The Ancient Kingdom era in the history of Egypt is a time of large-scale penetration of the early centralized state beyond the Nile Valley in order to gain control over the resources of the surrounding areas and routes to them. The territory of ancient Nubia was a traditional source of precious stones, metals, wood, precious stones and other types of exotic raw materials for Egypt. The exploitation of Nubian wealth was a complex organizational and logistical task, which involved creating a well-developed infrastructure and resource base capable of ensuring the effective operation of Egyptian state expeditions in the mines and quarries, as well as commercial enterprises and military campaigns. The purpose of this article is to trace the stages and patterns of development of the Egyptian expedition infrastructure in Nubia in the era of the Ancient Kingdom. Keywords: Ancient Egypt, Nubia, Ancient kingdom, desert, expeditions, mines, quarries. AWAY FROM NATIVE BANKS: ANCIENT EGYPTIANS AND THEIR SEARCH FOR THE REACHES OF NUBIA DURING THE OLD KINGDOM Maxim LEBEDEV Along with trade and military ventures ancient Egyptian expeditions to mines and quarries beyond the Nile Valley were one of the most important means of interaction with alien geographical regions and ethnical groups for supplying the Egyptian civilization with raw materials and prestige commodities. Nubian lands had always been an important source of primary products consumed by the Egyptian elite: gneiss, copper, semi-precious stones, exotic goods, and gold along with livestock and manpower were exported from Nubia to Egypt since at least the Early Dynastic period. However, there is still much uncertainty on the nature of contacts between the Egyptian and Nubian societies during the Old Kingdom. The obvious lack of both written and archaeological sources complicate the process of understanding the real scale of the Egyptian military, economic, and cultural penetration into the lands to the south of the First C ... Read more