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Pharaonic quarrying and mining:
settlement and procurement in Egypt’s
marginal regions
IAN
SHAW*
Across th e rocky landsca pes of Egypt lies evidence for pharaonic quarrying and
mining;
fresh fieldwork at neglected sites, such as th e Hatn ub travertine quarries and the W adi el-
Hudi amethys t m ines , n o w tel ls us more. T he surviving rem ain s of quarrying and mining
settlements suggest subtle ada ptations in versatile response to changing e con om ic and
geographical param eters.
Introduction
Although much research has been devoted to
the monuments and funerary equipment of
pharaonic Egypt, litt le attention has been paid
to the procurement
of
the raw materials essen-
tial to these two aspects of the culture. This situ-
ation is by
no
means peculiar to Egyptological
work recent review of the archaeology of
stone-working suggested, ‘our information on
the activities at quarries and workshops ranks
among the most abysmal’ (Ericson Purdy
1984: 8). In Egypt, the lack of archaeological
fieldwork relating to quarrying and mining con-
trasts sharply with the abundance of surviving
ancient texts commemorating these two activi-
ties (Couyat Montet 1912-13; Anthes 1928;
Gardiner et
al.
1955; Sadek 1980-85; Seyfried
1981).
Many pharaonic procurement sites have
been investigated only by epigraphers record-
ing the inscriptions and graffiti carved into the
quarry-walls. The archaeological remains have
received scant attention from Egyptologists over
the last hundred years, although Petrie
Currelly
(1906),
Clarke Engelbach (1930) and
Caton-Thompson Gardner (1934) are notable
exceptions. Unlike many more permanent set-
tlements in the Nile Valley itself, the surface
remains of quarrying and mining sites are of-
ten well-preserved
in
situ; there are therefore
invaluable (and still relatively unexploited)
opportunities to examine the horizontal
patterning of mineral procurement and process-
ing.
Since the 1970s a few projects have begun
to explore the full archaeological potential of
Egyptian quarries and mines (Dreyer Jaritz
1983; Shaw
1986;
Rothenberg 1988; Caste1
Soukiassian 1989; Harrell 1989; Arnold 1991;
Shaw Jameson 1993). Others have concen-
trated on scientific provenancing of the miner-
als used in monumental structures, statuary and
funerary equipment (Klemm Klemm 1979;
1981; 1984; Bowman et al . 1984; Greene 1989;
Middleton Bradley 1989) or the study of
pharaonic stone-working and masonry tech-
niques, often using experimental methods
(Stocks 1986; 1989; 1993; Moores 1991; Isler
1992).
Pharaonic quarrying and mining sites are
scattered across the Western Desert, the East-
ern Desert, the Sinai peninsula and southern
Palestine (FIGUREand TABLE) , ypically in-
corporating settlements of varying size and per-
manence, as well as debris relating to the ex-
ploitation of the materials concerned. This body
of data deserves to be examined methodically,
for the use of stone and metal lay close to the
heart of the economy of pharaonic Egypt.
Mineral resources,power and social change
A number of prehistorians have argued that the
Faculty
of
Archaeology an d Anthropology, Downing Street, Cambridge CBZ 3 D Z , England.
ANTIQUITY8
(199 4): 108-19
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PHARAONIC QUARRYINGAND MINING
109
FIGURE. M ap showing the major pharaonic quarry ing and m ining s i tes ment ion ed in the tex t .
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110 IAN SHAW
site
period
of
exploitation
OK
FIP
MK
S P NK
LP PT R
Aswan (granite)
Aswan (sandstone)
Gebel el-Ahmar (sandstone)
Gebelein (limestone)
Gebel Qatrani (basalt)
Gebel el-Silsila (sandstone)
Gebel el-Zeit (galena)
Hatnub (travertine)
Ma’sara (limestone)
Serabit el-Khadim (turquoise)
Timna (copper)
Tura (fine limestone)
‘Tushka’ quarries (gneiss)
Umm el-Sawwan (gypsum)
Wadi Abbad (gold)
Wadi Allaqi/Gabgaba (gold)
Wadi Gerrawi (travertine)
Wadi Hammamat (gold)
Wadi Hammamat b e k h e n )
Wadi el-Hudi (amethyst)
Wadi Maghara
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a ?
a
a
a a
a
a
a
a
a
a
aa a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a a a a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
OK =
Old Kingdom (2649-2134
BC),
FIP
=
First Intermediate Period (2134-2040
BC) ,
MK
=
Middle Kingdom (2040-1640
BC), SIP
=
Second Intermedia te Period (1640-1550 B c ) , NK
=
New Kingdom (1550-1070
BC),
LP
=
Third Intermediate Period
and Late Period (1070-332 BC), PT = Ptolemaic Period (332-30 BC), R = Roman Pcriod (30 BC-AD 395)
This table includes all of the quarrying and min ing sites mentioned in the text, as well as a few others too important to
omit. Lucas Harris (1962: 50-63, 386-428), Harrel (1989: tables 1,
2 )
an d Arnold (1991: tables 2.2, 2.3) provide more
detailed listings of Egyptian stone quarries, while Caste1 Soukiassian (1989: 10-12) list virtually allof the major Egyptian
and Nubian gold, copper, turquoise, galena, iron , amethyst and chrysocolla (copper silicate) mines, with an accompanying
map showing their locations.
TABLE .
Principal phases
of
exploitation at th e major pharaonic min es and quarries.
control of mineral resources was c:rucial to the
emergence of the Egyptian state, with early
Upper Egyptian ‘proto-states’ such as Naqada
and Hierakonpolis apparently gaining prosper-
ity through their grip over the gold from the
wadis of the Eastern Desert (Hoffman 1979: 339;
Trigger 1983: 3 9 4 0 ;Rice 1990: 34-6). The fluc-
tuating scale of stone-quarrying in the Old King-
dom
c.
2649-2134 BC) acts as a barometer of
royal power and perhaps also of social cohe-
sion (Kemp 1983: 86-9; Lehner
1985: 109-10).
There are even some Egyptian rulers, such as
the 11th-dynasty pharaoh Nebtawyre Mentu-
hotep IV c.1998-1991 BC), whose names would
barely have survived if it were not for the in-
scriptions commemorating their quarrying
or
mining expeditions.
Such textual sources as the annals of
Tuthmosis
I11
suggest that the prosperity and
stability of the Egyptian empire in the late 2nd
millennium may have been partially founded
on the success of their gold mines. Although
Janssen (1975: 253) suggests that ‘the economic
aspects of gold production are still largely ob-
scure’, O’Connor (1983: 259-60, figure 3.19)
argues that the mines of southern Egypt and
Nubia were consolidated and expanded during
the reign
of
Amenophis I11 c.
1400-1350
BC) ,
underlining the importance of gold in Egypt’s
economic and diplomatic relations with west-
ern Asiatic neighbours.
The control of mineral deposits was itself a
valuable commodity, sometimes forming part
of the assets of temples or funerary estates. Ac-
cording to an inscription on the walls of a rock-
temple of the early 13th century
BC
in the Wadi
Abbad, about 35 km east of Edfu in Upper Egypt,
the gold mines in the vicinity were owned by
the temple of Seti
I
at Abydos (Schott 1961:
143-
59). The temple endowment included the gold
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PHARAONIC
QUARRYING A N D
MINING 111
concession at Wadi Abbad, a large team of min-
ers, their settlement and a well said to have been
dug at the king’s orders. Clearly the skilled
workmen, their equipment and the unmined
gold formed a single ‘economic package’ con-
sisting of valuable mineral rights along with the
means to exploit them.
The expensive procurement of stone and
metal was also part of the socio-economic bar-
gain between the Egyptian ruler and his nobles;
loyal members of the Blite could rely on the king
to provide raw materials for their funerary
equipment. For instance, the autobiography of
a 6th-dynasty official called Weni, carved on
one wall of hi s tomb at Abydos, describes the
quarrying expeditions he organized for the king
and mentions the royal gift of a fine limestone
sarcophagus from the quarries at Tura (Lich-
theim 1973: 19).
Settlements and encampments associated
with mining and quarrying
The archaeological components of a pharaonic
quarrying or mining site can be categorized as:
1
traces of quarrying/mining activity
2
remains of settlements and encampments
3 facilities for provision of water
4
arteries of transport and communicat ion
5
evidence of processing and manufacturing
activities
6 textual and pictorial memorials of the expe-
ditions
7 ritualistic and religious remains.
The earliest surviving Egyptian map is an
annotated pictorial record of an expedition to
the bekhen-stone (‘greywacke’
or
siltstone) quar-
ries of Wadi Hammamat in t he Eastern Desert.
The ‘Turin Mining Papyrus’, now in the Museo
Egizio, Turin, dates to the mid 12th century
BC;
it identifies the essential elements of a gold-
mining site in the Wadi Hammamat and the
principal siltstone quarries, located further to
the east. The area depicted in the map can be
fairly confidently identified with the surviving
archaeological si te at Bir Umm Fawakhir.
While the Turin Papyrus may constitute an
ancient blueprint for the process of procure-
ment (Birch 1852; Klemm Klemm 1988;
Harrell Brown 1992), numerous questions
remain unanswered. Why do methods of trans-
portation vary from one site to another, and why
are there
so
many different types of workers’ settle-
ments and encampments?
Do
these specialized
sites differ
for
functional, chronological
or
geo-
logical reasons r perhaps a combination of
all three?
The three basic types of mining/quarrying
accommodation are: rectangular walled settle-
ments bui lt of drystone
or
mud brick, and with
varying degrees of fortification (e.g. Qasr el-
Sagha and Wadi el-Hudi Site 9) , dense concen-
trations of drystone huts, often located on a high
point and surrounded by an enclosure wall (e.g.
Wadi Maghara, Wadi el-Hudi Site
5),
and , most
frequently, wide scatters of rough stone shel-
ters and wind-breaks (e.g. Hatnub, Umm el-
Sawwan, Gebel el-Zeit). Most sites, such as
Wadi Maghara, Wadi el-Hudi and Hatnub (Shaw
1986; 1987), incorporate two
or
three of these
different types of accommodation. At one or two
remote sites, such as the Serabit el-Khadim tur-
quoise mines, there appears to be no evidence
of a substantial settlement at all (Petrie
Currelly 1906).
Not unexpectedly, some of the least signifi-
cant ancient workers’ settlements have been
found at mineral sources close to existing sub-
stantial towns or villages, as in the case of
As-
wan (granite and sandstone), Gebel el-Silsila
(sandstone) and Tura (limestone). At these sites
only minimal accommodation was required,
since the quarry-workers were close to perma-
nent settlements.
Dispersed settlements: state versus private
exploitation
It is not clear whether the exploitation of raw
materials outside the Nile valley was subject to
royal monopoly, but the sheer scale of many
expeditions shows that few individuals could
have undertaken them without royal backing.
Nevertheless, archaeological evidence at the
Hatnub travertine (‘Egyptian alabaster’) quar-
ries, the Umm el-Sawwan gypsum quarries and
the Gebel el-Zeit galena (lead sulphide) mines
suggests that there was intermittent private ex-
ploitation of certain raw materials throughout
the pharaonic period c.3100-332 BC), perhaps
following in the footsteps of the major expedi-
tions. An archaeological distinction may be
made between low-level exploitation of min-
eral resources by individuals and the higher
level of organization and visibility associated
with large-scale expeditions designed to acquire
stone or metals for Blite purposes (Shaw 1986:
197; Kemp 1989: 246-7).
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112
IAN SHAW
The Hatnub travertine quarries are situated
some 1 7km southeast of el-Amarna in the East-
ern Desert. The associated settlement consists
of several hundred drystone structures dis-
persed over an area of more than a square kilo-
metre, mainly extending west and northwest
of the largest quarry (FIGURE) , which contained
numerous rock-carved inscriptions and graffiti
(Anthes 1928). Most of the settlement dates to
the Old and Middle Kingdoms c . 2575-1650
BC) ,
but there was also an encampment dating
to the New Kingdom G .
1550-1070 BC).
The Old and Middle Kingdom structures at
Hatnub are usually sprawling multi-roomed
huts evidently housing organized gangs of
workmen. The drystone construction in these
buildings is of a fairly high standard, using
closely packed pebbles and medium-sized
stones. The overall settlement pattern in the Old
and Middle Kingdoms is open to a number of
interpretations: dispersed structures and an
apparent lack of communal protective measures
suggests a low level of concern regarding at-
tacks from the desert , as well as relatively low-
key organization and administrative hierarchy,
particularly in comparison with the Old King-
dom hilltop settlement at Wadi Maghara and
the Middle Kingdom settlements at Wadi el-
Hudi and Qasr el-Sagha (discussed below). The
Hatnub settlement is much more comparable
with those at the Umm el-Sawwan gypsum
quarries in the northern Faiyum and the gneiss
quarries in the Western Desert, 80 km from
Tushka. It also resembles the dispersed encamp-
ment surrounding the other major travertine
quarries at Wadi Gerrawi, near Cairo, estimated
to have accommodated about
200
workers
(Petrie Mackay 1915: 38-40 . Mining and
quarrying sites in Egypt proper may not gener-
ally have been considered to be under threat,
whereas expeditions to locations such as Wadi
Maghara and Wadi el-Hudi, at the northern and
southern frontiers of Egypt, were regarded
in the Old and Middle Kingdoms at least s
forays into relatively hostile territory.
The New Kingdom encampment at Hatnub
is a set
of
temporary, mainly one-room shelters
hastily and loosely assembled from large lime-
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PHARAON IC QUARRYING AND M INING 113
e d g e
o f
e s c a r p m e n l
..
natural
drainage lhnes
5
d r y s t o n e ~ e l t l e m e n f
. r e a
1 lint 1 1
P r o d u C t l O n
/ ontour
lines
t
Q
Q Y P S U m
O U l C r D P S
FIGLJRE.
Plan of Umm el -Sawwa n af ter Caton-T homp son Gardner
1934).
stone slabs and boulders. The difference be-
tween the earlier and later settlements echoes
the evidence of the inscriptions; the state-spon-
sored Old and Middle Kingdom expeditions
were housed in dispersed communal structures,
whereas the New Kingdom settlement bears the
hallmarks of a small group of individuals with-
out much bureaucratic or organizational back-
ing from the local or national government. It is
therefore not surprising that the quarry walls
bear almost
no
written commemoration of the
New Kingdom phase of exploitation (Shaw
The gypsum quarries of Umm el-Sawwan,
at the northern edge of the Faiyum region and
about 35 km southwest of Cairo, date primarily
to the Old Kingdom c.2575-2134); in 1928 hey
were surveyed and excavated by Caton-
Thompson Gardner (1934). The workers were
accommodated in a large sprawling settlement
of at least
250
small stone-built structures simi-
lar to those at Hatnub
(FIGURE
) . Caton-
Thompson also found considerable evidence for
1986:
201-3).
the local production of flint tools for quarrying
and vase-making. Some of the gypsum appears
to have been carved into small funerary items
for private tombs; considerable quantit ies were
ground into mortar for large-scale state-spon-
sored building purposes. In the same way,
travertine at Hatnub and Wadi Gerrawi was
used not only for small vessels, statuettes and
offering tables, but also for purely Blite pur-
poses, such as colossal statuary and architec-
tural elements.
The Gebel el-Zeit galena mines, located
on
the Gulf of Suez coast about 50 km to the south
of Ras Gharib, date from the Middle Kingdom
to the Ramessid period (i.e. most of the 2nd
millennium BC). The settlement pattern, again
essentially dispersed, shows two main regions
of ancient activity. Site
1
s a network of more
than
30
gallery-mines and associated drystone
encampments spread over the northwestern
slope of Wadi Kabrit: at the centre is a small
sanctuary, evidently dating from the Middle
Kingdom to the 19th dynasty c.
2040-1200
BC).
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114
IAN
SHAW
FIGURE. Viewof
part
of
t h e
fortified
Old
Kingdom settlement at
Wa di Maghara.
Site 2 , covering a larger area in the southern
part of Wadi Kabrit, consists of hundreds of
mine-shafts, as well as numerous drystone shel-
ters and votive structures.
There are
no
surviving large-scale com-
memorative inscriptions and carvings at Gebel
el-Zeit, but recent investigations have revealed
a cache
of
votive objects in the sanctuary at Site
1, including small stone and faience portable
stelae (Caste1 Soukiassian 1985). Some stelae
bear depictions of kings making offerings to
‘Horus master of the deserts’ and ‘Hathor mis-
tress of galena’, suggesting a degree of official
involvement in the galena mining. One stele
was left by Minemhat, a 17th-dynasty gover-
nor
of the province of Coptos, traditionally the
nerve-centre for quarrying and mining in the
eastern Desert. Gebel el-Zeit would have been
the northernmost outpost
for
expeditions spon-
sored by 17th-dynasty kings
c.
1674-1567 BC),
whose power-base was at Thebes.
Castel Soukiassian (1985: 293) suggest that
the lack of large rock-carved memorials at Gebel
el-Zeit may partly result from the quality of the
local rocks, too poor for such grandiose gestures.
They note that the modest scale of the mines
and encampments combine with the small
stelae to suggest the sending of repeated small-
scale expeditions to Gebel el-Zeit, as opposed
to the more impressive ut also more spo-
radic -royal expeditions sent for travertine or
turquoise. The acquisition of galena may have
lain somewhere between that of gypsum
and
travertine in the degree of government involve-
ment , the constancy of demand and the pres-
tige associated with its procurement.
Planned and fortified settlements: organiza-
tional and defensive factors
Expeditions to sites such as Wadi Maghara and
Wadi el-Hudi, at the very edges of Egypt proper,
were necessarily tightly organized, small-scale
military operations, without the mass of un-
skilled workers whose rough stone shelters dot
the landscapes of Hatnub, Wadi Gerrawi
or
Umm el-Sawwan. Commemorative texts list
smaller numbers of workers on the expeditions
to Sinai and Wadi el-Hudi than in the Wadi
Hammamat or Hatnub (Sadek 1980:104 , here
major expeditions and the movement of heavy,
awkward loads would have required large num-
bers of unski lled corv6e-labourers.
The Sinai peninsula was the major Egyptian
source of turquoise and copper throughout the
pharaonic period. The mines at Wadi Maghara,
225 km southeast of Cairo, were particularly
exploited during the Old and Middle Kingdoms.
Petrie, examining the site in 1904-5, found a
hill-top miners’ settlement, primarily used dur-
ing the Old Kingdom and consisting of about
125 st on e- hi l t structures (Petrie Currelly
1906; Chartier-Raymond 1988; see
FIGURE
).
There were also two unfortified groups of
slightly larger and more regular Old Kingdom
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PHARAONIC QUARRYING AND MINING 115
FIGURE.
Plan of the Midd le Kingdom miners ’ for t ress s i t e
9)
a t W a d i e l- H u d i
structures ne next to the remains of an enig-
matic wall or dam built across the northern end
of the wadi and the other built on a shoal at the
southwestern end of the wadi (largely destroyed
by flash-floods and modern quarrying activity).
Petrie’s excavations at Wadi Maghara revealed
numerous artefacts, including evidence of cop-
per-smeltingin situ. The three components of the
site illtop settlement, wadi-floor settlement,
wall/dam eflect the isolation and vulnerabil-
ity of the miners, housed in a tightly clustered,
defensive main settlement combined with un-
protected accommodation in reasonable proxim-
ity to the mines themselves.
In the Old Kingdom and early Middle King-
dom, the region to the south of the first Nile
cataract at Aswan represented the hostile south-
ern frontier of Egypt proper. Exploitation of the
amethyst mines at Wadi el-Hudi, about 35
km
southeast of Aswan, appears to have peaked in
the Middle Kingdom, a period of many inscrip-
tions and graffiti at the site (Fakhry 1952; Sadek
1980-85; Shaw Jameson
1993).
Three distinct
areas of Wadi el-Hudi were in use during the
Middle Kingdom: a low hil l adjoining an am-
ethyst quarry and surmounted by the remains
of a rough stone fortified enclosure, containing
about 40 drystone workmen’s shelters; another
hill , about 200 m southeast of the first, with a
large number of Middle Kingdom texts and
drawings carved into the rocks at its summit;
and a rectangular drystone fortified settlement
(70 x
50 m), a further 400 m to the south , asso-
ciated wi th two amethyst quarries (see FigURES
5 6).
Texts and ceramics at Wadi el-Hudi suggest
two successive major phases of amethyst exploi-
tation, dating to the 11th and to the 12th-13th
dynasties. The 11th-dynasty hilltop settlement
at Wadi el-Hudi (site5) is clearly comparable with
the Old Kingdom settlement at Wadi Maghara:
both are densely concentrated and crudely forti-
fied versions of the more dispersed drystone en-
campments at Hatnub and Umm el-Sawwan,
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116
IAN SHAW
FIGURE
. Part of the
drystone wall sur-
roun ding the fortress
[site
9
t Wad i el -
H u d i .
adaptations of the conventional quarrying or
mining settlement to more dangerous circum-
stances. The 12th-dynasty fortified settlement at
Wadi el-Hudi (site9) -a small drystone version
of the archetypal Nubian fortress s more than
a local adaptation: it is an expression of new
Egyptian attitudes both to quarrying expeditions
and to Nubia.
Lower Nubia had effectively become a colo-
nized province of Egypt after the reign of Sesostris
I c.1971-1926 BC). The area between the first
and fourth cataracts was controlled by 12th-dy-
nasty fortresses and watchtowers, some as much
depots as garrisons, concerned with military con-
trol over the Nubians and with trading and min-
ing expeditions into the Middle Nile and
sur-
rounding deserts. The 12th-dynasty amethyst
mining settlement appears to have been affected
by this new military style of organization and
bureaucracy which characterizes most Egyptian
activities during the period. Quarriers were
housed like colonists in a quasi-permanent set-
tlement and amethysts were procured in a more
military manner.
This distinctive 12th-dynasty approach to
mineral exploitation was not restricted to Nubia:
there is another rectangular, planned quarrying
settlement (measuring about 115 x 80 m) at Qasr
el-Sagha,
75
km southwest of Cairo at the north-
ern end of the Faiyum basin. This village and its
adjacent cemetery were linked by an ancient
paved road with the basalt (dolerite) quarries of
Gebel Qatrani quarries, abput 10 km to the north
(Arnold Arnold 1979; Sliwa 1992). There are
two other zones of pharaonic remains at Qasr el-
Sagha: to the north, a small stone temple
(10
x
5
m), assigned to the Middle Kingdom on the ba-
sis of its architectural style, and to the northeast
a second, more amorphous area of mud-brick set-
tlement (about
140
x
100
m).
Both of the settle-
ments are dated to the 12th dynasty by their ce-
ramics. Like the roughly contemporary pyramid-
town of Kahun, the rectangular village (FIGURE
7 clearly housed a specialized community un-
der direct state control.
Although Qasr el-Sagha is only
25
km from the
Umm el-Sawwangypsumquarries, he differences
between the
two
sets of settlement remains
re
strik-
ing. Um m
el-Sawwan dates mostly to the Old King-
dom and Qasr el-Sagha to the Middle Kingdom, but
there is also a significant difference
in
terms of the
two materials and the needs they served. Good qual-
ity basalt eavy, bulky and used for building and
sculptural projects as held in suchhigh esteem
by the Egyptian elite that a paved road and planned
village were constructed to facilitate its procurement
on a fairly ambitious scale. Gypsum, on the other
hand, could be exploited in smaller quantities
by individuals and without the full backing of
the state. Neither Qasr el-Sagha/Gebel Qatrani nor
Umm el-Sawwan are marked by the stelae and
graffiti that characterize Hatnub
or
Wadi
Hammamat, but then the two former are in less
isolated areas.
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PHARAONIC QUARRYING AND MINING
11
U
o a d to
basal t
quarries
e x c a v a t e d a r e a s
o o v e n
North entrance
Q A S R E L S A G H A
4
W E S TE R N S E TTLE ME N T
ternole
1 2 3 S o u th e n t r a n c e
R Z C -----
m e t r e s
i
FIGURE 7 .
Plan
of
the rectangular walled settlement at Qasr el-Sagha.
Discussion
The quarrying and mining sites described
above are less elaborate than longer-lived
pharaonic sites in the Nile valley, such as
Abydos or Thebes. They nevertheless const i-
tute valuable information on the fundamen-
tals influenc ing Egyptian settlements. Their
archaeological remains also incorporate such
features as wells and dams (Dreyer Jaritz
1983),evidence for religious activity, and the
use of a variety
of
tools (reflecting the level
of technology, the nature of th e material ex-
tracted and the availability of local materi-
als from wh ich different tools c ould be
made). The settlement patterns demonstrate
that the essential characteristics of each site
result from the interaction of technology, eco-
nomics, environment and topography. Promi-
nent aspec ts of these factors are:
1 the nature (and necessary quantities) of the
material procured
2
the degree to which the material was proc-
essed in s i t u
3 the distance from sources of food and water
4 the perceived need for a relatively constant
supply of the material
5 the risk of attack
6 the stability and character
of
the Egyptian
socio-economic system at different periods
and in different areas
7
the composition of the workforce, i.e. the
proportions of skilled and unskilled, local
and professional workers
8 the primary destination of the material and
its range of intended uses.
The permanent settlement sites so far iden-
tified in the Nile valley comprise such special-
ized and elaborate types as temple-towns, pro-
vincial capitals, workmen s villages and agri-
cultural communities. Survey and excavation
at these major sites (e.g. Kemp 1989: 261-317;
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118 IAN SHAW
Jeffreys
1985
are beginning to indicate the rich
variations between different sections and sub-
urbs of individual towns.
In
the same way, the
subtle differences between the comparatively
rudimentary and ephemeral accommodation
associated with quarrying and mining sites ex-
press the Egyptians’ ability to adapt their set-
tlement strategies to changing contexts and cir-
cumstances. Like the string of functionally and
topographically variable Middle Kingdom for-
tresses and garrisons in Nubia, they suggest a
high degree of flexibility and spontaneity in
Egyptian civilization.
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