An Early Dynastic Quarry for Stone Vessels at Gebel Manzal El-Seyl, Eastern Desert

Abstract

The quarry that supplied two of the stones used for vessels during the Early Dynastic Period, green tuff and tuffaceous limestone, has been found on Gebel Manzal el-Seyl in Egypt's Eastern Desert. Scattered across this 3 km long ridge are about 200 excavations, and littering the ground around them are hundreds of roughed-out vessel blanks, several of which are inscribed with the sign n. The blanks were carried across the desert at least 200 km to the Nile Valley where the final carving and polishing was done.VESSELS carved from stone are common items of funerary equipment in tombs of the Late Predynastic Period through Old Kingdom.' In terms of numbers produced and stone varieties used, these vessels peaked during the First to Third Dynasties. Previously, the only known quarry for stone vessels of that date was one for alabaster gypsum at Umm el-Sawan in the Faiyum Depression (fig. 1).2 For all the many other stone varieties employed for vessels, the specific quarry workings had not been identified, although the general geographic sources can be inferred for some. For example, it is known that granite from Aswan was used for vessels but the actual work sites that supplied the stone have not been recognized. Given the general absence of evidence for quarrying, one might suppose that the stones for most vessels were not quarried at all, but rather, were collected as loose blocks or boulders that were then carved. This might well be true for some stone varieties but it was not the case for two of those widely used during the Early Dynastic Period: tuff and tuffaceous limestone.' An extensive quarry for these stones was discovered by the authors at Gebel Manzal el-Seyl in Egypt's Eastern Desert (fig. 1).4 This is only the second known quarry for stone vessels, and its presence in a remote part of the desert suggests that other vessel quarries exist and are still to be found.• The authors wish to thank the Egyptian Geological Survey and Mining Authority which sponsored the research, and provided the sample-export and desert permits. The authors are associated with the following institutions which they wish to thank for their cooperation: James A Harrell and V. Max Brown:

Travelling the Korosko Road: Archaeological Exploration in Sudan’s Eastern Desert

“…Thanks to this complex geological setting, this area is very rich in stone deposits, particularly exploited in ancient times for different purposes, such as in architecture, statuary, tool production and jewellery. Marbles, sandstone, granite and granodiorite were the most common and their deposits were intensively exploited (Harrell and Storemyr 2009), as also were gneiss (Neumayr et al 1997;Fowler et al 2007;Ali et al 2011), gabbro (Siddal 2013), steatite (Harrell et al 2000;Harrell and Brown 2008) and gemstones, among them amethyst (Shaw and Jameson 1993). Mining activities were particularly intense also for the extraction of metals, like copper and iron, found for example in the mines of the Wadi Abu Gerida area (Abd El-Rahman et al 2013).…”