This is the place where we bumped into the Wadi el-Muluk limestone quarry in the winter of 1999. Photo: Per Storemyr
Pharaoh Chephren’s pyramid at Giza, with remaining casing stones from the quarries at Tura at the top. Photo: Per Storemyr
A biface (hand axe) in the Wadi Beiza Palaeolithic quarries. Photo: Per Storemyr
Firesetting experiment at Aswan. Photo: Adel Kelany
A room with a view! A soapstone quarry at Wadi Abu Qureya in Egypt’s Eastern Desert. Photo: Per Storemyr
One of the fine Old Kingdom basalt quarries at Widan el-Faras that is now destroyed… Photo: Per Storemyr
The main quarry workings at Rod el-Gamra in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. Photo: Per Storemyr
A grinding stone quarry at the north scarp of the Kharga Oasis in the Egyptian Sahara. Photo: Per Storemyr
What a quarry! The central summit at Gebel Manzal el-Seyl in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. Nearly 5000 years old. Photo: Per Storemyr
This is how it looks like at Chephren’s Quarry. Photo: Per Storemyr
Egypt is world-renowned for its ancient quarries. Without them civilisation as we know it along the Nile would not have been possible. There are many spectacular quarries, popular way beyond the archaeological community. But there is also an enormous amount of quarries that rarely get the headlines. In the series Ten quarries of Ancient Egypt I have tried to highlight a few of those “unknowns”. They were the ones that particularly touched me during many seasons of walking the deserts bordering the Nile.
Thanks for reading, and for sharing the stories on Facebook between Christmas and New Year 2012/2013! Let’s hope that the quarries, most of which are thousands of years old, will remain there in 2013 and for millennia to come, and not be destroyed by modern development and bulldozers. So that we can enjoy them – and those after us!
Here’s the link to all the ten stories: Ten quarries of Ancient Egypt. Or you can click on the photos in the gallery above to get to the quarries…
About Per Storemyr
I work with the archaeology of old stone quarries, monuments and rock art. And try to figure out how they can be preserved. For us - and those after us. For the joy of old stone!
Per Storemyr Archaeology & Conservation 
Thank you for this great series, if only I had read it earlier. Yesterday we found the Kings Valley quarries, and although we found some great chisel marks, we completely missed the red ochre. You say 150 years and Hatshepsut, but can you be more specific?
Thanks and thank you again for a fascinating series.
Ted Loukes
Great that you liked the post. Unfortunately, I don’t have more information at the moment. Best, Per
Thanks for your quick response. No problem. I believe it was active in the time of Hatshepsut and Amenhotep III. I wonder what happened in between.
I wish I had read this earlier as yesterday we visited the Kings Valley quarries, and although I found some fine chisel marks, I completely missed the red ochre markings. You say 150 years and Hatshepsut, but can you be more specific. Thanks, and thank you for a great post.
Ted Loukes
Great that you enjoyed the series, Andie! And thanks for promoting via Twitter. Happy New Year!
Thanks for the Top 10, Per, I enjoyed them enormously. It was great to see someone covering aspects of AE that usually get forgotten. I particularly liked the pyramid post – a completely new way of looking at something very familiar! Great, also, to see so many terrific photos. Have a great 2013.
Thanks, Alain! Happy 2013 to you, too!
a very nice serie !
all the best and many thanks to you !
have a happy 2013 !
Alain Anselin