The Early Basilica Church, El-Ashmonein Archaeological Site, Minia, Egypt: Geo-Environmental Analysis and Engineering Characterization of the Building Materials

Sayed Hemeda,Abdulrahman Fahmy,Abbas Moustafa,Mahmoud Abd El Hafez

doi:10.4236/ojg.2019.93011

Abstract

El-Ashmonein is a significant archaeological site with different buildings from various eras. Between the villages of El-Idara and El-Ashmonein are there mains of Hermopolis, one of the ancient Egyptian metropolis capitals of the fifteenth century of Upper Egypt, called the hare. The buildings in this archaeological site are exposed to many causes of destruction and damage. The remaining structures and granite free standing columns in this area are suffered from plenty of geo-environmental and geotechnical problems. The main objectives of this study are 1) to assess the current state of preservation of this important archaeological site, especially the basilica church with its free standing huge columns, 2) to analyze the different actions which cause the destruction of the archaeological site, in particular the old flash floods and earthquakes, and 3) to identify the geochemical and engineering properties of the construction materials of the granitic columns and other limestone structures of the basilica church by using different kind of sophisticated analytical and diagnostic tools and methods. The multi-criteria analysis allowed the integration of several elements for mapping the vulnerable zones. Results revealed that about 80% of the study area was exposed to high and medium old floods vulnerability because of the vicinity to the Nile River. The structural and non-structural measures recommended in this research will help the decision makers and planners to effectively develop strategies for future site management, intervention retrofitting and rehabilitation of this unique archaeological site.

Highlights

The main objectives of this study are 1) to assess the current state of preservation of this important archaeological site, especially the basilica church with its free standing huge columns, 2) to analyze the different actions which cause the destruction of the archaeological site, in particular the old flash floods and earthquakes, and 3) to identify the geochemical and engineering properties of the construction materials of the granitic columns and other limestone structures of the basilica church by using different kind of sophisticated analytical and diagnostic tools and methods
El-Ashmonein is a small village located in Mellway District of Miniagovernerate, which is about 246 km from Cairo, situated on the western bank of Nile river, 27 m elevation and one of the ancient Egyptian metropolis capitals of the fifteenth century of Upper Egypt is called the “hare” [1] as shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2
The objectives of this research highlight the importance of this archaeological site, the reasons of the destruction of the archeological site including the focal study upon Basilica church, the current state of preservation for the archaeological site, identification of the construction materials of the free-standing stone columns of the Basilica church, and identification of the geochemical, physical and mechanical characterizations of the construction materials

Summary

Introduction

El-Ashmonein is a small village located in Mellway District of Miniagovernerate, which is about 246 km from Cairo, situated on the western bank of Nile river, 27 m elevation and one of the ancient Egyptian metropolis capitals of the fifteenth century of Upper Egypt is called the “hare” [1] as shown in Figure 1 (old map for different old cities including El-Ashmonein archaeological site) and Figure 2 (cross section for Mellawy by using GIS software including El-Ashmonein). El-Ashmonein archaeological site contains several old temples such as Thoth temple, Roman temples and Basilica church. The authors visited the archaeological site of El-Ashmonein for engineering surveying, taking pictures, sampling and understanding the current state of preservation for the archaeological site. In this year, the excavations by the British Museum in the temple of Thoth at El-Ashmonein revealed building remains consisting of the lower courses of a wall and one side of a door, with an adjacent area of limestone paving [2]. According to Jeffrey Spencer (1983), this volume of book contains the results of a survey carried out by the British museum expedition on the archaeological site of El-Ashmonein the ancient Hermopolis Magna in middle Egypt.

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