Recent visits to the Aswan West Bank in Egypt have added new discoveries to this quarry landscape, in addition to those already documented in Deliverable No 4 (see Bloxam et al. 2007 in the publications section of this website). Previously undocumented Lower Middle Palaeolithic tool workshops have been found in the environs of Gebel es-Sawan North. This evidence of extremely early working of silicified sandstone is of great importance in the story of human exploitation of silicifed sandstone along the West Bank. The new findings clearly strengthen the significance of such early quarries in the quarry landscape.
Text by Elizabeth Bloxam
Previously undocumented Lower Middle Palaeolithic tool workshop (centre of figure) located in front of an outcrop of Predynastic rock art at Gebel es-Sawan North, West Bank silicified sandstone quarries, Aswan, Nov ’07. View to the east and the Nile (photo: E. Bloxam).
Tool floor with flakes and cores of silicified sandstone (photo: T. Heldal).
Highly weathered flake of silicified sandstone (photo: T. Heldal).
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NEWS
December 2009 New book: a special volume with papers from the QuarryScapes project soon printed.
November 2008 Final workshop: the third QuarryScapes workshop was held in Aswan 12. - 15. October
March 2007 QuarryScapes fieldwork in Egypt: The final season of survey at the Aswan silicified sandstone quarries revealed previously undocumented ancient paved roads
December 2006 Second Aswan field season The second QuarryScapes fieldwork season in Aswan took place through November 2006.
November 2006 First symposium
The first QuarryScapes symposium took place at Divan Talya hotel in Antalya (Turkey) 15-17 October 2006.