[3][4] Wadi el-Hudi is geologically rich and has been the basis of considerable mining and study since Ancient times.
While it was initially known for the ancient amethyst quarries, this area is important the study of Egyptian archaeology and history because of its high number of rock inscriptions, stele, settlements, and mines, mainly dating to the Middle Kingdom.
[7] This region's geology is quite diverse and rare due to the meeting of Precambrian basement of metamorphic gneiss with the younger Cretaceous Nubian sandstone.
[2] Rock art from pastoral nomads may have begun as early as the predynastic era, as the region was used by multiple groups of travelers.
[5] Organized, state- sponsored campaigns to mine amethyst began in the 11th dynasty under the reign of Mentuhotep IV.
[5] Site 1 is several long, thin mine shafts and huts that is located northeast of the main wadi.
[11] Site 2 contains a fortified settlement, possibly dating to the Ptolemaic period, found just northeast of Gebel el-Hudi.
[17] Site 3 is a small gold mine with work areas and several huts, west of Gebel el-Hudi.
[3] Site 4 is an amethyst mine and the remains of a fortified settlement that was built during the Middle Kingdom and renovated during the Ptolemaic period.
In the Middle Kingdom, Site 4 was a third large settlement to be built by the Egyptian government at Wadi el-Hudi.
[3][16] Site 9 is a large amethyst mine and rectangular Middle Kingdom settlement built in the sandy wadi bed.
[20] Site 22 includes a hut, some natural stone features, and a small mine that was used to look for veins of amethyst, but never yielded great spoils.
[23][4] Several hundred years prior to the soldiers inscribing these rocks, pastoral nomads first drew images of themselves and their animals, including cows on this pinnacle.
[23] There are dozens of grinding stones and slicks here that indicate pastoral nomads sheltered here and processed plants they have gathered.
[12] Currently, the Wadi el-Hudi Expedition has found over 300 inscriptions, and 155 had been previously published by Ahmed Fakhry and Ashraf Sadek.
[11] This stela notes that over 1500 people from all over Egypt were working at Wadi el-Hudi during the reign of Senwoseret I.
[11] They were restored by the Wadi el-Hudi Expedition with the help of Antiquities Endowment Fund via the American Research Center in Egypt.
[12] Recent evidence shows that people from the Middle Stone age may have lived at Wadi el-Hudi.
[3] Groups of nomadic people were present at Wadi el-Hudi before, during, and after the state- sponsored mining activities.
[26][5] However, textual references from Sites 5, 6 and 9 at Wadi el-Hudi only mention the Iwntyw, Nehesy, and Ta-Seti.
[19] Many groups also practiced semi-nomadic pastoralism, meaning they migrated in seasonal patterns and cultivated some local plants.
[2] The Egyptian State-sponsored expeditions used laborers, administrator, soldiers, and specialists for the mining supply and process.
[1] One account records over 1500 people working at Wadi el-Hudi, but that number likely includes the running and supply of multiple Sites by many types of personnel.
[6] Animal bones found at the site show that the workers ate salted fish, sheep, and cow that was imported from the Nile Valley.
[27] These weren't connected to larger mining activities, but might have run concurrently to the large expeditions.
[28] His daughter, Gertrude Nasim, went on to study geology and became one of the first Egyptian women to obtain a PhD in sciences.
[23] Their biggest contribution to research in this area was changing the focus from the inscriptions to the people who created them and the workers of the mine itself.
[23][34] In 1993 The Klemms visited and published on the geoarchaeology of the area, focusing on ancient gold mines at Sites 3 and 14.
[7][23] Using modern technological advancements such as 3-D modeling and RTI, the team has been able to uncover further information that was previously unknown.
[3][7] Dihmit North and South, and el-Hisnein East and West are regions close to the main Wadi el-Hudi archaeological Sites.