News & Updates
February 2026
Emily and I traveled to Faiyum on Feb 8th to explore the temple of Qasr el Sagha, located about 8 km north of Qarun Lake. The temple is rather small, yet the blocks are medium-sized megalithic and devoid of inscription or writings of any kind, except for a few modern examples. Petrie published sketches of the building in 1892, showing it to be largely true to its current form; that is, any reconstruction appears to have happened in antiquity.
Though not completely buried, the temple was filled with debris on the interior, and the exterior walls were covered several feet up from the base, particularly on the western side.
Modern excavations occurred in 1977 by the German Archaeological Institute. Two nearby settlements were discovered and attributed to the administration of the site (the “workers village”). Even though (i) the construction is reminiscent of the Old Kingdom, (ii) pottery shards from the Old Kingdom were found, and (iii) the nearby basalt quarry is connected to the Old Kingdom, the building was ascribed to the 12th dynasty, or the Middle Kingdom. Interestingly, the quarry road located 6 km to the north, and used to transport basalt, is dated to the 4th dynasty. The temple is believed to have been deconstructed, at least in part, during the Ptolemaic period. This building appears to show classic signs of reuse over many generations. Apparently the temple was dated based on the oldest pottery shards found at the site, from Senusret II-III (Middle Kingdom).
There are three known foundation layers, though only the top layer is visible today. The north west corner in particular has sunk, exposing large gaps between stone blocks.
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Haphazard excavations have also weakened the structural integrity of the building by undermining the foundation in several places. It’s not clear if seismic events or weather patterns contributed to this – or whether the structure was already falling apart before excavations began.
However, it appears that the building may have been (at least partially) reconstructed in antiquity due to some curious stone placement. Below is an image of the front “doorway”:
Note the vertical alignment of stones. This would certainly reduce structural integrity, and raises the question of whether the doorway (and door jambs) were added later. To support this, note the lack of a threshold tubular hole that is common for door hinge placement in other structures like this. There is a tubular hole in the header, but not one on the threshold. Curiously, there is a hole on the inside eastern jamb that was allegedly for some sort of locking mechanism. But the lack of threshold hole seems to cast doubt on this. Perhaps the stones were added later, or positioned incorrectly, or the structure was unfinished (of course).
The lack of any inscriptions whatsoever could also indicate the building was originally constructed in remote antiquity.
The immediate 20 feet or so around the building is spartan, but to the west, there are piles of rubble (and possibly midden material). This area is rife with lithics off all sorts.
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We identified 20-30 flint objects that were clearly worked, and some others made from unknown stone. We also found several larger stones that appeared to be the source for producing smaller points.
It appears the material was removed from the temple and casually dumped 30-50 feet away, without much care. We found quite a few worked pieces, despite having no shovels or rakes with us to assist.
There is a large quantity of lithics at the site, and it would be a fruitful trip if we decided to include this location. In addition, the presence of such material may support the thesis that primitive cultures once resided here. Whether they did so before the Old or Middle Kingdom times is unclear.
- Adam Young