208 ANCIENT GOLD MINING IN THE SUDAN 



date from tlie fifth dynasty, a period at which Ancient Egypt reached tlie zenith of her 

 civilisation. This place also bears inscriptions of the sixth dynasty and tlience onward 

 up to Ptolemaic times. 



liariiestwriiten The oldest known written record, other than rock inscrijjtions, dates from the 



twelfth dynasty (twenty-fifth century B.c.j and probably refers also to the mines of 

 Hannnamat. In it a high official of the crown relates how he escorted the gold from 

 mines between Keneh and Kosseir to Koptos on the Nile (Sayce, Oold in Ancieiit 

 Egypt). 



In the fifteenth and sixteenth dynasties (seventeenth century B.C.), Egypt, being 

 conquered by the Syrian Bedouins, was governed by a Semitic race, during which time the 

 mines do not aiJjiear to have been worked. At the beginning of the eighteenth dynasty 

 (fifteenth century B.C.), when Thutmosis had reconquered Nubia, the mines had evidently 

 been reopened, for it is recorded that Thutmosis III. was in receipt of an annual 

 tribute therefrom of 2,400 lb. of gold (about £132,000 value). If this large figure is 

 correct, it is at any rate certain that by l-iiO b.c. the annual tribute had sunk to from 

 600 to 800 lb. of gold, one-third of the sum. About 1416 B.C., Amenhotep III., in a war 

 against the Nubians, took away from Napata a very large store of gold in dust, figures 

 and ornaments. 



The Turin The Turin papyrus, brought by Drovetti from Thebes, dates from the nineteenth 



papyrus dynasty (fourteenth century B.C.). It describes mines then existing in the Wadi-Atika 



(now the Wadi Allagi) and is accompanied by a map which is probably the oldest known 

 cartographical effort in existence. There is little doubt that it represents the mines of 

 Dereheib, visited and described by Linant de Bellefonds in 1868, and reopened unsuccess- 

 fully by the "Dereheib and African Syndicate" in 1902-3. This mine is said to have 

 been opened under King Setos I. (1360 B.C.) and in 1290 B.C. we are informed of the 

 difficulties of reaching the mine and of working it owing to the lack of water in the 

 desert. Setos I. is credited with the discovery of other mines in the Wadi Allagi, and is 

 said to have constructed a broad road therefrom to the river Nile at Kubban, opposite 

 Dekka. A well sunk by this king along the route was abandoned at 190 feet, having 

 failed to discover water ; but, on sinking being resumed by his son, Eameses the Great, 

 water was struck at 202 feet. 



As an indication of the enormous wealth of Ancient Egypt at this date, we may quote 

 Diodorus, who states, on the authority of Hecateus, that a record on the tomb of 

 Osymandyas at Thebes (supposed temp, nineteenth dynasty) gives the total produce of the 

 gold and silver mines at ('Pto) that time as reaching the incredible amount of 32 millions 

 of minse, a sum equal to 133 millions sterling. 



It is supposed that the dwindling of the gold supply from the Sudan up to the 



Royal interest reign of Setos I. prompted this direct Royal interest in the Mines of the Wadi Allagi. 



in the mines ^^ ^j^-^ ^^^^^^ ^j^^^ ^j^^ mines of the Eastern Desert, known for 1000 years, were worked 



systematically. 



The Egyptian kings, however, prior to about 750 B.C., had not the power to take 

 over the Sudan Gold Mines permanently and work them as a Government Monopoly. 

 Piankhi, the first great king of Nubia, conquered Egypt about 750 B.C., and the Nubian 

 rule lasted until its defeat, under Tanuath-Amen, by the Assyrians about 663 or 662 B.C. 



Nastasenen, King of Meroe, appears to have defeated the army of Cambyses about 

 520 B.C. and then raided the gold-mining desert natives between the Nile and the Eed Sea, 

 capturing, in five expeditions, 1,252,232 cattle, about 800 lb. Troy of gold, much gold 

 dust and many gold figures. 



