REGISTERED: Yes

OTHER NAMES: Bir Nasb

This area was an important mining site from Predynastic times onward. Malachite extraction sites as well as several small copper mines have been recorded in the wadi (valley). Copper was smelted in large furnaces and large amounts of slag can still be found on the site.


A Middle Kingdom stela of king Amenemhet III is located on the eastern side of the wadi, leading to Sarabit al-Khadim quarries. The wadi is scattered with Protosinaitic, Nabatean and Hieroglyphic inscriptions as well as a number of Amenemhet III's reliefs.


Several beehive-shaped Prehistoric nawamis (burials) can still be seen on the wadi floor.


The modern village, its inhabitants and modern mining activities are posing an immediate threat to the remains of the site.

 

     Amlaak Maps

Official maps used by the SCA based on ESA maps, showing the official borders of archaeological sites.

Other Backgrounds

    
     ESA 1:10,000 Maps (new series) 

Topographic maps produced by ESA for the executive establishment for North Sinai development project. They are based on aerial photographs, scale 1:15000 in 1996.  

     MSD 1:100,000 Maps (new series) 

Topographic maps produced by MSD (Military Survey Department). They are based on the old 1:100,000 series and aerial photographs in 1956. Some features were updated from aerial photographs in 1988.