Quality of Life in the Desert? High Living in Rome's Distant Quarries

Univ of Leicester ^ | September 9, 2002 | Dr Marijke van der Veen

[SunkenCiv]

The distance and remote location of the quarry complexes did not affect the food supply. The workers had access not to a meagre diet of a few staples, but instead had access to a wide range of foods... Ancient texts suggest that the Romans used slaves and conscripts in the mines, and it was assumed that this was also the case at these quarry sites. Furthermore, the remote and desert location of the quarry complexes and consequent long supply routes were expected to have had a detrimental effect on the quality of the diet at these sites. The excavations revealed through the artefacts, food remains and texts that here a salaried workforce was used. The men were given both food in kind and a salary with which they purchased further foods and other goods. The foods recovered during the excavations reveal variety and the presence of luxuries. In terms of diet, quality of life was achieved despite the desert location.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

Hard Stones

• Gebel Dokhan/Mons Porphyrites (#12a): purplish-red andesite porphyry, Imperial Porphyry - variety 'a', subvariety 1 (from the Northwest Quarry)
• Gebel Dokhan/Mons Porphyrites (#12a): purplish-red dacite porphyry, Imperial Porphyry - variety 'a', subvariety 2 (from the West Quarry)
• Gebel Dokhan/Mons Porphyrites (#12a): greenish-black dacite porphyry, variety 'b' (from the East Quarry)
• Gebel Dokhan/Mons Porphyrites (#12a): black andesite-dacite porphyry, variety 'c' (from the Northeast Quarry)

  Stoned in the Eastern Desert
  by Jenny Jobbins

  The town is at the foot of Gabal Fatira (Mons Claudianus) in a small tributary of the Wadi Fatira Al-Beda (the white; another fork being called Al-Zarqa, the blue). Here the quarrymen -- convicts for the most part -- and their families lived, surrounded by quarries where a fine-grained light granite was cut. The local Bedouin call the place Umm Digal (Mother of Columns) after the columns which still lie around. Apparently the ancient semitic root deqel or deqala means date palm, but also pillar or column...
  
  The town's layout can be seen quite clearly and, since the area was unoccupied after the Romans abandoned it, the ruins are relatively undisturbed. The houses threaded with narrow alleyways are enclosed by a wall 70 metres square. Outside this wall are guardrooms, a private villa, an unfinished temple and stables to hold up to 400 head of draught oxen and their fodder. Water was held in a water tower.
  
  The largest of the prostrate columns is 20.5 metres long and 2.6 metres in diametre. Because of their weight, the columns were dressed as far as possible before being loaded on the wagons, which were pulled by as many as 40 oxen. The teams would stop to rest at each of half a dozen stations on the way to the Nile Valley, each with a well, provisions and accommodation. We saw two of these stations later on when we followed the Via Porphyrites to Qena. One of them still contained a cistern of slimy green water, and beside it a length of frayed rope.

  East of Edfu

  Today, three of the towns where the quarrymen lived survive in ruined form, each a cluster of houses crowded within a fortified wall. The town on the terrace opposite the temple housed the officer (who held the rank of centurion), the garrison of the quarry and probably the administrative staff. One eloquently built house, complete with plunge bath, is indicative of the luxurious lifestyle which expatriated officers enjoyed.
  
  The two other towns are much more modest, with little huts divided by narrow lanes. It seems likely these were labourers' houses. Their lives must have been hard and difficult to bear. Many of them were convicts, lower-class criminals, slaves, or even captives from the Jewish and Christian revolts. Greek inscriptions, evidently Christian in origin, can be seen on the quarry walls, confirming the words of Eusebius of Caeseria in his classic Church History (written ca. 303AD) concerning "the vast number of persecuted Christians sent to work in the porphyry quarries of the Thebaids."

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

The book shown in message three has a fascinating discussion of these quarries as well as monochrome photos, some of which show some of the cracked or flawed products that couldn't be shipped, laying where they were abandoned over 1500 years ago.

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[eno_]

Another case of the arrogance of modernity: "Only WE can have a good quality of life. Nobody was happy before Xanax."

When, in reality, our bodies and minds have been genetically the same for hundreds of thousands of years. Same brains. Same desires. Is it any surprise that Romans lived good lives when they could?

[SunkenCiv]

Near one of the villages where the quarry workers lived there's a Roman-era well (the Romans were first to find/mine the Porphyrites and Claudianus quarries) which is still used by the nomads passing through. Somewhat related topic:

Quarry, Setting and Team Marks: The Carian Connection
	Posted by SunkenCiv On Bloggers & Personal 10/08/2004 3:20:42 PM PDT · 1 reply · 41+ views University of Leiden (Netherlands) | 1998 | (about) Sheldon Lee Gosline In this paper, the author proposes some specific attributions for signs deriving from the Carian or another West-Anatolian script found on in situ blocks from standing walls: quarry, block positioning, or team marks. The proposals are based on data from three distant yet related sites where such marks have been preserved, among which the Khnum temple terrace on Elephantine. In time, however, the quarry marks at Elephantine do not correspond with the other two sites. Therefore, the author proposes that the terrace was built several hundred years earlier than the Graeco-Roman Period to which the terrace is usually dated, or...

[Drammach]

I find it a sad commentary on Arab civilisation, that 1,500 years ago, right at the onset of Islamic religion, and the end of roman domination of the area, this site was abandoned..

One would think that such beautiful stone would be in commercial demand, and a decent industry could be made out of quarrying that stone for various architectural purposes..
Yet, not one egyptian, in 1,500 years has taken up where the romans left off..

[SunkenCiv]

Well, there are very nice porphyry columns in a church (if memory serves) St Petersburg, presumably obtained either from a dismantled Byzantine site after the Turkish conquest, or commercially during Turkish domination of the Middle East. Also, King Farouk had some quarrying done.

It would be nice to acquire some of the scrap pieces the Romans left behind for museums outside Egypt, since they aren't of much interest otherwise (no tourist traffic up to either site). For those who are very ambitious, there's a 200 ton cracked column up there, probably an "oops" quarried for a project of (I think) Caligula. There were others which made the trip to Rome (obviously by water).

I'd be very surprised if some newly-quarried finished objects of great size didn't lay on the bottom of the Mediterranean, and out of Egyptian jurisdiction.

[Alas Babylon!]

I'd be very surprised if some newly-quarried finished objects of great size didn't lay on the bottom of the Mediterranean, and out of Egyptian jurisdiction.

I wouldn't be surprised if that was so.

[Restorer]

I wouldn't be surprised if a good many Americans would buy this stone for kitchen counters.

[Drammach]

People pay "premium" prices for FAKE marble made of marble dust and resin..
It's really nice looking stuff, but it's Fake..

The shots I saw in the article were of beautiful, high quality stone in a variety of colors..
Natural stone..

Given the economy in the mid-east, and specifically Egypt, I'm surprised this quarry isn't being mined and the stone shipped all over the world...

If that mine was in Pakistan, you can darn well bet you could get some for your counter top at the local Home Depot at a reasonable price..

[SunkenCiv]

bttt

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

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