
A wooden tray of painted plaster fragments of various colors and hues with text overlays that say “Move over Humpty Dumpty” and “#amheida2026”
Jigsaw puzzle! Much of the painted ceiling in Rm 2 inverted as it fell; we are recover what we can, incl. pieces w/ geometric patterns and figural imagery. This is a rescue and documentation operation, but we are glad to have conservators Mahmoud Samir and Jen Porter for this collapse. #amheida2026
A clipboard with a plan and pencil as on top of it, all sitting on a n orderly collapse of mudbrick
A plan detailing collapse patterns on a clipboard with pencils on top
A view of three people working in an archaeological trench, all inspecting a wall to the right. At the top of the frame a plastered wall painted black shows through a gap in a sand embankment.
A meditation on collapses. Yes they’re in your way, but they tell a story of unbuilding. They have a beauty of their own, frozen cascades of bricks, a record of a lonely day when a vault or wall fell without a witness—only now someone sees the moment they finally gave way. #amheida2026 #romanegypt
Gallery Location Not on View Maker Coptic Medium Wool nalbinding (single needle looping) Geography Al Fayyūm, Egypt Date 200-641 Period Late Antique - Early Mediaeval Dimensions 10 x 5.8 cm Object number G1281 Collection Textiles & Costume of the Indian Ocean, Africa & the Islamic World Department Art & Culture: Global Fashion & Textiles
The Royal Ontario Museum added thousands of objects to their only museum catalogue last year—which now totals almost 90,000 objects. My favorite remains this late antique child’s sock from Roman Egypt. 🧦 collections.rom.on.ca/objects/3736... The ancient world was full of kids and color.
Photo stand on a wooden desk with mounted camera and lights over a sole ostracon, with more ostraca to the left waiting for photography. Banners in purple overlaid say “Ostraca getting ready to meet the paparazzi #amheida2026”
Ostraca in plastic bags on a wooden desk, with a papers and books to the left. Banners overlayed say “It’s like being a kid on Halloween … But they are handing out ostraca!”
Large ostraca in plastic bags in a wooden desk. Banners in orange overlaid say “ May I take two BIG ones, please? #amheida2026”
Ostraca in situ on the floor of an ancient room being excavated next to a wall on the right. A person in a straw hat, red scarf and galabeya works at the top of the photo.
This year in B10 has been v. productive, esp. for ostraca! We have recovered > 120 in 3 weeks, incl. some large and interesting accounts, which may constitute a dossier if not ancient archive in Rm 9. Only study will tell us. In the meantime, they must smile for the camera! #amheida2026 #papyrology
A soccer team standing on a green field with light and dark sections of field posing for a group shot. Text overlay says The Amheida Invitational
People playing soccer on a field with light and dark green sections. Text overlay in orange says Action Shot
People playing soccer on a field with light and dark green sections. Text overlay says ISAW + WASHU = GOOOOOOOOOOL!
Group photo in front of a can in a Sandy parking lot. Text overlay says It takes a team.
It’s another one for the books! The Third Amheida Invitational Football Cup saw the Trimithis Surveyors take on the undefeated home team, the Amheida Pyramids. It was a fierce game that saw excellent play from both returning veterans like Claire Lyman and up-and-coming rookies. #amheida2026
**NEW BLOG POST** Patrick Liu and Patrick Burns on INTERNING IN THE ISAW LIBRARY: DEVELOPING AN ERROR CORRECTION DATASET FOR LATIN TEXTS #isawnyulib #ancientlatin #digitalclassics #libraries @isawnyu.bsky.social @nyulibraries.bsky.social isaw.nyu.edu/library/blog...
Cuneiform clay tablet against a black background with a banner saying “How did librarians in the past make sure that you returned your books? We can tell you …
New Blog Post from Gabriel McKee and the ISAW library: FROM PROTECTIVE COLOPHONS TO RFID TAGS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF LIBRARY SECURITY. isaw.nyu.edu/library/blog... #isawnyulib #isawnyu #nyu #libraries #ancientbooks @isawnyu.bsky.social @nyulibraries.bsky.social
journal cover
Medicina nei Secoli: Journal of History of Medicine and Medical Humanities Vol. 37 No. 3 (2025) rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa01/medic... #openaccess
A long, straight, wide street formed by low walls in the desert with men working clear the walls in the background
An orthogonal T intersection of low walls in the desert with a man to the extreme right in the background
The archaeological plan of Trimithis showing the areas and the extant, mapped walls
A detail of the archaeological plan of Trimithis showing the walls in Area 11
Welcome to Area 11! This is the site’s w. edge, recently revealed by a dune’s passage. This year we will map it (see old plan) & put in a test trench. The surface pottery suggests that it is earlier than the late antique core. It also seems planned, unusual (so far) for #dakhlaoasis ! #amheida2026
A room of a mud brick house full of sand with a painted wall peeking through
Mudbrick vault block on the sand showing white plaster ceiling on one side
One mudbrick vault block with white plaster ceiling showing finger grooves on the side to improve adherence
And architectural plan of a building
The end of 2nd week of excavation; making good progress at B10 removing the collapsed vaults in Rms 5-6 and getting to the occupational levels in Rms 2, 7, 8, 9. We have our work cut out for us consolidating and conserving the painted plaster walls. #amheida2026 #dakhkaoasis #romanegypt
A 17th century illustration with a bird picking the teeth of a crocodile
A 20th century engraved print showing a spurwing lapwing picking the teeth of a crocodile.
A black, gray, and white bird in a green field
DAKHLA Bird Quiz #2 (2/2). Herodotus’ account was repeated by ancient and medieval authors (eg, 9th-c al-Jahiz, Bk of Animals) and re-popularized by 19th- and early 20th-c. naturalists and travel-writers (like H. Scherren) But scientists say that H. got it wrong. #ancientbirds #amheida2026
Black, gray and white bird in a green field. Orange banners declare that it is the Spur-wing Lapwing or Trochilus bird
DAKHLA bird Quiz #2 (1/2). It’s the “Spur-winged lapwing,” ubiquitous in the #dakhlaoasis. Sometimes identified with Herodotus’ “trochilus,” or “crocodile bird” (2.68), a bird he says had a symbiotic relationship with crocodiles, tolerated because they clean their teeth. #ancientbirds #amheida2026
Great press release about #WashU Classics! Read more here: classics.wustl.edu/news/washu-g... #amheida2026 #archaeology #romanegypt #egypt @isawnyu.bsky.social
Black, white, and gray bird in a green field
Dakhla Bird Quiz #2. What am I? Answer tomorrow. #amheida2026 #dakhlaoasis #ancientbirds #birding #egypt
Clay stopper on a n ancient jar with a small clay ostracon embedded in it with Greek writing on it.
Large clay jar in a modern blue bucket with a mud stopper on it and embedded in it a clay ostracon with Greek writing
The oatraka are starting to accumulate, mostly well tags. In Roman Dakhla tenants paid for water partially in kind. “Well tags” were labels for goods paid as rent, e.g., O.Trim. 3.1013, B10, Rm 1 (333/334 CE) embedded in jar inv. 30188. “28th year, Pmoun Psō, Haryotes, 1st (vintage).” #amheida2026
Table with a black and purple banner with books on it in a conference hall
Come visit ISAW and the NYU Press @nyupress.bsky.social at the #aiascs2026! Table 9. New works on #earlychristianity #romanempire #archaeology #papyrology #ancienteducation #romanegypt and the Arabic Library from NYU.
We would love to be at the #aiascs2026 in SF, but #amheida2026 officially kicked off yesterday! Students from #washu helped to clean and prepare the site Building 10 in Area 8. We plan to open at least 2 trenches this Sat. #dakhlaoasis #romanegypt #archaeology @isawnyu.bsky.social
Sandstone block with the crowned cat god sekhmet looking left. Hieroglyphs in the upper left corner
Bust of a woman looking down from the ceiling of tomb of Petosiris at El Muzzawaka
Landscape of Egyptian desert with a partially restored pyramid with steep sides centered
Undeclared mudbrick minaret reaching to the a cloudless blue sky
We took #washu students on a field trip yesterday to W #dalhlaoasis to see the temple of Deir el Hagar, the tombs of El Muzzawaka, the site and pyramid of Amheida, and medieval and Ottoman mudbrick city of el Qasr. #amheida2026 #isawnyu
ISAW and NYU Press are pleased to announce the #openaccess digital publication of ‘Ain el-Gedida: 2006-2008 Excavations of a Late Antique Site in Egypt's Western Desert (Amheida IV) by N. Aravecchia. Read the digitial edition: dlib.nyu.edu/awdl/isaw/id... More info here:
isaw.nyu.edu/library/blog...
Night and Day at the #NYU excavation house in the #dakhlaoasis. Even the moon shadows here are intense! #amheida2026 #romanegypt #archaeology
Irregular sandstone block with Greek writing on it in. Lack ink, some of which is faded.
Book cover of O.Trim 3 with a rubricated inscription on the cover.
Happy New Year from the edge of the Roman world! Here’s recently published note on a sandstone block. Lines 2-4 speak about 13 linens as “kalandari(k)a,” which were gifts or new year’s bonuses, usually for officials. Today this καλανδρικόν is for you! See O.Trim 3.8 for more. #amheida2026
Limestone stele with hieroglyphs and images of pharaoh (Seti II) making offerings to ibis-headed Thoth. In lower register there is a banner saying, “who rules Trimithis? Thoth! Even Seti II knew that.”
Trimithis goes back to the OK, but we only pick up the site’s main temple with this stele (inv. 16309) of Seti II (Dyn. 19) making offerings to Thoth. Thoth was Lord of Trimithis until the 4th c. CE. For more, see An Oasis City (2016): dlib.nyu.edu/awdl/isaw/oa... #amheida2026 #dakhlaoasis
Book cover of O.Trim 3 showing a rubricated fragmentary inscription
And ostracon showing two faces in black ink
An ostracon showing two faces in black ink
O.Trim 3 was published this fall by @isawlibrary.bsky.social and @nyupress.bsky.social , incl Egyptian, Greek, and pictorial ostraca (see O.Trim 3.1062 and 3.1065.) Of course, we hope to find more ostraca this season …and, dear Thoth, 1-2 papyri? 🙏#amheida2026 #papyrology #ancientegypt #dakhlaoasis
An owl in a tree staring at the camera
A map of the range of the Little Owl showing the range in lavender around the Mediterranean and across Eurasia
And image of an Athenian silver coin with an owl staring out and the first three Greek letters of Athens down the right side and an olive branch to the left.
The answer is the Little Owl (Athene noctua)! You might recognize that stare from Athenian coins. Owls in ancient and modern Egypt are ill omens—BUT Athena was sometime assimilated to Neith, who was the mother of Tutu, who had a temple in nearby Kellis … a sign of a local support! #amheida26
Map of Egypt showing location of western oases and major sites in the Nile Valley
Map of Dakhla and Kharga oases with major sites indicated
Plan of Amheida showing extant Alla and location of dunes.
Where are we? A good question! Amheida is in the western part of Egypt’s Dakhla oasis, which is deep in the Western Desert. The oasis is a huge depression and most sites are tucked up against the ever-present scarp to the north. And the site is huge! #amheida2026 #dakhlaoasis #romanarchaeology
