Description

This volume presents the results of research based on fieldwork carried out in a representative cluster of five subterranean limestone quarries datable to the reign of Nectanebo I (30th Dynasty), located centrally in Wadi Nakhla within the larger quarry district of Dayr al-Barsha (Middle Egypt) as part of the Dayr al-Barsha Project (KULeuven, Belgium). The research encompasses detailed mapping of the subterranean quarry system, analysis of the Late Period quarrying techniques (incl. estimation of yield/recovery coefficient and loss/waste coefficient, chisel mark typology, reconstruction of the toolset) and exploitation strategy, mapping and analysis of the ochre-coloured line patterns on the ceilings as well as the documentation and study of the corpus of hundreds of pictorial and Demotic graffiti (names, dates, lists, accounts, dedications) and quarry marks. The study also addresses stone transportation, the destination of the stone, the working conditions and the workforce. The archaeological evidence from Wadi Nakhla is confronted with that from other Egyptian soft and hard stone quarries as well as evidence from other ancient quarry sites.