Abu Ballas (the pottery hill) is an archaeological site in the Libyan Desert of Egypt.

It lies about 200 km (120 mi) south-west of the Dakhla Oases and consists of two isolated sandstone cones in the otherwise flat desert.

These vessels were at the beginning of the 20th century often well preserved, but are today – due to modern tourism – very much destroyed.

More recent research has shown that the site was a station on an ancient desert road, called Abu Ballas Trail, that connected the Dakla Oasis with the Gilf Kebir and the Jebel Ouenat.

Some researchers maintain that Abu Ballas was a milestone of an ancient Egyptian trade route into central Africa or for prospecting minerals[5] The place was installed in the late Old Kingdom or early First Intermediate Period, when some authorities decided to arrange supply depots on a track in the desert.