CAIRO: The ruins of two buildings used to supervise mines in ancient Egypt more than 4,400 years ago have been discovered in the south, the antiquities ministry said on Thursday.
The find was made by a US-Egyptian mission in the Tal Edfu area north of the city of Aswan.
One building was from the era of the pharaoh Djedkare Isesi of the fifth dynasty which ruled Egypt more than 4,400 years ago, the ministry said.
The other was constructed during the sixth dynasty which ruled between 2,323 BC and 2,135 BC.
“The complex consists of two massive buildings containing many rooms and it is yet to be fully examined,” the antiquities ministry’s Ayman Ashmawy told AFP.
“These buildings were used as administrative buildings for the mining teams which would head to the eastern desert to search for gold, copper and precious stones.”
The mission found a large number of seals “used to seal everything that would enter and leave storage,” in addition to correspondence between officials and the pharaoh, he said.
According to historians, Djedkare Isesi’s era was known for its expeditions to extract raw materials, especially copper, from south Sinai.
Separately near Aswan, an Egyptian team found a limestone funerary plate 40 centimeters (nearly 16 inches) tall and 27 centimeters (10.5 inches) wide, Ashmawy said.
It was found in the temple of Kom Ombo where a 25-centimeter-tall sandstone statue of a person squatting and two statues of the deity Horus were also discovered.
Ancient mining operations buildings found in Egypt
Ancient mining operations buildings found in Egypt
Not Italy’s Devil’s Island: Sardinia bristles at mafia inmate plan
- A third of top-risk mafia prisoners could go to Sardinia
- Officials say clans may follow relatives and infiltrate economy
NUORO: In Nuoro, a remote city on the Italian island of Sardinia, a high stone wall rings the local prison, a fortress-like complex once renowned for holding high-profile mobsters and convicted terrorists far from the mainland.
Only a handful of top mafiosi remain detained there and Sardinia is no longer seen as a dumping ground for criminals, instead building an international reputation around tourism.
But that could change under a plan of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government which has alarmed residents. In December, a justice undersecretary said about 750 prisoners held under the rigid “41bis” regime would be concentrated in just a few dedicated facilities across Italy, overseen by special guard units to improve security.
Sardinia has been told it may get nearly a third of them, split between Sassari in the north, already housing about 90, the capital Cagliari, where around 90 are due to arrive this month, and Nuoro — reviving old stigma concerns.
“Sardinia does not deserve to be seen as Italy’s Cayenne,” said Governor Alessandra Todde, invoking the notorious former French Guiana penal colony on Devil’s Island.
Worries of Mafia infiltration
Italy’s 41bis regime, named after the law that regulates it, is among the most restrictive in Europe. Introduced in 1992 after the murder of anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, it imposes near-total isolation on prisoners and was designed to stop bosses running their operations from behind bars.
The law says it should “preferably” be enforced on Italy’s islands. The late boss of the Sicilian mafia, Salvatore “Toto” Riina, was among those once held in Sardinia.
Locals and authorities fear the government plan could prompt mafia clans to move from mainland Italy to be near jailed relatives, creating opportunities to launder illicit money and infiltrate business, particularly in less developed areas, such as Nuoro, a city of 30,000 people.
Silvio Lai, a Sardinian lawmaker with the opposition Democratic Party, visited the city prison last month and said renovation work was already ongoing, potentially making room for at least 30 new maximum-security inmates.
“Weak economies can be infiltrated easily, and Nuoro is about an hour’s drive from the Costa Smeralda,” Lai said, suggesting a mafia foothold in the city could swiftly spread to the island’s luxurious tourist resort.
The Justice Ministry did not respond to a request to comment on the work.
Improving national security
Autonomous mafia groups have never emerged in sparsely populated Sardinia, but magistrates say investigations have been opened into alleged clan penetration in the north of the island, possibly encouraged by the presence of detained mobsters.
“Prosecutors are keeping a close watch on the phenomenon of Camorra (a mafia group based around Naples) investments... especially in the tourism, hospitality and restaurant sectors,” said Cagliari chief prosecutor Luigi Patronaggio.
At a December meeting with regional officials, Justice Undersecretary Andrea Delmastro Delle Vedove downplayed the risk of a mass move to Sardinia, minutes show, arguing that families of 41bis detainees do not typically leave clan-controlled areas.
“This (plan) will ensure greater national security... will make individual prisons safer because only specialized prison guard units will be deployed,” Delmastro said.
However, Maria Cristina Ornano, head of the sentence enforcement tribunal in Cagliari, said police and the judiciary will need increased security resources if more mobsters arrive.
“Once organized crime takes root here, we will not be able to get rid of it. We can see it in parts of southern Italy, which are among the most
