The aim of this section is to provide the reader with a description of the gold mines referred to in this thesis, with references and the author’s interpretation.  The content has been summarized in a table of keywords, which in turn were used to explain the administration and organisation of the Roman gold mining settlements in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.  The aim is to establish a workable theory in order to understand the organisation of the mining industry in this desert at the time of the Roman period.  One must understand that the dating of these settlements is based on data from surface finds and period markers.  These finds usually represent the last occupation phase of settlements.  Sub-pages to this section are preceded by a list of the names of mines, quarries and road station per desert road as stated in publications.  However, it must be stressed that this is a pure, artificial exercise by the author to facility their geological location.  It is not always sure that the mines were associated with the road it is now recorded under. 

Each site entry has a section displaying the demographic information: name and aliases if known or translation.  The name in bold is the name that is used in this study.  The various transcriptions on the names can be found under ‘aliase(s)’.  When there is confusion on the name but the latitude and longitude are a match a ‘?’ follows and the name of the author(s) between brackets.  The dating of these sites comes from publications.  Although the period of my study is the Roman period, I have also given a brief summary in the free text section for all known periods for that particular settlement.  Again when there are doubts or conflicting information I have made this clear (‘?’, and the name of the author).  Some of the sites are not dated as the information was not published, which is most likely due to the poor conservation of the mine(s).  Reference(s) to other dated or linked sites are included per entry.  The latitudes and longitudes are provided in the heading ‘location’.  At times there is more than one GPS measurement as various surveyors use their own equipment for recording the locations, which are known to vary as a norm.  For a few sites the latitude and longitude were not available, this is due to fact that some of the older publication did not had this information.  Under the same heading information on the ancient desert road(s) (Ptolemaic or Roman) that run nearby the mining settlements, the quotation of ‘off-road’ is given.  If the mine lies ‘off-road’ this is also recorded.  The ancient road is in italic with the modern name between brackets.

A second section with tick boxes contains the keywords; this is to assist the reader when searching for something specific.  What is written in italic is additional information important enough to be mentioned but is not included in the table.  This is also followed by a reference list: the authors, date of publication and pages within the book or article.  A full alphabetical reference list is provided at the bend of each sub-page.  I have visited a few of the sites in this chapter when on survey with Prof. Dr. Sidebotham of the University of Delaware, Newark USA and a few on my own.  My observations are also recorded in here as ‘personal observation’ and the year.  Some information has been found in online-only articles and publications have been recorded according to the Harvard Dictionary index.

The final part of the site description is a free text containing a summary of what has been published and where available my own findings.  On occasion I have found conflicting information in publications and have attempted to make this clear by putting between brackets the name of the author(s) and year of publication.  Site names have been underlined where they are associated with the site discussed.  This facilitates the understanding of the mining settlements of the Eastern Desert as an entirety.  Specific statements and definition on the function of the sites have the author’s name and publication date in brackets.  If there is a description of the settlement that is dated to a specific period then this is made clear by putting that period at the beginning of the paragraph.  The information found in particularly from older publications is sometimes difficult to combine with the more recent books and articles but I have attempted to combine this information and where not possible this is made clear.  The free text also includes a summary of the geology, the majority of this was found in the books of Hume and Klemm, Klemm. 

The gold mines are grouped in six sections, each based on their proximity to the desert roads.  At the start of each group a list is given with the name of that road, a list of road stations and gold mine sites.  Some sites such as Atolla occur in more than one group as their association with these routes are clear and or both are contemporary to each other.  It might be that this gold mine used another road as the one it is currently recorded under was not in use or not so much in use; or because another was more convenient to use.  Various hypotheses apply and needs further investigation.

This is a quick overview of 52 settlements I have both visited and researched in modern publications 

(I'll find a nicer looking way of publishing this list, I am still trying to find my way around creating websites)