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Few precious stones have enjoyed as much popularity as the emerald, valued throughout the world. But one of the scientific challenges is knowing which were the first mines in which exploitation began. The scientific community has evidence that indicates that Upper Egypt was the cradle of this activity, in mines such as those of Sikait-Zabara, very close to the port city of Berenice, in the eastern Egyptian desert. For this reason, in this area, the first archaeological intervention of the “Sikait Project” was recently carried out , directed by Prof. Joan Oller Guzmán of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). On this occasion, the work has focused on the Roman site of Wadi Sikait (Red Sea Governorate), in order to study this territory known in Antiquity as “ Mons Smaragdus ”, the only area where beryllium mineral was obtained (in its green variant, better known as “emerald”) throughout the Roman Empire. Fundamentally, the prospecting and excavation work carried out within the framework of the “Eastern Desert Survey Project” has restarted, directed by SE Sidebotham of the University of Delaware.
There is also the collaboration of the Polish Center of Mediterranean Archeology and the realization of the project has been possible thanks to the financial contributions of the Palarq Foundation and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, as well as the excavation permits granted by the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt. The interest of this first campaign has focused on B2B Email List the largest and best preserved of the settlements related to emerald mining: Wadi Sikait. There is evidence of its existence since the th century and various prospecting and excavation campaigns had been carried out there between the years and Now, the intervention in this settlement aimed to delve into the knowledge of its characteristics, chronology and evolution. and, especially, in the ways in which emerald mines were exploited in ancient times. emerald mines in Upper Egypt Sikait Project View of the " Six Windows Building ", one of the buildings that make up the Wadi Sikait deposit, one of the first emerald mines in Upper Egypt exploited by Rome.
Sikait Project Thus, surveys were proposed in three areas of interest: the “Large Temple”, the “Administration Building” and the “Six Windows Building”. In this way, some hypotheses about the characteristics and chronology of these three structures have been confirmed. For example, the existence of two clear phases, the early Roman imperial period and the late ancient period. At the same time, the importance of the religious phenomenon in the settlement has been contrasted, confirming the possible sacred use of the so-called “Administration Building” and confirming the ritual richness associated with the main temple of the site, the “Large Temple”, thanks to the abundant materials recovered in situ . For its part, the excavation around the “Six Windows Building” has transformed the conception of the emerald extraction process in this type of settlement, with the identification of a mine mouth inside what had previously been considered an area domestic. With all these contributions, this excavation campaign has led to intense progress not only in the knowledge of the Wadi Sikait site, but in general in emerald mining in the Roman.
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