STONE TOOL PRODUCTION AND FLINT MINING IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Abstract

The Institute of Egyptology at the University of Tübingen, with the aid of the German Research Foundation (DFG), conducts investigations in Middle Egypt since 1991. The fieldworks focus on several localities in the Province of Miniya near the village Šaruna, close to the river Nile. The lithic inventory not only includes a total spectrum of known and characteristic tools of the Old Kingdom (Pharaonic Egypt) but also shows numerous new types and forms. The presence of various blanks andcores and the systematic analysis of the debitage proved the presence of local workshops with their own characteristic tradition. Excursions and field surveys conducted at the flint mines of the nearby Wadi al-Sheikh showed that the majority of the excavated lithic material had high similarities with the mostly tabloid flint found there. This points to a relationship between Šaruna and the huge flint mining area of the Wadi. The material is of excellent quality and due to its tabular form, appropriate especially for the production of the flat bifacial knives and adze blades found in Šaruna.