Mons Claudianus

Mons Claudianus is an old quarry in the eastern desert of Egypt. It lies between Qena ( Kainopolis ) on the Nile (north of Luxor, 100 km distance) and Safaga on the Red Sea (45 km), near the Wadi el- Bayda Fatiri Red in a completely uninhabited area in the governorate sea. Hurghada is 55 km north-east of the quarry. Here granite ( granodiorite ) was mined between the late first and the middle of the 3rd century AD.

Stone and use

The stone is a light-gray gneiss with greenish- black sprinklings. The Romans called the material marble Claudianum. The Italian name " granito del foro " states where the material was used. The material was installed but also in many other Roman edifices, for example, in the Pantheon in Rome. In the quarry some unfinished or broken items were left behind, such as an approximately 200 -ton column. In medieval buildings in Cairo we find the granite as floor coverings and as wall coverings, probably mostly in secondary use.

Work organization

The quarry probably belonged to the emperor himself, the administration of the army was defeated. As excavations revealed no slaves, but specialized workers worked in the quarry. Their food shows that they lived under very comfortable conditions.

Infrastructure

The quarry was connected by a road to the Nile Valley. The transportation of semi-finished stones at four to zwölfachsigen car the Nile valley took at least five days. In days intervals were on the road small bearings ( Hydreumata ), which served as a night accommodation. They contained sleeping quarters, stables and cisterns.

The course of the road can still be seen well in the field today. Approximately 125 cairns and towers marked its course, maybe they were also used as signal stations. The area was also monitored and supplied by about sixty smaller army bases. They secured the supply of coastal stations on the Red Sea in the south and the quarry Mons Porphyrites.

The road between Abu Sha'ar with his military bearing and Kainopolis was used between the 1st and 7th centuries AD; until the end of the 3rd century to transport stone, after the reform of border defense by Diocletian and Constantine it was part of the Limes. Then traveled here perhaps pilgrimage to the sanctuaries in the northern Red Sea, the Sinai and the Holy Land. This is also indicated the existence of a church out in Mons Porphyrites.

Settlement

The settlement of the quarry workers was fortified with walls and towers. It is anzunehemen that thousands of people lived here. The accommodations are often still get to the roof, because in this remote area held no later stone robbery.

Excavations

The quarry was discovered in the 19th century by travelers. Excavations were carried out from 1987 to 1993 under the direction of Jean Bingen ( University of Brussels ) and by an Egyptian- British project with David Peacock ( University of Southampton ) and Valerie Maxfield (Exeter).

Finds

Due to the extreme drought here organic materials have been well preserved. So about 50,000 textile fragments were found - one of the largest corpora Roman textiles in general. In addition, baskets, shoes, ropes and scraps of papyrus and animal bones and plant remains have been found, making it possible to reconstruct the diet of the workers. Among the most important finds are nearly 10,000 described shards ( ostraca ), which provide information on the management and the workers' living conditions. Thus, the wages of the workers has been handed on these shards, for example, which was significantly higher than in the Nile Valley. Most shards affect material requirements, for example by car axles. After supply of the pieces were discarded. Most of the sherds have been described but no longer found in primary context, but on the streets, in abandoned buildings or as a filling of ground wells or construction sites. The ceramic comes mainly from the Egyptian workshops, but there are also imports from the eastern Mediterranean, Cyrenaica, North Africa, Spain and Gaul.

Nutrition

The basis of the diet were wheat, barley, lentils, dates, olives, onions and donkey meat and fish from the Red Sea. These were supplemented by lemons, artichokes, walnuts, pine nuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pomegranates, watermelons cucumbers and even oysters. Pepper, an import from India, served as a condiment. In the limited scope has also been hunted.

The seeds of cabbage, turnip, watercress, chicory, mint and basil have also been found, perhaps these plants were grown locally. Germinated barley refers to the fact that beer was brewed on site. Finds of imported amphorae show that the worker or the garrison with olive oil, defrutum (thickened grape juice ), garum ( fish sauce ) and wine were provided.

Barley and Druschreste also served as cattle feed. As fuel dung and charcoal was used.

Another Roman quarries in the Eastern Desert

  • Wadi Hammamat ( Mons Basanites ): lapis hexacontalithos
  • Mons Porphyrites: porphyry, lapis Porphyrites
  • Wadi baroud: marble Tiberianum
  • Wadi Umm Schegilat, diorite
  • Wadi Umm ash, serpentine, lapis batrachites
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