We went forth to the desert land…
-Line 9 from Stela JE59499, Jebel al-Asr (Chephren’s Quarry), 65km NW of Abu Simbel, Reign of Amenemhat III, 18C BCE
I wish I’d known about this Stela, inscribed by a royal stonecutter no doubt angry to have been sent so far from the Nile, when our Dabouka passed close by in our last days on the Darb. We too had gone forth to the desert land and also returned with words worth writing. I read recently that this Pharaonic quarry site, desert no longer, has been bulldozed and levelled for the Toshka Canal’s pivot irrigation scheme.