"Le Missioni nell'Oasi di Farafra e nel Gilf Kebir: Dati recenti sull'attività di scavo e di conservazione"

The article refers to the year 2010 activities of the Italian Archaeological Mission in the Farafra Oasis and to the ones of the Conservation and Restoration Project in the Gilf Kebir, localities which are both set in the Egyptian Western Desert. The work in Farafra has been directed especially to the study and elaboration of the research data coming from the Neolithic settlement at Sheikh El Obeiyid, located on one of the northern foothills of the northern Plateau. The complexity of this prehistoric village, which includes 29 structures built of limestone slab stones, testifies to the advanced level of social organization of groups that have inhabited the village in the late Holocene. The activities of the Second Mission in the Gilf Kebir represent a pilot intervention in the two Caves of the Swimmers and the Archers for the preservation of these important complexes. The intervention was aimed to 12 test the degree of reaction of the rock, the mode of absorption of the consolidating material and to provide for the protection of the area most at risk of collapse. The intervention was conducted with great care on a small portion of rock, highly respecting the original condition, without alteration of color and texture of the rock. In further cycles of action is intended to extend the work of consolidation in all areas at risk.