Science rescues two Egyptian temples

Title

Language

English

Year

1961

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

Science Rescues Two Of all the historic monu ments and ruins of ancient Nubia, now threatend by the building of Aswan Dam on the Upper Nile, the two tem ples of Abu Simbel have most captured the popular imagina tion. The magnificent facades of the Great Temple and the Lit tle, or Queen’s, Temple, both hewn out of solid rock some thirty-two centuries ago in the reign of King Rameses II, and erected in honour of Ra meses and his Queen Nefertari, rise up majestically from the banks of the Nile. These great temples, dedi cated to three gods, AmanRah, Ptah and especially to Re^Harakhte, god of the Ris ing Sun, evoke admiration of the skill of those who fashion ed and decorated these monu ments, and wonder at the scientific knowledge of the ar chitects who conceived and created such temples. At that time, man’s know ledge of geology and chemist ry could have been only ele mentary. Yet—and this amaz es present-day experts—these unknown Egyptian masters obviously knew enough about types of soil and the effects of water and wind erosion to build for an eternity on a site perfectly suited to the needs of worship. A Project Worthy of Ancient Egypt The scope of these temples probably can be matched on ly by that of a proposed plan to save them from being swal lowed up by the Nile once the new dam is built. This is the boldest aspect of the entire campaign to save the Nubian monuments, launched b y Unesco in co-operation with the United Arab Republic and the Sudan. The final choice made by the government of the U.A.R., and endorsed by Unesco, on the advice of a number of commissions of experts, is for a plan submitted by Italian specialists (Italconsult). This calls for raising bodily the two blocks of rock in which the temples are embedded to somewhat more than 180 feet above their present site, and then restoring their present setting. 64 Panorama Egyptian Temples It is estimated that the task will take more than six years. A small army of technicians and workmen will have to carry it out in a spot which is practically a desert. And, during this time, there will be the danger of rising flood waters. Preliminary Work First, a network of roads must be built to spots select ed for storing materials; an air strip has to be prepared for planes and a floating dock, unaffected by changes in the level of the Nile, must be built; an electric power sta tion must be constructed; and, of course, a temporary city created to house those work ing on the project and give them facilities needed by a community in the desert. Meanwhile, actual construc tion work on the project will start with the building of a dike running the length of the facades of the two temples. This water-tight earthwork is to protect the whole opera tion from the rising level of the new lake. Between this earthwork and the facade, a trench will be dug, 50 feet deep, from which under ground galleries will burrow into the rock under the tem ples. During this preliminary stage, an important task will be to re-inforce the structures both inside and outside. This is an exceedingly delicate operation. The rock and the monuments carved in it have suffered from the ravages of time, and the rock itself still bears the same cracks and fis sures that existed before the temples were built, and with which those early stone work ers knew so well how to deal. Today, these weak points which might give way during the moving operation must be reinforced. It is only after these preli minaries have been completed that the real work can begin of directly raising the tem ples. Two Giant “Boxes? Three complicated opera tions are involved. First, the “scalping” of the temples by the removal of the mass of rock which covers them in December 1961 65 order to lessen the overall weight to be raised. The por tion of the hill, thus taken off, will be replaced in its origin al position when it comes to the final landscaping. Next, the huge block of rock containing the temples must be sliced free and an ar tificial casing built in front of their facades so that the space between the casing and each facade can be filled with a “padding” of sand. Finally, and most important, three pa rallel groups of underground galleries must be driven un der what will serve as the floor of the “boxes”. It is this base, with the thickness of from twelve to fifteen feet, that will take the upward thrust of the lifting jacks. 5 This lengthy phase of opera tions is the one which calls for the most meticulous pre cision. It will be impossible to use explosives or machin ery which could cause vibra tion. Experiments carried out in Norway with even more brittle rock than that at Abu Zimbel show that only com pressed air machinery can be used. At 20 to 25 feet inside the rock, pneumatic hammers, weighing no more than 75 pounds and capable of 1,000 blows a minute, will be used, but electric saws and scissors will be employed at the most sensitive cutting points. During all these ope rations, a 24-hour micro- seis mic watch will be kept to de tect the slightest danger. With the two “boxes” of rock and sand, hermetically sealed and finally sliced away from the rest of the mass of rock, jacks can be placed un der the base, beneath which a metal grating is stretched to insure uniform pressure from the jacks. Then follows the mighty task of lifting the temples in synchronised movements, at the rate of two millimetres at a time. Each hydraulic jack is operated from a central control point where any break in the equi librium will be immediately visible. The jacks themselves, which may be either hydrau lic or mechanical, will have an individual lifting power of either 2,000 or 1,000 tons each, working alternately in two groups. So far, however, the experts have reached no de cision on this point. Thus, little by little, four square on the giant piles that are to serve as their perma nent base, the temples will rise more than over 180 feet. Tribute to the Experts of the Past After the major operation of lifting the base of the tem ples is completed, the final 66 Panorama phase of the work begins: the restoring of the previously “scalped” summit on top of the hill, and of the original landscaping. This involves re creating not only the actual scenery, but the same physical conditions—the facades will be at the same height above water as before—chosen by the original builders. The preservation of Abu Simbel is not the only project being undertaken in the “Campaign to Save the Monu ments of Nubia.” Throughout the area of what will be a 300 mile-long lake to be created between the First and the Second Cataract to hold the water behind the new dam, teams from a number of coun tries have answered the ap peal sent out by Unesco at the request of the govern ments of the Sudan and the U.A.R. These teams are carry ing out almost non-stop work, excavating, making photo grammetric pictures, drilling down into prehistoric times, and moving whole temples and works of art from the threatened area. By the time the dam is com pleted, work to . preserve an other historic, and no less il lustrious, monument, the Island of Philae, will have been completed, thanks again to international assistance. But the saving of Abu Sim bel, both in its scientific dar ing and the amount of finan cial help which the world is being asked to contribute, takes on a special symbolic value. It will enable today’s civilization to pay tribute to another, long since gone, which dared to create a mo nument that still startles us with its size and beauty. * ♦ * “A wife and an automobile are expensive luxuries.” “I don't agree with you. With both of them, the expense is in the accessories” * * ♦ Mrs. Methuselah: Just received this not from mother saying she will arrive tomorrow for a short visit—but don't worry, dear—it will only be a couple of years. December 1961 67

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