JABAL SUKARI, EGYPT—La Brújula Verde reports that the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities completed a two-year excavation and preservation project of an ancient mining camp at Jabal Sukari near the Red Sea. Archaeologists were under pressure to complete the project as the site is currently endangered by modern mining activities. The Egyptian team uncovered a vast gold processing complex that dates back 3,000 years, as well as a settlement inhabited by those who worked at the mine. The mining facility included specialized factories for extracting the gold from quartz veins, which has provided new information about ancient methods of obtaining and producing pure gold. The site included grinding and crushing stations, filtration and sedimentation basins, and clay furnaces for smelting. Adjacent to the industrial works, archaeologists located dwellings, workshops, administrative buildings, temples, and even baths. Inscriptions on various pieces of pottery and stone were found to be written in hieroglyphs, Demotic, and Greek, which highlights the linguistic and cultural diversity of the community working and residing there at the time. Some of the more sensitive architectural remnants were relocated about two miles outside of the modern mining zone for their protection, while a full-scale replica of the entire site was also built in that location to attract tourists. To read about a New Kingdom geological map unearthed at the ancient village of Deir el-Medina, go to "Mapping the Past: The Goldmine Papyrus."
