Ancient Egyptian temple of Kheny found amid rubble of enormous quarry

ARCHAEOLOGISTS knew the 3300 year-old temple existed: It was marked on an old map. But where? Finally, they’ve found it — at the bottom of an enormous quarry.

Lost temple emerges from quarry

ARCHAEOLOGISTS knew the 3300 year-old temple existed: It was marked on an old map. But where? Finally, they’ve found it — at the bottom of an enormous quarry.

Remains of the foundations and stonework of the temple were found near Gebel el Silsila, a rocky gorge north of Aswan.

The Egyptian Minister for Antiquities announced earlier this week that the Kheny temple — the name of which means “Rowing Place” — was found among the debris of ancient Egypt’s largest quarry which sprawled over both sides of a narrow, cliffed portion of the Nile between the villages of Edfu and Kom Ombo.

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The quarry itself is historic: It was used between the New Kingdom and Roman eras to provide high-quality sandstone for structures throughout Egypt — including Karnak and Luxur.

“We know that huge quantities of sandstone for temple building were quarried there,” Lund University archaeologist Maria Nilsson, director of the Gebel el Silsila Survey Project, told The Cairo Post.

“Now this finding changes the history of the site, and it firmly establishes Gebel el Silsila as not only a quarry, but also a sacred location,” colleague John Ward added.

These fragments reveal the shape of a Thutmosis head, revealing that the first temple phase dates back at least 3500 years. Source: Gebel El Silsila Survey Project

Temple of an unknown god

Many mysteries remain about the temple.

“At the moment we do not know to whom the temple was dedicated,” Nilsson said.

Naturally, they hope further excavation work will reveal more.

We know the region tended to follow cults associated with the cyclic inundation of the River Nile — in particular the crocodile god Sobek.

Hundreds of painted and decorated stone blocks have now been located, including 300 limestone fragments decorated in a style belonging to the Thutmosid period (1500-1450BC).

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Two fragments of stone have identified as part of an ornate ceiling showing the stars and sky. They still retain traces of the original paint.

Also among the rubble were hieroglyphs confirming the name of the site — Kheny — and other bearing the names of two later Pharaohs, Amenhotep III and Ramses II.

“The limestone scenes had been destroyed during antiquity to be reused as foundation filling together with sand and pebbles for a later construction phase. A square decorated limestone base was still intact,” Nilsson said.

More personal items have also been identified among the rubble: Faience (glazed pottery) fragments, beads and a blue scarab were sifted from the sands.

Part of a cartouche of Amenhotep III who ruled from about 1386 to 1350BC. Source: Gebel El Silsila Survey Project

Piecing a story together

The existence of a temple in the area was recorded in a map compiled by German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt. It simply described a destroyed ‘Ramesside’ temple.

Everything about it was once again lost to history.

Archaeologists return to the region in 2012 after carefully studying the scribbled map, along with another document they’d found showing a rough plan view of the site.

After casting about amid the rubble and sand of the quarry, the Lund University researchers eventually found the outline of the 35m by 18m structure.

Then they found evidence of four different floor levels — indicating different phases of reconstruction — along with the bases of columns and scattered remains of carved walls.

The archaeologists say the temple site appears to have been occupied over a period of 1500 years.

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The oldest portion of the temple is made of limestone. The quarry itself is sandstone, and its presence “may signify the official changeover from limestone construction to sandstone.”

But that’s about all they know to this point.

A fragment of the temple’s ceiling containing remains of ancient paintwork which once depicted a star and blue sky. Source: Gebel El Silsila Survey Project

More digging and piecing together of fragments is needed to glean a brief synopsis of the significance of the temple and what rites may have been carried out there.

In January the Lund University team had another significant find in the quarry: An inscription portraying the transfer of two obelisks. It details the techniques of detaching the huge stone blocks and how they were loaded into sailing boats.

Such methods of moving hundreds of tonnes of stone have long been a mystery.

Other finds in the quarry include stables, rock-hewn shelters and a sphinx similar to those found on the avenue between the Luxor and Karnak temples.

You can follow the excavation of the Kheny temple and the quarry it resides in at the Gebel el Silsilia Survey Project blog.

Beads recovered from among the ruins date back to the 18th Dynasty. Source: Gebel El Silsila Survey Project

@JamieSeidel