PSA: That dig site near the Nile had 40 feet of topsoil stripped in just 5 years

I went back to a spot I worked at in 2019 outside Luxor last month. The difference was shocking. Back then we were pulling pottery shards from 3 feet down. Now that same area is a dry gully with exposed bedrock. Local farmers started using heavy irrigation pumps in 2020 to water new sugarcane fields. The runoff cut a gully through the whole site in under 4 years. I saw a Roman coin from the 2nd century just sitting on the surface. Nobody from the Egyptian ministry had been out to check on it since 2022. Has anyone else seen a site get wrecked this fast by modern farming?

2 comments

2 Comments

kim_johnson518d ago

Hold up, I gotta disagree a bit here. I worked a salvage dig in the Delta last year and saw the same thing happening but it was already too late to save anything. The farmers weren't trying to wreck history they were just trying to feed their families and make a living. The real issue is the ministry doesn't have enough people or money to watch every site like a hawk. I saw Roman stuff just lying on the surface too but what can you do when there's only one inspector for like 50 sites in a whole province. We need to push for better funding and more local training instead of just blaming the farmers for using water that's their right.

jamie7708d ago

Nah man, the farmers absolutely know what they're plowing over, that's just willful ignorance.