Gold and goldmining in ancient Egypt and Nubia: geoarchaeology of the ancient goldmining sites in the Egyptian and Sudanese eastern desert

The book covers as a whole the historical evolution of gold mining activitiesin the Egyptian and Nubian Desert (Sudan) from about 4000 BC until the earlyIslamic period (~800-1350 AD), subdivided in main classical epochs as Early Dynastic-Old -and Middle Kingdom - New Kingdom (including Kushitic) - Ptolemaic- Roman and early Islamic. It is illustrated with many informative colour images, maps and drawings. An up to date comprehensive geological introduction gives a general overview on the gold productive zones in the Eastern Desert of Egypt and the northern (Nubian) Sudan, including the various formation processes of the anciently mined gold bearing quartz veins. The more than 250 visitedgold productive sites are described both, from their archaeological (as far as surface inventory is concerned) and geological environmental conditions, resulting in an evolution scheme of prospection and mining methods within the main periods of mining activities. The book offers for the first time a complete catalogue of the many gold production sites in Egypt and Nubia under geological and archaeological aspects. It provides information about the importance ofgold for the Pharaos and the spectacular gold rush in Early Arab times. Finally, the combination of anciently discovered gold occurrences with their geological dependencies might be of value for modern gold prospection as well.

• ISBN: 978-3-642-22507-9
• Editorial: Springer
• Encuadernacion: Cartoné
• Fecha Publicación: 29/02/2012
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés