Image Details

Werner Braun

The canyon of inscriptions at Wadi Umm Sideira in the Sinai displays a concentration of inscriptions carved into stone by Nabatean, Jewish and other travelers who crossed through the valley in antiquity. Inscriptions on rock have a long history in this region, extending back to the 16th century B.C., when Semitic workmen at the turquoise mines of Serabit el-Khadem wrote inscriptions in Proto-Sinaitic, the earliest form of the alphabet, on the mine walls.