Pharaonic Quarrying and Mining

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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



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 .



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



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).



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-



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).



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



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,



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.



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;



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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