Bahariya Oasis

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Lore & Background

Bahariya Oasis has been populated since the Neolithic, though archaeological evidence is not continuous. In El Heiz, a prehistoric settlement site of hunter-gatherers was found with remains of grindstones, arrowheads, scrapers, chisels, and ostrich eggshells. In Qārat el-Abyaḍ, a Czech team led by Miroslav Bárta discovered a settlement of the Old Kingdom. In ancient Egypt, the oasis had two names: 'ḏsḏs' (Djesdjes), first mentioned on a scarab dating back to the Middle Kingdom, and wḥꜣt mḥtt ('the Northern Oasis'), used almost exclusively in the New Kingdom. The tomb of Amenhotep called Huy was erected in Qarat Hilwah at the end of the 18th dynasty. In the 26th dynasty, the depression was culturally and economically flourishing, as seen in the chapels in 'Ain el-Muftilla, the tombs in Qārat Qasr Salim and Qarat esh-Sheikh Subi, and the site of Qasr 'Allam.

Reader's Guide

The Greco-Roman period was a time of prosperity. There is the ruin of a temple dedicated to Ammon by Alexander the Great located in Qasr el-Miqisba ('Ain et-Tibniya). Excavations of the Greco-Roman necropolis found in 1995 and known as the Valley of the Golden Mummies began in 1999; approximately thirty-four tombs have been excavated from this area. In the spring of 2010, a Roman-era mummy was unearthed in a Bahariya Oasis cemetery in el-Harrah—the female mummy was 3 feet tall and covered with plaster decorated to resemble Roman dress and jewellery. In 2019, archaeologists discovered 19 structures and a church carved into the bedrock from the fifth century CE, decorated with religious inscriptions in Greek. In 2021, a complex with ruins of three churches and monks' cells dating to the fifth century CE was found. In August 2026, an Egyptian mission uncovered three tombs at the Sheikh Sobi necropolis, including a Late Period rock-cut communal tomb with five mummies in limestone coffins. Fossils of dinosaurs including Spinosaurus, Bahariasaurus, Aegyptosaurus, and Paralititan have been found in the Bahariya Formation, dating to the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous, around 100 to 95 million years ago. An asphalt road connecting Bahariya to Cairo was finished in the early 1970s, bringing electricity, cars, television, phone lines, and internet. The Waḥātī people, descendants of ancient inhabitants, maintain traditional music with flutes, drums, and the simsimiyya at social gatherings, and traditional women's dress called Magaddil, though these have largely been phased out by floral print dresses in recent times.

Did You Know?

• The oasis was known in Latin as Oasis parva ('Small Oasis') from 45 CE.
• The Valley of the Golden Mummies, a Greco-Roman necropolis, was discovered in 1995 and excavations began in 1999, with about thirty-four tombs excavated.
• Fossils of the dinosaurs Spinosaurus, Bahariasaurus, Aegyptosaurus, and Paralititan were found in the Bahariya Formation, dating to around 100 to 95 million years ago.
• A Roman-era female mummy unearthed in el-Harrah in 2010 was only 3 feet tall and covered with plaster decorated to resemble Roman dress and jewellery.
• In August 2026, an Egyptian mission uncovered three tombs at the Sheikh Sobi necropolis, including a Late Period communal tomb with five mummies in limestone coffins.