6 Mut, new and old. This small town is laid out on a regular grid pattern of streets. There is a school and other government buildings, and most of the homes are of concrete. One resident told us that the townspeople are mostly resettled Bedouin. Women gather at the irrigation canal on the north of the site to wash, and one told us that she enjoys the view of the ruins while she does her work.
Children take flocks across the site to pasture, and later on gather dried animal dung for fuel.
Amheida is a part of Giza. As the project grows, we expect the archaeological site to become further integrated into the community. Whether as an explicitly defined historic place as the old city of al-Qasr has become, or as a place of employment and interaction with scholars, tourists, and other visitors, the respatialization that will accompany our project represents another strand of the dialogue in the construction of modernity in the Dakhleh Oasis.