The Social Impact of Trade and Migration Page 1 of 32 PRINTED FROM OXFORD HANDBOOKS ONLINE (www.oxfordhandbooks.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2015. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Handbooks Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy ). Subscriber: OUP-Reference Gratis Access; date: 22 December 2015 Subject: Archaeology, Archaeology of Africa, Egyptian Archaeology, Identity and Ethnicity, Production, Trade, and Exchange Online Publication Date: Nov 2015 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935413.013.37 The Social Impact of Trade and Migration: The Western Desert in Pharaonic and Post-Pharaonic Egypt Anna Lucille Boozer Oxford Handbooks Online Abstract and Keywords Egypt’s Western Desert is located on the fringes of Egypt proper. Despite its remote location, the Western Desert inhabitants connected with people in the Nile Valley and more distant locations. These connections are visible in the form of trade, technology, and migration. In order to understand the impact of this connection with other regions upon local oasites, this article offers a critique of current theories on migration and consumption before reviewing the evidence of such connections chronologically. The available evidence suggests that the Old Kingdom, the New Kingdom, the Perisan Period, and the Roman Period may have been particularly prominent periods of connectivity for the Western Desert. This evidence also suggests strong connections to Thebes throughout most of the history of the Western Desert. Since formal research in the Western Desert is relatively recent, it is anticipated that the current image of Western Desert connections will change in future years. Keywords: trade, transportation, migration, Egypt, connectivity, Western Desert, oasis, social archaeology Introduction The movement of peoples, objects, and ideas is critical to our understanding of the flow and route of human history. Evidence of such movements is particularly abundant in Egypt. These movements—be they migratory, colonizing, or imperialistic—linked Egypt to the Mediterranean, Africa, western Asia, and regions further afield. Small-scale movements within Egypt itself also had a critical place in the formation of Egyptian identities. This article focuses upon migration and trade in Egypt’s Western Desert, which is located on the fringes of Egypt proper. Despite its remote location, the Western Desert inhabitants connected with people in the Nile Valley and more distant locations. These connections are visible in the form of trade, technology, and migration. In order to understand the impact of this connection with other regions upon local oasites, this article offers a critique of current theories on migration and consumption before reviewing the evidence of such connections chronologically. The available evidence suggests that the Old Kingdom, the New Kingdom, the Perisan Period, and the Roman Period may have been particularly prominent periods of connectivity for the Western Desert. From at least the late Old Kingdom (ca. 2500 BC) the indigenous peoples of the Western Desert were subject to military occupation and potentially colonization from the Nile Valley. Walled towns populated with individuals recruited from the Nile Valley constituted the fabric of these occupying peoples. We have documentary sources mentioning the oases dating from the Old Kingdom (ca. 2649–2150 BC) and continuing for many thousands of years. Within these documentary sources, probable migration to the region is detectable, particularly during the New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1070 BC) and the Roman Period (ca. 30 BC–641 AD). For example, during the Roman Period, we know the location of Roman fortresses from the Notitia Dignitatum as well as the corresponding archaeological evidence of fortified areas and settlements (Boozer 2013). Yet, when we explore the individuals who lived in and around these areas over time, we