A little to the north of Wadi Hammamat in the central part of the Eastern Desert lies a Byzantine gold mining settlement from the fifth and sixth century known today as Bir Umm Fawakhir.
Around 1,000 Coptic Christians lived in this town of some 200 buildings. The gold extracted from the surrounding mountains was washed and transported to the Nile Valley for refining. Bir Umm Fawakhir's largest mine extends horizontally approximately 100 meters into the mountain and is about two meters high.
Today, you can visit the site and examine the neatly laid out buildings and the ancient inscriptions etched into granite boulders at the towns guard posts.
Photo By: Gabriel Mikhail