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Quarries and Mines in Ancient Egypt

Rock temples of Ramses II and Merenptah cuted directly in the rocks at the Silsileh quarring site, near Aswan
Rock temples of Ramses II
and Merenptah cuted directly
in the rocks at the Silsileh
quarring site, near Aswan
The quanying  of  stone  in the Nile Valley began at least as early as 40,000 years ago, when the Middle  Palaeolithic  inhabitants  of  Middle  Egypt  were  quarrying  and  working  cobbles  of  chert  along  the  limestone  ten-aces  on  either  side of the Nile. The earliest Palaeolithic chert quarries consisted of  pits  and  trenches  for  surface  extraction,  but  there  are  Upper  Palaeolithic quarries at Nazlet Khater 4, on the western bank of the  Nile,  midway  between  Asyut  and  Sohag,  which  include  vertical  shafts  and  subterranean  galleries  (providing  a  foretaste  of  the  quarrying methods of pharaonic times). The excavations at^Nazlet  Khater 4 yielded many large hammerstones, used for the roughest  stages of quarrying, as well as several of the picks used for finer  work,  which  were  carved  from  the  horns  of  the  gazelle  and  hartebeest.

Egyptian exploitation of the minerals in the cliffs and deserts on  either side of the Nile Valley, and in the Sinai Peninsula, can be  traced back to prehistoric times, with some of the earliest known  items  of  jewelry  made  from Eastern Desert carnelian  and  sard.  Copper slag is known from the vicinity of the Predynastic mines at  Bir Nasib in southern Sinai, and turquoise miners were likely exploiting the nearby region of Serabit el-Khadim in the Chalcolithic  period.  The  prehistoric  workings  were  relatively  small  in  scale  compared  with  the  massive  royal  expeditions  that  were  sent  to  Sinai  and  Nubia  during  the  first  two  dynasties.  Some  of  the  inscriptions and graffiti associated with the mining and processing  sites  provide  information  on  the  dates  of the expeditions,  lists  of  various  types  of  workmen,  and—in  rarer  instances—detailed  narrative accounts of specific expeditions.

Limestone quarries in the Nile Valley
Limestone quarries in the Nile Valley

By James A. Harrell 1  and Per
Storemyr in Ancient Egyptian
quarries – an illustrated
overview
A great  deal  of  archaeological  and  textual  information  has  survived  concerning  mining  expeditions  in  pursuit  of  building  stone,  copper,  gold,  turquoise,  malachite,  and  a  variety  of  other  gemstones. Copper mining and smelting sites included Wadi Dara,  Buhen, and Qubban, while numerous pharaonic gold-mining sites  in the Eastern Desert of both Egypt and Nubia have been identified  and surveyed during the 1980s and 1990s. Turquoise was mined at  Wadi  Mughara  and  Serabit  el-Khadim,  amethyst  at  Wadi  el- Hudi and Gebel el-Asr (the so-called Khephren diorite quarries),  galena at Gebel el-Zeit, and natron at the Wadi Natrun. The rough  limestone for the interiors of pyramid complexes and mastabas in  the Memphite necropolis was obtained from local quarries, while  the much finer material for the outer casing of pyramids was quar- ried at Tura and Ma'sara on the opposite side of the Nile. Most of  the sandstone for the temples at Thebes and other Upper Egyptian  towns  was  obtained  from  the  Gebel  es-Silsila  quarries,  midway  between Luxor and Aswan.

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