Hatnub

Hatnub is/are Egyptian alabaster (travertine) quarries and associated seasonally occupied workers' settlement in the Eastern Desert, about 65km southeast of modern el-Minya. The pottery, hieroglyph inscriptions and hieratic graffiti at the site show that it was in use intermittently from at least as early as the reign of Khufu until the Roman period ("c." 2589 BC-AD 300). The Hatnub quarry settlement, associated with three principal quarries, like those associated with gold mines in the Wadi Hammamat and elsewhere, are characterized by drystone windbreaks, roads, causeways, cairns and stone alignments.

References

* G.W.Fraser, 'Hat-Nub', "PSBA"16 (1894), 73-82.
* R.Anthes, "Die Felseninschriften von Hatnub" (Leipzig, 1928).
* I.M.E.Shaw, 'A survey at Hatnub', "Amarna reports" III, ed. B.J.Kemp (London, 1986), 189-212.

Bibliography

The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt; pg. 119-20