In preparation to open Tombs of the Nobles and the Qubbet el Hawa in Aswan infront of visitors for the first time since they were discovered, the Supreme Council for Antiques has begun implementing a project to rehabilitate and develop the sites.
In a statement released this week, Dr. Mustafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that “this step comes within the framework of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities’ initiative to rehabilitate and develop archaeological sites throughout the republic, especially in Upper Egypt, and to make more archaeological sites open to visitors.”
He pointed out that “the Tomb of the Nobles and Qubbet el Hawa were chosen because of their immense historical and archaeological significance and the beauty and precision of their inscriptions.”
The restoration and development work in the Tombs of the Nobles includes paving the roads that lead to these sites, developing their internal and external lighting systems, adding roadside billboards to guide visitors and introduce them to the area, as well as equipping some of the tombs with technology that allows visitors to see how they look on the inside. The latter step is especially beneficial since some of the tombs are narrow, and there are fears that the colors of their inscriptions will fade because of the large number of tourists.
The name Qubbet el Hawa is derived from the dome (Qubba is Arabic for tomb) of the tomb of a Muslim sheikh known by the name of Ali Abu el Hawa. The site is home to the Tombs of the Nobles, the Island of Plants, and the Island of Elephantine, some of which were made for rulers of the Old Kingdom like Harkhuf, Sabni, and Mekhu, as well as others from the Middle Kingdom like Senusret I and Senusret II.
The inscriptions on the walls of the tombs make evident the significance of the roles played of prominent notables during this period. They waged exploratory, commercial voyages, as well as military campaigns, as the inscriptions on the walls of the two-sided tomb of Mekhu and his Sabni- who had both been figures working for the Sixth Dynasty- Mekhu led the royal expedition to the South. The inscriptions also show that on his return, a Nubian tribe attacked and killed him, and so his son Sabni waged a campaign to retrieve his father’s corpse and avenge him, according to the website of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
Meanwhile, the tomb of Harkhuf, the ruler of Elephantine who led royal campaigns, is among the most prominent of the Tombs of the Nobles at Qubbet el Hawa.
The inscriptions on this tomb tell the tale of Harkhuf’s exploratory and commercial voyages to the South, the course he took on his journey, including the 40 Days Road, the historical route connecting Egypt and Sudan.
The inscriptions also provide insights into his commercial trips to the Land of the Punt, a region that the ancient Egyptians used for trade and whose location is disputed among researchers, with some claiming that it is close to Ethiopia, and others saying it is an area in South Sudan.
