Pharaonic Egypt   :|:   Analysis

The engravings of Wadi Hammamat

ref. : en.1194.2014 | 11 November 2014 | by Francis Leveque
graffiti | IIIe - IVe millennium BC
Wadi Hammamat, Egypte (Haute Egypte) ( Egypte )
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Wadi Hammamat is the northern direct route to the Bekhen stone quarries and the Red Sea. No rock-art has been found eastwards of the quarries.

Although it has 18 sites (16 in the wadi and two just east of the quarry), 9 of them are clustered in or around the entrance to a side wadi, Wadi Abu Kue. Wadi Hammamat has a high proportion of pharaonic images, boats and inscriptions. It also has ’frond’ boats from the early predynastic and several sickle boats akin to those on D-Ware, including the only painted image in the CED and two with ’standards’ (the only other example of the latter is in Wadi Qash at RME-18).

Bibliography :

  • A.E.P. Weigall, Travels in the Upper Egyptian deserts , W. Blackwood and Sons, Londres , 1909
  • Hans A. Winkler, Rock-drawings of southern upper Egypt : Sir Robert Mond desert expedition, Oxford University Press, Londres , 1938-1939
  • D. Rohl , The followers of Horus : Eastern Desert survey report, Institute for the study of interdisciplinary sciences, Basingstoke , 2000
  • M. & M. Morrow , Desert RATS : Rock Art Topographical Survey in Egypt’s Eastern desert : site catalogue, Archaeopress, Oxford , 2010
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