Wind, Sand and Water. The Orientation of the Late Roman Forts in the Kharga Oasis (Egyptian Western Desert)

TL;DR

This study investigates how late Roman forts in Egypt's Kharga Oasis were aligned with prevailing winds, revealing ancient landscape interaction and planning strategies using archaeoastronomy methods.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Roman settlements and agricultural sites were intentionally oriented according to prevailing wind directions, a novel insight into ancient landscape adaptation.

Findings

Settlements align with prevailing northwesterly winds

Sand dune azimuths indicate wind direction

Orientation likely influenced by environmental factors

Abstract

The chain of late Roman fortified settlements built in the Kharga Oasis, in Egypt Western Desert, represents an interesting case study to analyse how the ancient Roman town planners interacted with the landscape. A peculiar feature of the site is the existence of a prevailing, north westerly wind, and it is possible to identify the average azimuth of the wind by measuring the central axes of the halfmoon shaped sand dunes which characterize the landscape. Using the methods of Archaeoastronomy, we compared these azimuths with the orthogonal layout of both the settlements and the agricultural installations and showed that these are oriented on the prevailing wind. A description and the possible implications of this <<weathervane orientation>> are discussed in this article.