It lies sixty-two kilometers to the north of Aswan and it is one of the best well preserved stone quarries of the Pharaonic Era. Here, the Ancient Egyptians used to cut blocks of stones for the New Kingdom's chapels, chariness, statues, etc. The Greek and the Romans used these quarries as well. In the modern time, in 1902, the quarries were used again to extract materials for the building of the Essna lock untill the authorities prohibited such work because of the cracks produced in the Chapel of Horemheb and other 13 chapels.