Egypt Guide
The Nile Valley
The Western Quarry
The ancient Western Quarry in the desert behind the Tombs of the Nobles is harshly evocative of the effort to supply stone for pharaonic monuments. Huge blocks were prised from the sandstone of Gebel Simaan and dragged on rollers towards the Nile for shipment downriver; the stone for the Colossi of Memnon may have come from here. An Unfinished Obelisk with hieroglyphs extolling Seti I was abandoned by the wayside after a flaw in the rock was discovered. This desolate site is seldom visited (beware of snakes) and can only be reached by camel with a guide from the ferry landing by the tombs (for £E50–60); the ride takes half an hour each way. If that seems too arduous, another unfinished obelisk south of Aswan is easier to reach.