Blogs With Dr John R Ward Kt

This is a new one for Q.E.A. we have not kept blogs before or journals for that matter on our Adventures. So we have asked John if he could supply us with a few to start of with and see how it grows from there. If you feel you have somthing to contribute please do not hesitate to send in your peice with photographs if possible and we will post them here for you.

Well as promised to both ourselves we returned to the Theban quarries not really to re-investigate them but to follow the wadi itself and to ascertain whether the wadi was indeed part of the trade route between Thebes and Diospolis Parva (Hu)?

Mahmoud our driver actually arrived on time this morning , miracles do happen see, we set of for the Valley of the Kings road at 7.00am promptly armed this time with just over 7litres of water between Maria and myself, a couple of homemade sausage rolls, biscuits and the all important salted peanuts.

We took the usual pathway between the rubbish heaps which is really starting to grate on me, how to tackle this problem is not yet in view but I'm sure the answer will come soon in one form or another. The morning sun was shielded by the low lying cloud cover which was a welcome appearance, we headed off in the direction of the quarries passing by the Roman mud brick look out station on the top of the first outcrop, form there we continued along the wadi in a westerly direction. Occasionally the base of the foot hills would change to mimic the face of quarry but it was just due to the natural configuration of the stone, but we were able to find some fine examples of our symbolism and various styles of pottery from numerous periods laying around the surface of the wadi, as the morning passed we walked ever deeper into the wadi, as we continued the pottery sherds began to get less and less and the surface of the wadi became more and more rugged, there were no definite trails to speak off, this wadi had not been used as a main route by our friends in the past there just were not the usual signs, however we continued to move on, now and then we came across a smaller wadi leading off from the main one, which we took the time to investigate the only one that produced anything of significance was on the northern side, set deep towards the end of this smaller wadi was a large piece of stone obviously broken away from the cliff face and lay where it had fallen all those years ago, providing a much needed shaded area for us as the cloud cover had all but disappeared . The face of this stone had however been incised with graffiti, (see photos on MySpace, yahoo group, details at the end of report). The graffiti had an unclear definition to it, almost if I dare say so, a copy, and a modern equivalent? Please look at the photos and let me know your own thoughts.

We left this wadi and continued along the main one again in a westerly direction, the base of the wadi had become more and more rugged with much larger boulders that had been left by the waters of previous water run offs, in numerous locations we came across sandy areas with footprints from previous travellers.

We came to point where the wadi itself now splits into two different directions we choose the northern direction and decided to follow as far as we could without it becoming too much of an ordeal. Again we came across a much needed shaded area to have our lunch , where a large stone slab had fallen onto another stone and naturally provided us with an open tenting area, safe from the sun and fly's by which at this time were driving me made, especially the sand flies which bite and attack you in their numbers. Pesky little things.

I would like to point out at this time the amount of trenches that we encountered during the day I have not mentioned them before during our exploration of the wadi until now, due to the fact it was not until we stopped for our lunch that we actually found the largest one directly under the tenting area, the hole or trench was around half meter square by a meter or so deep and had been dug perfectly removing the contents to the outside of the tent in a tidy heap, the other trenches all of which line the Wadis foot hill bases at sporadic points have their heaps directly in from of them in a orderly manner, none being more than a meter or so deep, these trenches/holes could not of been made by wild animals and I concluded that they were either made by geological surveys of the area, (for what purpose this would serve I have no idea, if someone out there understands this better than me please let me know) or they were dug by unscrupulous people looking in vain for antiquity, why on earth they would want to dig in such inhospitable places is beyond me. More time on their hands than sense. The only other reason could be that there are indeed test trenches by previous archaeologists looking for either burials or evidence of some antiquity in this unforgiving area. Again, it makes me glad I have Google earth, so I first scan the area before marching off into the mid day heat hoping, praying that they find something to report back to their sponsor or benefactor. Glad those days are over really.

So after lunch we decided that there was no need to continue any further with the investigation in this wadi, it was obvious that the quarries were used and provided the much need stone for the temples and monuments of Thebes, but as far the rest of the wadi was concerned it served no further function the rear access to the temple of Sankhkare was not in this wadi nor was there any other access points to the plateau. The only access to the plateau was from the quarry itself in the form a long winding path but as this lead to the southern side of the plateau this too did not provide any other access suitable for the temple of Sankhkare. We returned to the quarries and rang Mahmoud to pick us up from our usual spot.

We have started to map out the northern side of Thoth Mountain in the hope that we will be able to explore the Wadis on that side further in the week ahead.

It may interest those who wish to read more about this area that the Oriental Institute had conducted a similar investigation in this area during the late nineties and concluded that the Luxor to Farshut road had proved to be a vital link between Luxor and the Qena area for thousands of years and that during all the different periods travellers and officials alike have left their mark as a testament to time, small shrines, graffiti in the form of a personal message of motif or a religious inscription, the survey also concluded as I did in my previous report that the temple of Sankhkare provided a vital stopping point for travellers and pilgrims alike not only on their way out of Thebes but also for the weary travellers on their return. The discovery though of a 17 th dynasty temple in the area has brought excitement to our research, this proves without a shadow of a doubt that the area was an important religious area as well and sheds a little light on the reason behind the location of Sankhkare temple and the quarries having been used for habitation after their demise as actual quarries. Unfortunately nothing remains in eveidence of the 17 th temple and the stone fragments that were recovered have been removed for safe keeping and further analysis.


Day 1 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt	Day 2 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt	Day 3 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt	Day 4 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt	Day 5 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt	Day 6 The Temple Complex of Sankhkare, Luxor, Egypt


Day 1 Wadi el Gabbanat el Qirud (Valley of the Apes) The Watering Station by Horse Back 19 th April 2010 By Dr John R Ward Kt	Day 2 Wadi el Sikkat el Taqa el Zeide Off Wadi el Gabbanat el Qirud (The Western Wadi) By Horse Back 22 nd April 2010 By Dr John R Ward Kt	Day 3 Wadi el Gabbanat el Qirud (Valley of the Apes) The Watering Station by Horse Back 19 th April 2010 By Dr John R Ward Kt


The Ancient Nome of Gebelein Pathyris /Aphroditopolis, Ezbet Abu Humus. �The two mountains� 18 th April 2008	Wadi Hammamat Between Quseir and Quft. May 2 nd 2008	Deir el Shelwit Isis Temple Thebe's, Luxor April 28 th 2008