Sebakh
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Sebakh (Arabic, (IPA: /sε'bɔk/, and less commonly transliterated as sebbakh) is the Arabic term given to decomposed organic material that can be employed as an agricultural fertilizer.
Most sebakh consists of decomposed mud brick, a primary building material in ancient Egypt.
A common practice in Egypt, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, was for farmers to obtain government permits to remove this material from ancient mounds; a mound of this type is also known as a tell, or tel.
An archaeological site could provide an excellent source of sebakh because decomposed organic debris creates a soil very rich in nitrogen. Nitrogen is an essential component in fertilizers used for plant crops.
Numerous potentially valuable archaeological finds were unfortunately destroyed by farmers in this way. However, it should be noted that sebakh digging also led to the discovery of archaeological finds that might otherwise have gone undetected.