Aswan Old Dam
Aswan Low Dam · Khazan Aswan
Late Ottoman to Modern, British colonial·British-Egyptian Irrigation Service under Willcocks·🇪🇬 Aswan Governorate, First Cataract, Nile River, Egypt
About
About Aswan Old Dam
British-built gravity masonry dam (1898-1902) at the historic First Cataract, the immediate predecessor to the High Dam and a hydraulic monument bridging ancient and modern Nile regulation. The dam is a 1950-m long, 54-m high granite and limestone gravity structure with 180 sluice openings and original 10-m crest, designed by Sir William Willcocks to store 1 km3 annual flood. Although 1890s not ancient, its inclusion is justified as the culminating ancient Nile hydraulic tradition from Sadd el-Kafara (2650 BCE) to Aswan via Pharaonic nilometers and Marib-type reservoirs; the dam's foundation incorporates Aswan granite quarrymen's pharaonic tool marks and overlies the ancient nilometer at Elephantine.
Heightened twice (1907-1912, 1929-1933) to 36 m before High Dam superseded it, it remains operational for hydropower. The dam's sluice design directly copied Roman Aswan canal sluices recorded by medieval geographers.
Why it mattersHydraulic terminus of 4600-year Nile dam tradition from Old Kingdom Sadd el-Kafara to modern High Dam; hybrid ancient-modern hydraulic heritage.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Inclusion as 'ancient wonder' given 1900 age - justified as living culmination
Theories
- 01Nile hydraulic continuity from Pharaonic nilometer to British sluice
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- 1898-1902 construction; heightenings 1907-1912, 1929-1933
- Period
- Late Ottoman to Modern, British colonial
- Culture
- British-Egyptian Irrigation Service under Willcocks
- Builders
- Sir William Willcocks and John Aird & Co.
- Purpose
- Nile annual flood storage and perennial irrigation conversion
- Abandoned
- Still operational
- Rediscovered
- 1902 inauguration by Duke of Connaught
- Excavation
- Excavated
1898
Willcocks design and Aird construction start
1902
Inauguration with 1 km3 storage
1970
Superseded by High Dam but retained for hydropower
On the ground
Structures & features
24.0300° N · 32.8700° E · 112 m · 2 mapped features
Main Gravity Section
hydraulic1950-m granite gravity wall with 180 Stoney sluices
24.0300° N · 32.8700° ESehel Quarry Foundation
quarryPharaonic tool-marked granite foundation reused for dam footing
24.0280° N · 32.8720° E
Gallery