Tura | |
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District | |
| Hayy Tura | |
 Depiction of alimestone quarry in Tura | |
  Tura Location in Egypt | |
| Coordinates:29°56′45″N31°19′05″E / 29.94583°N 31.31806°E /29.94583; 31.31806 | |
| Country | Egypt |
| Governorate | Cairo |
| Area | |
• Total | 25 sq mi (65 km2) |
| Population (2023) | |
• Total | 245,644 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EST) |
Tura (Egyptian Arabic:طرةTora IPA:[ˈtˤoɾˤɑ],Coptic:ⲧⲣⲱⲁ,Ancient Greek:Τρωια or Τρωη[1]) was the primaryquarry forlimestone inancient Egypt.[2] The site, which was known by the ancient Egyptians asTroyu orRoyu, is located about halfway between modern-dayCairo andHelwan.[3] Its ancient Egyptian name was misinterpreted by the ancient Greek geographerStrabo, who thought it meant it was inhabited byTrojans, thus theHellenistic city was named Troia.[4] The site is located by the modern town of Tora in theCairo Governorate.[5]
The limestone from the quarry is thought to be part of theMokattam Formation, which was deposited during the lateLutetian stage of theEocene epoch, about 42 million years. Some fossil fish species have been described from the quarry.[6][7][8]
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| rꜣ-ꜣw inhieroglyphs | |||||
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Thelimestone from Tura was the finest and whitest of all the Egyptian quarries, so it was used for facing stones for the richest tombs,[9] as well as for the floors and ceilings ofmastabas, which were otherwise made of mudbrick.[10] It was used during theOld Kingdom and was the source of the limestone used for the "Rhomboidal Pyramid" orBent Pyramid ofSneferu,[11] theGreat Pyramid ofKhufu,[12] thesarcophagi of many Old Kingdom nobles,[13] the pyramids of the Middle Kingdom,[14] and certain temples of theNew Kingdom built by at leastAhmose I, who may have used Tura limestone to begin the temple ofPtah atMemphis and the Southern Harem of Amun atThebes.[15]
The Tura limestone was deep underground and instead ofopen-pit mining, the carved tunnels to cut large stones out, leaving some limestone behind to support the caverns left behind.[4] These tunnels were surveyed by British Forces in 1941, and in quarry 35, workmen found many loosequires from books byOrigen andDidymus the Blind, twoAlexandrianChurch Fathers. The workers who found them stole them, and although some were seized by the authorities, most are still missing, and turn up on the antiquities market from time to time. It is believed that some of the original books could have been up to 480 pages.[16]
The caves were adapted by British forces during World War II, initially using them to store a variety of equipment, including munitions.[17] In 1942, it was decided they would serve better as a bomb-proof location for the repair of aircraft engines by theRoyal Air Force, and it was the engine repair section under 111 Maintenance Unit that was inspected on 22 August 1942 byWinston Churchill, who recorded that "Everything looked very smart and efficient on the spot, and an immense amount of work was being done day and night by masses of skilled men. But I had my tables of facts and figures and remained dissatisfied. The scale was far too small."[18] The use of the caves for RAF aircraft engine repairs continued until 1945.
Some fossil taxa of marineray-finned fish have been described from the quarry, including twosoles (Eobuglossus andTurahbuglossus),[8] agrunt (Kemtichthys[19]), aneel in the extinct genusMylomyrus (Mylomyrus frangens), and an enigmatic scalelesspercoid fish (Blabe). All these fish would have inhabited the oceans that covered the area during theMiddle Eocene, between 48.6 and 37.2 million years ago.[6][7]
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