Download bekhen-stone - Lapidei Culturali

Massimo Coli & Michele Baldi
Gold-mining and ornamental stones quarrying in
the Wadi Hammamat, ancient Egypt: geological
framework and techniques
TO THE FIELD SURVEY ALSO PARTICIPATED:
- Prof. Gloria Rosati, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità, Firenze University, Italy
- Prof. Ali Abdel Motelib Ali, Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
- Dr. Abdou Abd Ellah Omran Daoud Elderby, Conservation Department, Faculty of Archaeology, South Valley University, Qena, Egypt
- Dr. Chim. Gianna Giachi, Chimico Direttore, Laboratorio di Restauro, Soprintendenza Archeologica per la Toscana, Italy
PREMISES
From antiquity to modern times, the use of stone resources has been a main
trait of human activity in the construction both of artifacts for everyday use
and for monuments
The remains of historical quarrying and mining sites are “landscape archives”
which preserve traces and tangible evidence of man’s resource exploitation
activity allowing us to study the exploitation process itself and the related
cycles of production, transportation and utilization
In many cases, the quarry represents the embryo of a constructed monument
or artifact and therefore is historically and culturally valuable serving as the
“negative” of actual monuments
The study of ancient quarrying and mining activities encourages an
interdisciplinary symbiosis by bringing together experts trained in different
fields who can contribute their knowledge and closely collaborate with one
another
The study of the historical use of stone resources in ancient times highlights
the diffusion of practical and geological knowledge and the evolution of
technologies used as a result of social and cultural needs of populations and
civilizations
The renewed interest in ancient quarrying and mining exploitation has led, in
recent years, to a re-evaluation of the ancient traditional quarries and mines
through various initiatives such as the creation of eco-museums and other
didactic and tourist activities at various levels
AIM OF THE STUDY
To analyze the
remains of the
ancient mining and
quarrying activity
in the Wadi
Hammamat (valley
of the many baths),
along the QiftQuseir route, in
order to define:
 the geological
framework and its
role in controlling
quarry and mine
activity
 the exploitation
techniques
 the work
organization
 the general context
HISTORY
Qift (Koptos) is a
harbor on the Nile, it
dates back to at least
the first dynasty
Quseir, on the red sea,
was the harbor where
goods from India and
China (shells, horn,
ivory, incense, myrrh,
feathers and skin) were
shipped to
Trading expeditions
followed this route
linking the Red Sea to
the Nile valley and vice
versa
QUSEIR
QIFT
MAIN QUARRYING AND MINING AREA
GEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK
In the Qift-Quseir
area basement
igneous and
metamorphic rocks
outcrop in a broad
structural-high
It is bounded, both
on the east and west
sides, by Cretaceous
to Miocene
continental to
shallow-water
formations
Holocene
continental deposits
are present in the
Nile valley and on
the Red Sea coast
The basement is constituted by Neoproterozoic (1000-542Ma) Arabian-Nubian Shield and
consists of:
- core-complexes of dismembered ophiolites, volcano-sedimentary successions of the
and calcalkaline I-type intrusive complexes
- post-orogenic deposits (Hammamat Group and Dokhan Volcanics) and younger
granitoid plutonic complex intruded until 580Ma
M = Meatiq Dome and Atallah
intrusion
S = Sibai Dome and Um Ba’anib
intrusion
Wadi Hammamat
View of the Um Ba’anib
granitoid plutonic complex
looking south from the Wadi
Hammamat
1978 Map
Modern geological maps are
those by:
- El-Ramly & Akaad, 1960, for
the Egyptian Geological
Survey at the scale 1:40,000
- Akaad & Noweir, 1978, at the
scale 1:50,000
1960 Map
A detailed geostructural map was published by Fowler & Osman, 2001
THE HAMMAMAT GROUP
THE HAMMAMAT GROUP:
Age: 616  590Ma
Thickness  4,000m
- Deposited in a major fluvial system of continental proportions developed in a faultbounded basins linked toa N-S to NW-SE extension
- Intruded, compacted and locally slightly metamorphosed by younger granite bodies,
as the Um Had granitic pluton, outcropping close to the north
- Affected by two compression tectonic phases NNW-SSE oriented, that resulted into
NW-verging folds and SE-dipping thrusts, later coaxially compressed, refolded and
thrust in the same direction
In the Wadi Hammamat area there are two major periclinal NNW-SSE trending
asymmetrical folds later cut by NE-SW and N-S normal faults
LITHOSTRATIGRAPHY
Hammamat Group: Shihimiya Fmt.  Um Hassa Greywacke
Um Had Conglomerate
Rasafa Silstone
Igla Fmt.
- Lamination and bedding structures are well-developed in siltstones and greywackes
- Siltstones and greywackes are much more abundant than conglomerates
- Cross-bedded layers of greywacke can reach up to 40m in thickness
- Conglomerates are massive and poorly sorted, composed of oval, rounded and subangular rock fragments from a few to 15cm in size, cemented by a finer greenishgrey to brownish matrix
- Pebbles are of various rock types, including volcanic rocks, granitoids, and
reworked fine-grained sedimentary rocks
- In the Wadi Hammamat area clasts are constituted of: 30% mafic rocks, 25%
granodiorite, 25% intermediate volcanics, 20% felsic volcanics
THE TURIN MINING PAPYRUS
The Wadi Hammamat area was first mapped for mining purposes by Amennakhte,
about 1150 B.C., during one of the quarrying expeditions sent to the Wadi Hammamat
by Pharaoh Ramses IV (1156-1150 B.C.), New Kingdom’s 20th Dynasty
This map is displayed in the Egyptian Museum in Turin (Italy), therefore it is known as
“the Turin Mining Papyrus”
The top of the map
is toward the south
as the source of the
Nile River
THE TURIN MINING PAPYRUS
The Turin Mining Papyrus was discovered at Deir el-Medina by Bernardino Drovetti
(Napoleon‘s Proconsul) sometime before 1824 AD
The map shows a 15km stretch of Wadi Hammamat and has depictions of this wadi's
confluence with wadi Atallah and wadi el-Sid, the surrounding hills, the bekhen-stone
quarries, the gold mines and the settlements at Bir Umm Fawakhir
The Papyrus also includes numerous annotations identifying the features shown on the
map: the destinations of the wadi routes, the distance among quarries and mines, the
location of the gold deposits in the hills, the sizes of the quarried bekhen-stone blocks
 The Turin Mining Papyrus is not only a topographic map but also a geological map
(the earliest known): it accurately shows the local distribution of different rock types
(with black and pink hills) and the lithologically diverse wadi gravels (with brown,
green and white dots), and contains information on quarries and mines
 The draughtsman clearly and carefully distributed distinctive features in accordance
with the reality of a particular area, adding clarity by the use of legends and
contrasting colors
 The Turin Mining Papyrus map may also be regarded as the earliest known
geographic information system
IN 1992 HARREL PROPOSED A DIFFERENT ASSEMBLAGE OF
THE PAPYRUS WHICH REINFORCED THE IDEA THAT THE
MAP REFERS TO THE WADI HAMMAMAT AREA
THE NEW PAPYRUS INTERPRETATION
1 - the road that leads to the sea
2 - another road that leads to the sea
3 - the road of Tent-p-mer [the translation of the last word is uncertain – it may be the name of an unknown locality or it may mean ‘treasurer’ or ‘harbor’]
4 - mountains of gold
5 - mountains of gold
6 - the houses of the gold-working settlement
7 - cistern [or ‘water reservoir’; the text is written on top of the water sign]
8 - stela of Menma’atre, life, health and prosperity! [king Sety I, 1290-1279 BC, of the New Kingdom’s 19th Dynasty]2
9 - the road of Ta-menti [the last word is apparently the name of an unknown locality]
10 - the shrine of Amun of the pure mountain
11 - the mountains in which gold is worked, they are colored pink
12 - mountains of gold and silver [or perhaps ‘mountains of electrum’, where electrum is a natural mixture of gold and silver]
13 - … the hill of Amun
14 - the hill where Amun rests
15 - [not translatable; appears to be part of a name for some locality]
16 - [too fragmentary to translate, but it appears to be comments on travel from one unnamed locality to another; a travel time of ‘one day’ and ‘gold’ are mentioned]
16’- mountains of gold [appears to be a continuation of 16 but is a separate text]
17 - distance from the gold-working settlement to the mountain of bekheny,…khet [this text is repeated three times, apparently for emphasis; the distance in units of khet is missing]3,4
18 - …the bekheny-stone that is found in the mountain of bekheny,
19 - [not translatable]
20 - the place in which they work in the great business of bekhen-stone which was established as a quarry
21 - the measurement of this…
22 - [not translatable]
23 - …of stone that is pulled by men from the east…3 cubits wide [about 1.6 m]4
24 - …bekheny…
25 - breadth of 2 cubits, 2 palms [about 1.2 m]; thickness of 2 cubits, 3 palms…fingers [about 1.3 m]
26 - breadth of 2 cubits [about 1.0 m]; thickness of 2 cubits
27 - …palms…fingers
28 - …palms; thickness of 2 cubits…palms
Harrel’s reconstruction and interpretation well fit with the topography, the
geology, and the quarry and mine remains in the area of the Wadi Hammamat
There are still dissenting opinions; according to some,
represent the Wadi Hammamat area in Egypt but:
the map does not
- The area of Berenice Pancrisia in (Del Bufalo, 2002)
- A site in South Australia (??????)
http://www.historykb.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/archaeology/7438/There-is-no-evidence-that-the-Turin-Papyrus-gold-mine-was-in
ON THE BASIS OF HARREL’S RECONSTRUCTION, WE
GEOREFERENCED THE “PAPYRUS” ON GOOGLE-EARTH IMAGES
THAT RESULTED VERY FRUITFUL FOR A FOCUSSED FIELD WORK BASED ON WGS84 GPS DATA
QUARRIES AND MINES
Ancient quarries and mines, located in the area of the Wadi Hammamat,
supplied valuable stones for the Pharaohs, Romans and Byzantines
WADI
ATALLAH
THE GOLD MINES
The Wadi Hammamat was one of the main gold-mine sites of ancient Egypt,
here mines were active from the late Predynastict period through the Roman
period until the Byzantine period, the main Roman and Byzantine mining
settlement was in Bir Umm Fawakhir
GOLD IN EGYPT
In the Old and Middle Kingdom gold was mainly mined
in the Wadi Hammamat area (the Gold of Koptos), but
during the Middle Kingdom the ancient exploitation
techniques did not allow for further extraction of gold
from the Wadi Hammamt ores
Mining activities then moved to southern Egypt and
Nubia (the Gold of Kush and the Gold of Wawat)
The loss of control on the southernmost region of
Egypt and Nubia during the New Kingdom and the
introduction of new techniques both forced and
allowed the reopening of the gold mines of the Wadi
Hammamat in the Late New Kingdom
It has been estimated that in the Pharaohic Era an
average of 400kg/y of gold was mined (more than 1kt in
total), whereas since the birth of Christ less than 100t
of gold has been mined in total, of which only 7t in the
XX Century
GOLD SUPPLY
Gold mines were under the direct control of the
Pharaoh: gold shipments from remote mining
areas required a complex and effective
organization in terms of workers, slaves, soldiers
and administrative staff, as in a military campaign
During the Roman-Byzantine Age mines were
under the direct control of the Emperor: they
established permanent settlements with forts and
signal towers which safe-guarded mines, working
places and routes
Gold in Egypt occurs both in
alluvial placers and in primary
ore bodies in quartz veins as in
the Wadi Hammamat area
MINING GOLD
Mining was carried out mainly by slaves who
were either prisoners of war or convicts
(damnata ad metalla), but also paupers, often
with their entire families
Early techniques consisted in making a fire
against the rock in order to heat it up, then the
rock was doused with cold water
The sudden change in temperature crumbled the
rock revealing the presence of gold, if there was
any
This technique was used in open-cast trenches
following the quartz veins at the surface
Newer techniques, with copper, bronze and later
iron tools, allowed the miners to dig shafts
horizontally or diagonally into the
mountainsides following down quartz veins
Shafts had stone walls reinforcing the entrances
or platforms at the edge, presumably to aid in
raising and lowering men, boys, baskets, tools,
and ore
THE MINING WORK
The organization of mining operations during the Ptolemaic period, II Century
B.C., was described with full particulars by a Greek author, Agatharchides of
Cnidus, as recorded one century later by the historian Diodorus Siculus
Bibliotheca Historica, III, 12-14; for the text see point 12, 13, 14 at:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3A*.html
That appears to be not too much different as
the modern clandestine mines
THE QUARRIES
In the Wadi Hammamat there are the quarries which produced MANY HIEROGLYPHICS
AND GREEK
some famous historical ornamental stones:
INSCRIPTIONS, SOME
 BEKHEN-STONE (LAPIS BASANITES)
OF WHICH DATE BACK
 BRECCIA VERDE ANTICA (LAPIS HECATONTALITHOS)
TO 4,000 B.C., COVER
THE ANCIENT
 SERPENTINA MOSCHINATA (LAPIS BATRACHITES)
QUARRY-FACES
 GRANITE OF WADI UMM FAWAKHIR
The quarries seem to have been extensively exploited from the second to the sixth Dynasty and
during the Middle and New Kingdoms
Pharaoh Amenhotep’s expeditions in the area numbered 1,000 workers, 100 quarrymen, 1,200
soldiers, 200 donkeys and 50 oxen, but the largest expedition was organised by Ameny, around 1950
B.C. (Early XII Dynasty): it numbered about 18,500 people with 17,000 conscript workers plus soldiers,
fishermen, shoemakers, sutlers and administrative staff
Pharaoh Ramses IV (1,160 BC) visited the quarries in person
The quarries were still exploited during Roman- Byzantine times, but with the decline of the Empire
the demand for Bekhen-stone diminished: many blocks now lie abandoned in the wadi
BEKHEN-STONE
In archaeology the Bekhen-Stone was known as Basanite
Bekhen-stone is a beautiful grey/green ornamental
stone used widely in the production of artistic
artifacts
It was already quarried in the late Predynastic period
and a large number of artifacts in bekhen-stone have
been found in pyramids, tombs and temples
Many ancient Pharaohs had their sarcophagus made
of bekhen-stone (e.g.: Unas, Teti, Pepy I, Merenre Old Kingdom)
Analysts of the past, who could use only very few samples from
artefacts and who did not know anything about its origin,
classified it as a special “type of basalt” because of its mineropetrographic composition
Subsequently, when a similar type of basalt (typical from hot-spot
source) was found, it was called Basanite
But Basanite/Bekhen-Stone is a meta-sedimentary rock deriving
from regional contact metamorphism due to a plutonic intrusion
which acted onto continental clastic deposits deriving from the
dismantling of mainly basic rocks and also granite and carbonate
ones, therefore now it again called Bekhen-stone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basanite
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basanite
RAMESES II
The statue of Darius in Persepolis was made of
bekhen-stone
The Romans largely used the bekhen-stone both for
mediatic purpose and for the production of bowls,
statues and sarcophaguses, until the III Century A.D.
With the decline of the Empire the demand for
bekhen-stone diminished: many blocks still lie
abandoned along the wadi
AGRIPPINA MINORE
BRECCIA VERDE ANTICA
The “Breccia Verde Antica” was used by
the Egyptians to make many beautiful
bowls, statues and steles and also the
sarcophaguses of Ramses II, Ramses IV,
Nectanebo I and Nectanebo II
The Romans used “Breccia Verde
Antica” to make bowls and other objects
The most outstanding examples are a
column in the church of San Vitale in
Ravenna (Italy), made by order of
Emperor Justinian (VI Century A.D.),
three other columns are in Rome
SERPENTINA MOSCHINATA
The Serpentina Moschinata was
commonly used from the Predynastic
period to the New Kingdom and it was
possibly partially used also by the
Ptolemaics
The Romans used this ornamental stone
for tiles (Baia, Pompei, Ercolano, Roma,
Leptis Magna, Cirene, Cos) and for small
statues
GRANITO WADI UMM FAWAKHIR
This granite was only used by the
Romans in the I and II centuries for
columns and pillars and for tiles
It can be found in Rome, Verona, Venice
(Saint Mark’s church), Pompei, Ercolano,
Leptis Magna, Apollonia, Tiro
In the settlements along the Wadi
Hammamat buildings were made with
cobblestone and small boulders from
“collection and use” of the local granite
debris and regolites which lie in great
quantity on the ground
In these settlements Romans and
Byzantines used this granite only for
special structural purposes like bars,
tiles, lintels, jambs
QUARRYING TECHNIQUES
BEKHEN-STONE
Since slopes are generally covered by
debris, the first quarries were opened in
the lower outcrops at the base of the
slopes
When these quarries were no more longer
exploitable both because their faces were
too high and the overhanging debris,
quarrying activity was moved to upperslope outcrops, reachable by the
construction of row sledge-ways
The Bekhen-stone corresponds to the Rasafa
Siltstone Member of the Hammamat Group and
consists of dark greenish-grey to mainly
greyish-green, medium- to very fine- grained,
occasionally pebbly, chloritic meta-greywacke,
mainly constituted by fine to very fine sand
grains (0.06-0.2mm) and dark-grey-green,
basalt-looking, meta-siltstone
QUARRYING TECHNIQUES
BEKHEN-STONE
The rock-mass presents three joint sets: two
vertical, at about 90°of each other, and one
horizontal, joints are up to a few meters spaced
so they delimit blocks up to a few cubic meters
Quarries were opened in the main natural
outcrop on the cliffs of the wadi by using the
three sets of joints to dismantled the rock-mass
into blocks, which can be broken by letting them
fall to the wadi bottom
In order to dismantle the rock-mass and dress
the blocks, quarriers used handspikes, stones
and later copper, bronze and iron tools and
chisels, wood hammers …
The stone-blocks were then dressed in situ to the
right size, during this job the main schistosity
(continuous and fine, dipping of about 45o)can
cause the blocks to break
The final handwork and polishing was carried out
at the final destination in order to avoid any
damage to the faces during transportation
QUARRYING TECHNIQUES
BRECCIA VERDE ANTICA
Quarriers used the natural
discontinuities as preferential surfaces
to force the block to fall down, therefore
the quarries were opened on the
northern side of the wadi where the two
main pudding layers met the wadi with a
down-slop dip, this setting fostered a
“controlled” slip-down of the extracted
stone-blocks
The Breccia Verde Antica was quarried
from the Umm Had Conglomerate
Member of the Hammamat Group: a
dark, purplish and greenish-grey to
mainly grayish-green, chloritic metasiltstone, with a few layers of clastsupported meta-pudding with greenish
chloritic matrix (locally reddish), siltgrained, and well-rounded subspherical pebbly to cobbly clasts of
many different lithologies and colors
QUARRY 1
QUARRY 2
QUARRYING TECHNIQUES
BRECCIA VERDE ANTICA
Quarriers used the natural discontinuities
(represented by the lithological layering and
two joint sets which lie at about 90o) to let the
blocks fall down
The fallen blocks measured a few cubic
meters and therefore they were later cut into
smaller blocks dressed to the right size
In order to do this, a line of wedge-shaped
holes was chiselled into the rock, then iron
wedges were inserted into them and
hammered until the block split along the line
Wedging was used for rough splitting, but for
a more controlled cut quarriers used the
“pointillé” pits method: a straight line of small,
shallow pits was chiselled across the rock
surface, then quarriers hammered special
short chisels along the pits until the rock split
QUARRYING TECHNIQUES
SERPENTINA MOSCHINATA
During our field survey we had not enough time to look for this quarry; a second mission was
not possible due to paucity of funding and the general political situation
BROWN & HARRELL (1995) report a partially destruction of the quarry due to recent quarrying
activity, but also the presence of scarce remains of Romans buildings
QUARRYING TECHNIQUES
GRANITE
Quarriers used natural single sized boulder and cobbles or cut blocks cut away from
the massive granite body
To do this they cut a lines of close spaced large wedge holes where then iron wedges
were hammered to split out the rock into blocks
Boulders and blocks were later dressed to the required dimensions
THE SETTLEMENTS
Close to each quarry and mine there was a settlement where the materials were carved,
dressed or worked  The main one was Bir Umm Fawakhir
Settlement buildings were made of dry-walls by using boulders of
the local granite, there are also remains of some gold working
tools (mortars and mills), in granite too!
REST AND SAFEGUARD STRUCTURES
In order to safeguard the gold mines, the trade routes and the quarries, the Romans and
Byzantine built forts (praesidia) and watch towers all along the Koptos-Quseir route
Each praesidium had a well (hydreuma), hosted a garrison of about 50-70 Egyptian
auxiliaries and offered rest and water to travelers, who had to pay a tax to pass through
The garrison also supplied sentinels for the watch towers and escorts to travelers
A chain of watch towers allowed a strict control of the whole route; since towers are
visible from one to another, messages could be quickly transmitted by mirrors and flags
Forts and towers were built with local stones
collected in the area surrounding each site,
therefore, according to the local geology they
were built in granite, schist, metabasite …
Some of the hydreuma are still active
and with water at the bottom about 2025m below the wadi ground
Persons and goods had to pay taxes
to pass through this route
It is very interesting to note the rating
values at that time (90 A.D.):
- helmsmen: 10 drachmas (400 €)
- seamen: 5 drachmas (200 €)
- shipyard hands: 5 drachmas (200 €)
- skilled artisans: 8 drachmas (320 €)
- wife of a soldier: 20 drachmas (800 €)
- mounted head of household: 1 dr. (40 €)
- all his women: 4 drachmas each (160 €)
- a prostitute: 108 drachmas (4,320 €)
- a camel: 1 obol (6.66 €)
- a donkey: 2 obols (13.32 €)
- a wagon: 4 drachmas (160 €)
- a ship's mast: 20 drachmas (800 €)
FINAL REMARKS
The results of this study outline a deep relationship for quarrying and mining both with
the geological setting and the excavation techniques
Antique quarry and mine locations and their exploitation techniques testify a deep
knowledge of the territory (i.e. local geology and its setting) on the part of the Egyptians
and the Romans/Byzantines
A follow-up of this study could be the definition of criteria and methods for the
conservation of the many aspects of cultural heritage present in the Wadi Hammamat
area: mines, quarries, settlements, hieroglyphics and the whole know-how of that
historical extraction activity
Thanks for your attention