Ancient site · South Sinai
Serabit el-Khadim
A remote desert plateau in south-west Sinai where the ancient Egyptians mined turquoise, crowned by a temple of the goddess Hathor.
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The story
The site lies in the south-west of the Sinai Peninsula near Abu Zenima, and was mined for turquoise and copper since antiquity. Excavations led by Flinders Petrie uncovered mining camps and a long-lived temple of Hathor, protector of desert regions and mistress of turquoise. The temple was founded under Senusret I in the Middle Kingdom and partly rebuilt in the New Kingdom. Later rulers added chapels, and commemorative stelae were set up along the route by expedition members. Among the most famous finds are the inscriptions Petrie found in 1905, later known as Proto-Sinaitic script.
Good to know
- The Temple of Hathor here was founded under Senusret I in the Middle Kingdom.
- An important turquoise-mining site, where copper was also extracted.
- Inscriptions discovered here in 1905 became known as Proto-Sinaitic script.