The Mons Porphyrites Project.

The Mons Porphyrites Project is een multidiciplinary project, sponsored by the Egypt Exploration Society in collaboration with the Universities of Southampton, Exeter and the Center for the study of Greek and Latin Documents at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Mons Porphyrites, the site of a major Roman quarry complex, lies deep in the Red Sea Mountain area of Egypt's Eastern Desert. It is the only known source of imperial Porphyry, a gem-like purple rock, which was highly prized in the ancient world for use in sculpture and fine architecture. Five seasons' work were planned (1994-1998). The first two have been spent surveying in detail the quarries and associated settlement areas; selective excavations started in March 1996 and will continue in march/april 1998. A part from the usual artefacts, hundreds of Greek ostraca have been found which provide us a substantial body of written evidence bearing on the administration and operation of Roman quarries and on the logistic difficulties caused by the presence of hundreds of persons in an inhospitable dessert.