Wadi Hammamat and the Eastern Desert Quarries

Four Thousand Years Of Inscriptions Cut Into One Desert Valley: Pharaonic Quarry Records, Nubian And Greek Graffiti, Hieroglyphic Expedition Reports And What Is Widely Called The Oldest Surviving Geological Map, All Along The Route That Carried Bekhen Stone To The Nile And The Punt Trade To The Sea · El Quseir, Red Sea

One desert valley between the Nile at Qift and the Red Sea at El Quseir carries four thousand years of writing on its walls. Wadi Hammamat was the source of bekhen-stone, a hard dark greywacke the Egyptians prized for statues and sarcophagi, and every expedition sent to quarry it left a record: hieroglyphic inscriptions naming the king and counting the men, Middle Kingdom reports of how many died, Greek and Nubian graffiti, Coptic crosses, and the Turin Papyrus map of this very wadi, which is usually called the oldest surviving geological map in the world. The cut faces are still there with abandoned blocks lying where they were dropped. It is also the ancient road - the same route carried the Punt trade to the sea and pilgrims to Mecca much later. There is no gate, no ticket office and nobody there; getting to it needs a driver, a 4x4 and a day you are prepared to spend entirely on a desert road.

In the Eastern Desert on the old road between Qift on the Nile and El Quseir on the Red Sea, about 90 km inland from the coast, El Quseir, Red Sea, Egypt

No hours, no gate, no ticket office and no staff - this is an open desert valley on the Qift to El Quseir road, roughly 90 km inland from the coast and 90 from the Nile. Daylight only, obviously, and the practical arrangement is a car and driver from El Quseir, Luxor or Qena with the whole day given to it. TREAT A 4x4 AND A LOCAL DRIVER AS REQUIRED RATHER THAN OPTIONAL: the inscriptions are spread along the wadi off the metalled road, there are no signs, and nobody will come looking. WHETHER A PERMIT OR AN ESCORT IS NEEDED HAS CHANGED more than once, so ask in El Quseir or Qena before setting out and accept what you are told. Carry all water and fuel. The main road is sealed and used by lorries; everything off it is not.

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