El Hawawish is the name given to the site of the ancient necropolis for the city of Akhmim in the Sohag Governorate, Egypt.
Location of El Hawawish Necropolis
El Hawawish lies in Akhmim in the Sohag Governorate, Egypt.
Excavations
An Australian archaeological and epigraphic expedition under the Australian Centre for Egyptology and Macquarie University under the direction of Professor Naguib Kanawati excavated the cemetery extensively.
Al-Hawawish Necropolis is one of the most prominent archaeological sites in Sohag. Al-Hawawish lies about 10 km east of Sohag and 7 km from Akhmim, which was its main cemetery during the Old Kingdom. This site attracted the Australian Research Council and Macquarie University’s Australian Center for Egyptology Research to conduct scientific excavations from the early 1980s until the early 1990s.
Al-Hawawish Cemetery contains more than 800 tombs dating back to the Old Kingdom (2494-2181 BC) and the First Transition Period (2181-2055 BC). Nearly 60 tombs still preserve some inscriptions, funerary scenes, offerings, daily life, dancing and hunting, and agriculture in the ancient Akhmim, while five are well maintained.
The monumental Al-Hawawish Necropolis and Athribis Temple in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Sohag have been officially inaugurated after development work.
On the southern side of the Nile in Upper Egypt lies the governorate of Sohag, with its rich archaeological sites from the early ancient Egyptian era right through the Ptolemaic, Graeco-Roman, Coptic and Islamic periods.
However, foreign tourists seldom visit the governorate despite its distinguished monuments and historical landmarks.
To promote the governorate’s archaeological sites and encourage tourists to visit its monuments, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has launched plans to develop its sites and make them more tourist-friendly, upgrading its facilities management and continuing the goal to preserve and conserve them.
Earlier this week, the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Khaled El-Enany and top officials from the ministry inaugurated two archaeological sites in Sohag after their development. These were the Al-Hawawish Necropolis in Akhmim and the Athribis Temple (Al-Sheikh Hamad), located 10km southwest of Sohag.
The restoration and development of both sites were completed over two years and carried out in collaboration with the Sohag governorate, represented by the Local Development Project for the development of Upper Egypt. The World Bank financed the projects.
Eman Zidan, assistant to the minister for museums and archaeological site development, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the work involved developing services for visitors on both sites, such as installing explanatory panels and producing brochures and pamphlets equipped with QR codes that allow visitors to carry smartphones to read the information in Arabic, English, German, French, and Dutch.
In addition to several sunshades, benches have been installed on the visiting path for the guests’ convenience. Toilets and rubbish bins designed for recycling have also been installed.
The sites are accessible for people with functional needs through the rehabilitation of pathways, booklets in Braille, film translations in visitor centres in sign language, and other services that improve the visitor experience. A parking area, cafeteria, ticket office, visitor centre and administrative headquarters were also provided.
Preventive measures to be adhered to during visits have been supported by providing masks, sterile materials, temperature-measuring devices, and maps that include archaeological and tourist attractions in Sohag. Surveillance cameras have been installed, a cafeteria constructed, and several bazaars are now.
The restoration work at Al-Hawawish includes the installation of new stairs and ramps to facilitate visits to the tombs. Wall paintings and inscriptions inside the burials have been consolidated, restored, and cleaned of smoke, dust, and bird deposits.
El-Enany announced that all Egyptians will be given free entry to both sites and guided tours until March to raise archaeological awareness among local inhabitants.
He said the ministry was working hard to develop services provided in museums and archaeological sites around Egypt to improve the visitor experience, preserve Egyptian antiquities, promote tourism, and raise archaeological awareness.
Within the digital transformation project framework for museums and archaeological sites, the ministry is activating an electronic reservation system by activating electronic payments by cards, electronic wallets, and contactless cards at museums in Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
They will be introduced at other museums and sites shortly.
Elsewhere in Sohag, the Sohag National Museum was inaugurated some years ago, 29 years after laying its foundation stone. The Ministry of Antiquities developed the Abydos Temple area and reduced the groundwater level at the Osirion Temple. Also, it resorted to the colossus of King Ramses II in the open-air museum in Akhmim and raised it beside the colossus of his daughter Merit-Amun.
The Athribis Temple houses a collection of Ptolemaic monuments, a temple dedicated to the lion-goddess Repyt, and a massive gateway of Ptolemy VIII Euergetes. They also began the construction of a temple against the slope of a hill where a few remains are in situ.
A granite temple from the reign of the 26th Dynasty king Haaibre is also to be found, as well as a structure of Ptolemy IX Soter with a pylon and an enclosure wall.
There is also a Roman birth-house begun by Ptolemy XII Auletes and completed by the Roman emperor Hadrian during the Roman period.
The birth house was dedicated to Triphis and is fronted by a pronaos with two rows of six pillars still in good condition. Behind the pronaos is an open court that a colonnade may have surrounded.
Several Roman emperors had their names carved on these buildings, with some of the blocks used during the Coptic period to construct the nearby White Monastery.
The distinguished Ptolemaic Zodiac Tomb in the nearby necropolis belongs to two brothers, Ibpemeny the Younger and Pemehyt. Ancient Egyptians decorated its ceiling with two zodiacs dating to the late second century CE.
The El-Hawawish Necropolis is considered one of the most important archaeological sites in Sohag. It contains over 900 rock-cut tombs dating back to the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period. Nearly 60 tombs still preserve inscriptions and funerary scenes depicting offerings, the daily life of the deceased, dancing, hunting, and agriculture.
Due to the government’s sustainable development policies, the upcoming period will witness a great leap forward in developing services at museums and archaeological sites across Egypt.