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I work with the geoarchaeology of old stone: quarries, monuments, rock art. And I try to figure out about their weathering and conservation. My domestic services are managed through FABRICA, a registered Norwegian company established with good partners. On this website I publish articles on heritage. For the joy of old stone! Per Storemyr
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Recent posts
- Partner in the Borgund Kaupang Project – on the rise and fall of a medieval town
- Selja kloster: Hvor kom middelalderens kalkmørtel fra?
- Firmaet mitt er nå del av FABRICA.no / My company is now part of FABRICA.no
- Kinn kirke: et utstillingsvindu for devonsk sandstein
- Happy New Year to clients, partners and followers! With photos from work and excursions in 2018
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Tag Archives: Ancient Egypt
Gneiss for the Pharaoh: Geology of the Third Millennium BCE Chephren’s Quarries in Southern Egypt
Chephren’s Quarry. A name imbued with splendour. It was not the first quarry from which stone vessels and sculpture were provided in Ancient Egypt, but it was definitely the most spectaular one. Work started here, far south in the Western Desert of Egypt, already by the Predynastic period or earlier. By the Old Kingdom, 4500 years ago, it was a huge work site, comprising 700 quarry pits in the flat desert, covering an area of some 50 square kilometres. With Tom Heldal as the lead author, Ian Shaw, Elizabeth Bloxam and I have now written an account of how geology shaped Chephren’s Quarry. It is a story spanning millions of years, explaining the beauty of this hard, bluish stone – and how it could be exploited. Continue reading
Posted in Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, New publications, Old quarries
Tagged Ancient Egypt, Chephren's quarry, quarry
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Palaeolithic rock art at risk: New discoveries in Wadi Abu Subeira, Upper Egypt
The number of discovered Late Palaeolithic rock art sites in Wadi Abu Subeira (Upper Egypt) is ever increasing, now with finds also outside of the wadi, at el-Aqba el-Saghira. Archaeologist Adel Kelany of the Ministry of Antiquites (MAS) in Aswan has just published an overview paper, now listing ten sites, all with numerous panels. The largest site has a much as a hundred ones. As previously noted on this blog, this world-class rock art is under heavy pressure from modern mining, though efforts to protect the sites have shown some effect recently. Continue reading
Posted in Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, Heritage destruction, Rock art
Tagged Ancient Egypt, Aswan, conservation, el-Aqba el-Saghira, el-Hosh, Qurta, rock art, Wadi Abu Subeira
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Steinhoggerne – hvem var de? En reise i tid og rom
Mange spør meg om hvem steinhoggerne var i gamle dager. Var de frie folk, var de treller, var de svært proffe? Eller hadde de et yrke som egentlig alle kunne utøve? Ikke lett å svare på! For bryting, hogging og … Continue reading
The ancient stone quarries in Egypt as a new, serial World Heritage Site?
Stone quarries were extremely important in ancient cultures, yet they are hardly represented on the World Heritage List. This might be due to misconceptions of the nature of such sites, as producers of raw materials “only”. But in reality many … Continue reading
A Palaeolithic, life-size Nubian ibex carved on rock: Adel Kelany with new discoveries in Wadi Abu Subeira, Upper Egypt
Archaeologist Adel Kelany of MSA Aswan recently published a key paper on the Late Palaeolithic rock art in Wadi Abu Subeira, Upper Egypt. The paper reports findings from the site CAS-13, which features a true rock art masterpiece: a life-size, almost two metres long Nubian ibex, accompanied by large-scale images of aurochs. The findings tie in with previously reported Late Palaeolithic rock art in Subeira, a wadi north of Aswan. It is also similar to the now famous Late Palaeolithic rock art analysed by Dirk Huyge and team at Qurta near Gebel el-Silsila and at el-Hosh further downstream of the Nile river. This is rock art dating 15-20.000 years back in time and similar to the grand European Late Palaeolithic rock art traditions. Read on for link to Adel’s paper and more information. Continue reading
Posted in Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, Heritage destruction, Rock art
Tagged Ancient Egypt, Aswan, conservation, Qurta, rock art, Wadi Abu Subeira
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The first reported prehistoric grinding stone quarry in the Egyptian Sahara (new paper)
Some time ago I wrote about the discovery of a prehistoric grinding stone quarry in the Egyptian Sahara. Now the discovery is duly published! It was presented at the conference “Seen through a Millstone” in Bergen, Norway, in 2011. Recently, … Continue reading
Posted in Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, New publications, Old quarries
Tagged Ancient Egypt, ancient egyptian quarries, grinding stone, Kharga
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New paper: Ancient desert and quarry roads at Aswan
The long-awaited book on Desert Road Archaeology in Ancient Egypt and Beyond finally seems to be here! Edited by Frank Förster and Heiko Riemer of Cologne University, and with 25 individual contributions, it is the yet most complete survey of ancient desert roads in Egypt. My own contribution to the book is written with Elizabeth Bloxam, Tom Heldal and Adel Kelany; a chapter on the amazing ancient roads at the west bank of the Nile at Aswan, in the First Cataract region. We review the area’s complex network of long-distance Pharaonic and Roman roads, more recent camel trails, and not least the best-preserved quarry roads in Egypt; the 20 km paved and cleared network from the “quartzite” quarries at Gebel Gulab and Gebel Tingar. Read extended abstract, see maps and view slide show! Continue reading
Posted in Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, New publications, Old quarries
Tagged Ancient Egypt, ancient egyptian quarries, Aswan, desert roads, Gharb Aswan, Nubia, Roman roads
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