Wadi Maghara is situated in South Sinai and comprises the mines of turquoise located in the row of great cliffs in the western side of Wadi Qenaieh. Wadi is oriented north-south and on the south it enters the larger valley, Wadi Qena. The area of mines extends less that 400m from the entrance to the wadi. Between Wadi Qenaieh and Wadi Qena the plateau towers up to 60m over the valley. At the base of the rock, natural terraces are formed.
Hatshepsut's interest in South Sinai is well attested even before she became a king, but the only inscription of the queen preserved in the mines of turquoise in Wadi Maghara is the stela of the 16th year of Thutmose III incised on the rock just outside the gallery used at that time. This date coincidences with the date of the inscription preserved on the east face of the base of the obelisk of Hatshepsut erected by the queen in Karnak. It is said there that the queen controlled, most probably, the expedition to the land of Ršwt.[1] It is not clear if the region of South Sinai was mentioned by the queen, but it is possible.[2]
The stela of the 16th year of Thutmose III was carved in Wadi Maghara to commemorate the expedition (mšȝ) that was led by the official of the queen called Kheru-ef. He was sent by the king "to traverse valleys (...) in bringing things for his majesty."[3] It is not obvious who sent Kheru-ef to Wadi Maghara, since even if male king (ḥm.f) is mentioned on the stela, Hatshepsut is as well treated there as a male king being described as being beloved (mrj) of Sopdu Lord of the East.
It is probable that the workers taken by Kheru-ef were housed in huts built on the plateau on the east side of the valley, but nothing survived from the times of Hatshepsut.[4] Among the pottery examined by M. Chartier-Raymond there were also examples attested from the end of the Middle Kingdom to the New Kingdom.[5] The huts were probably placed on the platform formed by the plateau for safety of workers and protection against wild animals.[6] Water could be delivered from the wells of the Wadi Qena which were located at a distance of 2.5km.[7]
The mines in wadi were situated about 50-75m above the level of the valley in the sandstone rock.[8] The gallery was rather small and measured ca. 7.5m of length, 1.5-1.8m of width and over 2.5m of height. W.M.F. Petrie noticed that the way of exploration differed from the other places in the area. The circular holes for breaking the stone were not prepared, but the natural fissures were used to extract the stone with the help of metal chisels. Some flint flakes were found during Petrie's excavations.[9]
Footnotes
- ^ 26: Urkunden der 18. Dynastie. Historisch-biographische Urkunden - - 1906 - Sethe, Kurt.
- ^ 74: The Inscriptions of Sinai I - Oxford University Press - 1917 - Peet, T. Eric, Gardiner, Alan H., Černý, Jaroslav; 386: Materialien zur Wirtschaftsgeschichte des Neuen Reiches (Teil VI) - - 1969 - Helck, Wolfgang.
- ^ 74: The Inscriptions of Sinai I - Oxford University Press - 1917 - Peet, T. Eric, Gardiner, Alan H., Černý, Jaroslav.
- ^ 320: Researches in Sinai - - 1906 - Petrie, William Matthew Flinders; 74: The Inscriptions of Sinai I - Oxford University Press - 1917 - Peet, T. Eric, Gardiner, Alan H., Černý, Jaroslav.
- ^ 387: Notes sur Maghara (Sinaï) - - 1988 - Chartier-Raymond, Maryvonne.
- ^ 320: Researches in Sinai - - 1906 - Petrie, William Matthew Flinders.
- ^ 74: The Inscriptions of Sinai I - Oxford University Press - 1917 - Peet, T. Eric, Gardiner, Alan H., Černý, Jaroslav.
- ^ 74: The Inscriptions of Sinai I - Oxford University Press - 1917 - Peet, T. Eric, Gardiner, Alan H., Černý, Jaroslav; 387: Notes sur Maghara (Sinaï) - - 1988 - Chartier-Raymond, Maryvonne.
- ^ 320: Researches in Sinai - - 1906 - Petrie, William Matthew Flinders.
Bibliography:
- Gardiner, Alan H., Černý, Jaroslav, Peet, Thomas Eric, The Inscriptions of Sinai I, Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund XXXVI, Oxford 1917, 22-28, 74 [44], Pl(s). XIV, XV
- Petrie, William Matthew Flinders, Researches in Sinai, New York 1906, 38-40, 49
- Helck, Wolfgang, Materialien zur Wirtschaftsgeschichte des Neuen Reiches (Teil VI), Abhandlungen der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse 4, Wiesbaden 1969, 51
- Chartier-Raymond, Maryvonne, Notes sur Maghara (Sinaï), Cahiers de Recherches de l'Institute de Papyrologie et d'Égyptologie de Lille 10, 1988, 13-22
- Cooney, John D., Major Macdonald, a Victorian Romantic, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 58, 1972, 280-285
- Shubert, Steven Blake, Bard, Kathryn, Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of the Ancient Egypt, London, New York 1999, 1071-1075
- Gratien, Brigitte, Traunecker, Claude, Vinçon, Jean-Marc, Chartier-Raymond, Maryvonne, Les sites miniers pharaoniques du Sud Sinaï. Quelques notes et observations de terrain, Cahiers de Recherches de l'Institute de Papyrologie et d'Égyptologie de Lille 16, 1994, 36-41
- Watt, Kimberley, Lapis lazuli in Sinai and indigenous black copper during the 18th dynasty, in: Peterková Hlouchová, Marie, Belohoubková, Dana, Honzl, Jirí, Nováková, Vera, Current Research in Egyptology 2018. Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Symposium, Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, 25–28 June 2018, Oxford 2019, 229-238