Pharaonic necrostratigraphy : a review of geological and archaeological studies in the Theban Necropolis, Luxor, West Bank, Egypt
Date
2008-11-09Author
Aubry, Marie-Pierre
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Berggren, William A.
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Dupuis, Christian
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Ghaly, Holeil
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Ward, David
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King, Christopher
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Knox, Robert W. O'B.
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Ouda, Khaled A. K.
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Youssef, Moustafa
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Galal, Wael Fathi
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https://hdl.handle.net/1912/4402As published
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3121.2009.00872.xAbstract
We present a review of archeological and geological studies on the West Bank as a basis
for discussing the geological setting of the tombs and geologically related problems with a view
to providing archeologists with a framework in which to conduct their investigations on the
restoration, preservation and management of the antique monuments. Whereas the geology of
the Upper Nile Valley appears to be deceptively simple, the lithologic succession is vertically
variable, and we have recognized and defined several new lithologic units within the upper Esna
Shale Formation. We have been able to delineate lithologic (shale/limestone) contacts in several
tombs and observed that the main chambers in some were excavated below the Esna Shale in the
Tarawan Chalk Formation. We have been able to document changing dip in the strata (warping)
in several tombs, and to delineate two major orientations of fractures in the field. Investigations
behind the Temple of Hatshepsut, in the Valley of the Kings and around Deir El Medina, have
revealed four broad regional structures. We confirm that the hills located near the Nile Valley,
such as Sheik Abel Qurna, do not belong to the tabular structure of the Theban Mountain, but
are discrete displaced blocks of the Thebes Limestone and overlying El Miniya, as supported by
Google Earth photographs.
Description
Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of John Wiley & Sons for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Terra Nova 21 (2009): 237-256, doi:10.1111/j.1365-3121.2009.00872.x.