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Risk Assessment and Monitoring of Ancient Egyptian Quarry Landscapes

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Risk Assessment and Monitoring of Ancient Egyptian Quarry Landscapes Risk Assessment and Monitoring of Ancient Egyptian Quarry Landscapes Edited by: Per Storemyr, Elizabeth Bloxam and Tom Heldal Compiled by: Per Storemyr Printed at the Geological Survey of Norway Authors: Per Storemyr1, Elizabeth Bloxam2, Tom Heldal1, Adel Kelany3, James A. Harrell4, Rawda Yousri5 and El Shaimaa Fathy5 1) Geological Survey of Norway (NGU), Norway 2) Institute of Archaeology, University College London (UCL), UK 3) Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), Egypt 4) University of Toledo, OH, USA 5) Egyptian Antiquities Information System (SCA-EAIS), Egypt Work undertaken within Work Package 5 in QuarryScapes: "Egypt Risk and Monitoring" Work Package leader: Dr. Per Storemyr, Geological Survey of Norway ([email protected]) Report date: 10.12.2007 ISBN: 978-82-7385-125-3 Grading: Open QuarryScapes Number of pages: 207 Map enclosures: - deliverable number: 6 Keywords: Ancient quarry Cultural landscape Egypt Cultural heritage management Risk assessment Monitoring Stone industry Urban development Land reclamation 1 The QuarryScapes project Conservation of Ancient Stone Quarry Landscapes in the Eastern Mediterranean QuarryScapes is the first project of its kind for addressing the importance of ancient quarry landscapes and raising the awareness of the urgent needs for protecting such sites. QuarryScapes will develop scientific and practical methodologies for documentation, characterisation and conservation of ancient quarry landscapes, raise the awareness of their significance and vulnerability and contribute to legal protection measures and sustainable management. Through case studies in Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, the project will address development of theoretical and practical methods pertaining to the major steps in the process of conservation: from recognition, investigation and assessment of significance, to under- standing the risks, developing sound conservation and monitoring concepts, and suggesting mechanisms for sustainable management. The project is subdivided in ten work packages. Coordinator: Geological Survey of Norway (NGU) Partners: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL), Belgium University College London (UCL), United Kingdom Middle East Technical University (METU), Turkey Yarmouk University (YU), Jordan North South Consultants Exchange (NSCE), Egypt Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) / Egyptian Antiquities Information System (EAIS) Università IUAV di Venezia, Italy Contract: EU FP6, INCO/MED 015416 Contact: QuarryScapes Project NGU Tom Heldal N-7491 Trondheim Phone: +4773904000 [email protected] www.quarryscapes.no Cover photo: The Naq el-Fugani Nubian sandstone quarry (steep cliffs) on the West Bank of the Nile close to Aswan. Construction of New Aswan City is taking place in the foreground. In the background the new Aswan Bridge can be seen. The Ptolemaic-Roman quarry, which was on the verge of destruction by the new city, has recently been designated for protection by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) in cooperation with the New Aswan City Authorities. Photo: Per Storemyr 2005 2 Acknowledgements This work is based on a wide range of investigations, but first of all on fieldwork in the QuarryScapes case study areas in Aswan, the Northern Faiyum and Chephren's Quarry. We gratefully acknowledge the help and assistance from the SCA in providing us with the opportunity to carry out this work, as full partners in the QuarryScapes project. Special thanks to Secretary General Zahi Hawass and the Permanent Committee, Mohamed el-Biely, Director of SCA Aswan, Mohi ed-Din Mustapha, Assistant Director of SCA Aswan, Ahmed Abdel Al, Director of SCA Faiyum, Mohammed Hamed, Director of SCA at Abu Simbel and Magdy el-Ghandour, Director of Foreign Missions, SCA Cairo for their generous assistance in all aspects of these surveys. We extend much appreciation to our field inspectors over the last years, in particular Hussein Mahsoup Megahed, Wafaa Mohamed and Mohamed Hamed Mohamed who helped to make the surveys a success. Moreover, thanks to the help in the field by Patrick Degryse (K.U. Leuven) and Ashraf el-Senussi (ceramicists, SCA), as well as by Adel Tohami and Mohamed Ahmed Negm from the newly formed SCA Department for Conservation of Ancient Quarries and Mines in Aswan, headed by fellow author and QuarryScapes team member Adel Kelany, who has been instrumental in all fieldwork and efforts related to protection of ancient quarries in practice. And without our drivers Ahmed and Mohammad in Aswan, parts of the fieldwork would have been troublesome. A substantial part of this report is based on James Harrell's long-lasting work on ancient Egyptian quarries, which has been undertaken under the auspices of the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority (EMRA), formerly the Egyptian Geological Survey and Mining Authority (EGSMA). We are very grateful for his significant contributions to this report and his offer to aid in the preparation of it. Similarly, QuarryScapes team members Rawda Yousry and El Shaimaa Fathy from the Egyptian Antiquities Information System (EAIS) have done a great job on unravelling the legal status of the ancient quarries for this report. Thanks also to Naguib Amin, Azza Shawarby and the EAIS team for their support. The participants of QuarryScapes field courses in Aswan 2005 and Faiyum 2006 have also made fine contributions in the field and through discussions. Thanks to SCA inspectors, EAIS team members and representatives from North South Consultants Exchange (NSCE): Ahmed Rabia Ahmed, Mohamed Hamed Mohamed Ahmed, Amin Ramadan Amar, Emily Cocke, Shaimaa Fouad, Sherif Ghazy, Mohamed Hassan Hagrass, Silvana John, Aleksi Kalliomäki, Hussein Mahsoup Megahed, Sayed Awad Mohammed, Said Mohammed Mustafa, Mohamed Ali El Naggar, Mohamed Ahmed Negm, Hagar Rakha and Ahmed Awad Allah Selim. The Swiss and German Institutes are also thanked for their advice and support in Aswan. Special thanks go to Cornelius von Pilgrim and Dietrich Raue. Moreover, the New Aswan City Authorities and several modern quarrying companies in Aswan are thanked for their cooperation. Many thanks also to Samir Ghabbour of the UNESCO MAB-committee in Egypt, Nina Prochazka (formerly NSCE), Hagar Rakha and Jon Björnson (NSCE) and Gebely Abdul Maksoud (Lake Qarun Protectorate management unit) for their aid with the work in the Northern Faiyum. Last, but not least, we are very grateful for the generous financial support from the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) of the European Union to the QuarryScapes project. Without this support it would not have been possible to place ancient Egyptian quarries on the conservation agenda. Although this report forms a coherent whole, upon preparation care has been taken so that each chapter can be read as a stand-alone contribution. Cross-references to other chapters are given when considered necessary. The contents of the contributions are the responsibility of the authors. Per Storemyr, Elizabeth Bloxam and Tom Heldal Zurich, London and Trondheim December 2007 3 4 Abstract Egypt's cultural heritage includes a large amount of ancient stone quarries ranging from the Palaeolithic to the Islamic period, with the most prodigious and numerous ones dating to Pharaonic and Graeco-Roman times (c. 3,000 BC – AD 395). From these, often extremely extensive quarry landscapes, covering up to dozens of square kilometres of land, stone was procured to an extent unrivalled in the ancient world. This unique heritage is at immense risk from damage and destruction by modern development projects, a situation that has given the impetus for the present work. Egypt is experiencing very rapid population growth and now desert areas bordering the Nile Valley have been put in use for relieving population pressure. Such areas are also used for increasing quarrying and mining, as well as agricultural development. These are regions where large proportions of ancient quarries are located. By the use of a variety of tools ranging from in-depth case studies and field work, field checks, archive and literature research, interpretation of satellite images, topographic maps and development plans, and contact with authorities and developers, the work has analysed the condition and legal status of the known ancient quarries in the country and the threats facing them. Through reflections on the character of this heritage as related to conservation, the work has also aimed at proposing methods for monitoring and measures to mitigate risks. The tentative analysis of 193 quarries of Pharaonic to Islamic date shows that 9% are entirely or largely destroyed, 20% are partially destroyed and 38% are largely intact, whereas 25% are still in good condition. The main reason for destruction is modern quarrying and mining, to which c. 40% have been subjected. About 11% have been or are influenced by urban and rural development, agricultural development accounting for 2%. However, the latter is a main risk for Prehistoric quarries (pre-3,000 BC). For 45% threat has not been specified, but the im- mediate risk of destruction is considered rather low. The main risk in the near future is clearly modern quarrying and mining, also in areas that have not previously been influenced by such activities. This is because the Egyptian quarrying and mining industry is developing fast. Also risks associated with the development of new cities and villages are increasing, especially in greater Cairo, Minya and Aswan. Natural hazards (rainstorms, flash flood) are a noteworthy factor in the Eastern Desert, whereas deep gallery quarries can be at risk from
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