Abu Minqar
{{Infobox settlement
|name =Abu Minqar
|other_name =
|native_name =قصر أبو منقار
|native_name_lang=ar
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|image_skyline =AbuMinqarRestStop.jpg
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|image_caption = Abu Minqar
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|pushpin_map = Egypt
|pushpin_label_position =bottom
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|pushpin_map_caption =Location in Egypt
|subdivision_type = Country
|subdivision_name = {{EGY}}
|subdivision_type1 = Governorate
|subdivision_name1 = New Valley Governorate
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|coordinates = {{coord|26|30|20|N|27|39|28|E|region:EG|display=inline, title}}
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Abu Minqar ({{langx|ar|قصر أبو منقار}}) is an oasis town in Qesm Al Wahat Ad Dakhlah District, New Valley Governorate, Egypt, about {{convert|93|km}} by road southwest of Farafra. It is inhabited mainly by Bedouins and lies along a historical caravan route to Kufra, Libya.
History and archaeology
Abu Minqar lay on the very edge of Roman Egypt. There are still probable traces of the Romans in the area, including two ruined brick buildings and two well shafts.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3zKDwAAQBAJ&dq=Abu+Minqar&pg=PT268|title=Roads in the Desert of Western Egypt|publisher=Oxbow Books|author=Maciej, Paprocki|page=268|year=2019|isbn=9781789251579 }}
The German explorer Friedrich Gerhard Rohlfs explored the Abu Minqar area and surrounding desert of western Egypt in 1874-1875,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WLVcDwAAQBAJ&dq=Abu+Minqar&pg=PA40|title=Mobility and pastoralism in the Egyptian Western Desert|publisher=All'Insegna del Giglio |author=Gallinaro, Marina|year=2018|page=40|isbn=9788878148628 }} and in 1898 it was explored by Wildred Jennings-Bramly and W. J. Harding King.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RRK5BgAAQBAJ&dq=Abu+Minqar&pg=PA61|title=Light Car Patrols 1916-19: War and Exploration in Egypt |author=Claud Williams |author2=Russell McGuirk |publisher=Silphium Press|year=2013|page=61|isbn=9781900971218 }}
In the area is the Valley of Shells (Wadi el-Khawaka), which is known for its prehistoric sea-shells.{{cite web|url=https://www.roughguides.com/egypt/western-desert-oases/|title=Western Desert Oases|publisher=Rough Guides|access-date=24 August 2022}} A potsherd with plant imprints of the Panicum turgidum species dated to between 5716 and 46 BC has been unearthed at a middle Holocene site near Abu Minqar.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lUOWDwAAQBAJ&dq=Abu+Minqar&pg=PA123|title=Food, fuel and fields: Progress in African archaeobotany |author=Katharina Neumann |author2=Ann Butler |author3=Stefanie Kahlheber|publisher=Heinrich-Barth Institute|date=2003|page=123}}
Geography and geology
Abu Minqar lies in the eastern Sahara desert of western-central Egypt, {{convert|206|km}} by road northwest of Mut (Dakhla) and about {{convert|93|km}} by road southwest of Farafra,{{Google maps | url =https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Farafra,+Al+Farafra,+New+Valley+Governorate,+Egypt/Abu+Minqar,+Al+Wahat+Al+Dakhla+Desert,+New+Valley+Governorate,+Egypt/@26.7597662,27.5354859,10z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x146a2c8acb9e9c5d:0xa80ba3f8267db433!2m2!1d27.9702964!2d27.0567362!1m5!1m1!1s0x146b09975181395f:0x250b8e932597288c!2m2!1d27.6610517!2d26.5049603 | access-date =24 August 2022}} along a historical caravan route to Kufra, Libya.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dUeWDwAAQBAJ&dq=Abu+Minqar&pg=RA1-PA40|title=Atlas of cultural and environmental change in arid Africa |author=Olaf Bubenzer |author2=Andreas Bolten |author3=Frank Darius |publisher=Heinrich-Barth Institute|year=2007|page=40|language=German}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s0iWDwAAQBAJ&dq=Abu+Minqar&pg=PA62|title=Desert road archaeology in ancient Egypt and beyond|author=Riemer, Heiko|publisher=Heinrich-Barth Institute|year=2013|page=62}}
Geologically, the area forms part of the Dakhla—Abu Minqar plateau in a shallow depression between the Kharga and Dakhla depressions, with an elevation typically of between 400 and 500 metres above sea level.{{cite book|url=|title=From Lake to Sand |author=Barbara E. Barich |author2=Giulio Lucarini |author3=Mohamed A. Hamdan|publisher=All'Insegna del Giglio|page=65|year=2014}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rzsiEAAAQBAJ&dq=Abu+Minqar&pg=PA31|title=Sustainable Water Solutions in the Western Desert, Egypt |author=Erina Iwasaki |author2=Abdelazim M. Negm |author3=Salwa F. Elbeih |publisher=Springer International Publishing|page=31|year=2021|isbn=9783030640057 }} The Abu Minqar Depression is often considered to be the extreme western subdivision of the Dakhla Depression.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TiFNAQAAIAAJ&q=Abu+Minqar|author=Embabi, Nabil S.|title=The Geomorphology of Egypt|publisher=Egyptian Geological Society|year=2004|page=151|isbn=9789775821041 }} Maastrichtian-Danian period sediments are found at Abu Minqar.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gs2wDwAAQBAJ&dq=Abu+Minqar&pg=PA518 |author=Zakaria Hamimi |author2=Ahmed El-Barkooky |author3=Jesús Martínez Frías|title=The Geology of Egypt|publisher=Springer International Publishing|year=2019|page=51|isbn=9783030152659 }}