New Aswan City: rescue survey in progress

Construction of New Aswan City on the West Bank presents Adel Kelany (SCA Aswan/QuarryScapes) and his colleagues Adel Tohami and Mouhamed Negm from the newly formed SCA Department for Conservation of Ancient Quarries and Mines [see link to News September 2006, New Department in Egypt] with a race against time to document and demarcate for protection the many important archaeological sites that are under threat from this mega construction project. Important ancient quarries, Prehistoric settlements, rock art sites and pharaonic inscriptions are just some elements of the archaeological record that will potentially be destroyed. Adel Kelany has been in the forefront of maintaining excellent communications with the building contractors of New Aswan City, who are now aware of the need to protect as many of these vulnerable sites as possible. With time being of essence, QuarryScapes, in co-operation with Maria Gatto (British Museum/University of Rome ‘La Sapienza' Archaeological Project) and the Swiss and German Institutes, are now collaborating with SCA Aswan to aid in some aspects of this documentation. It is hoped that this will be completed later this year.

Text by Elizabeth Bloxam

Lunch break during survey at New Aswan City (construction work in the background) clockwise from bottom left: Tom Heldal, Adel Tohami, Per Storemyr, Mouhamed Negm and Adel Kelany, March 2007. Photo: Elizabeth Bloxam