Umm es-Sawan Ancient Basalt Quarry

An ancient quarry on Gebel el-Qatrani in Egypt's Western Desert, exploited during the 3rd millennium BC. While primarily known as a basalt quarry, it is also unique as Egypt's only known source of alabaster gypsum, used for elite burial vessels from the Predynastic period onward. Thousands of unfinished stone vases litter the site, along with crescent-type drills and over 200 stone circles interpreted as workshop spaces. The gypsum was transported overland to pyramid fields at Dahshur. Part of the UNESCO Tentative List.