The two small fortresses in Qasr el Geb and Qasr el Sumeira were built by the Roman and later used by the Turkish during the Ottoman era. They are located 49.2 kilometres (30 miles) north of Qasr Kharga. Both have ample mounds of large shards and in some instances nearly complete pots have been found. Neither of these fortresses has been excavated. The well-preserved one is Qasr el Geb, which is named after the ancient Egyptian god of the earth. It is a small, square fortress sitting atop a hill; it is constructed of mudbrick and has thick exterior walls. The main entrance is along the southern wall where there are also two windows. Qasr el Sumeira is a square building with rounded buttresses in the four corners. In the interior, mostly collapsed, there is a series of rooms. Ain Mohammed Toleib is located 32 kilometres (20 miles) north of Qasr Kharga. On the site there are the remains of a fortressthat gets its name from the man who once owned the land in the area. Only two walls of the building are standing and the interior is ruined. At Ain Amur, the Spring of the Lovely One, there are the ruins of a Roman temple/fortress which is only decorated on the back wall. There is graffiti on the jambs of the main gateway; they were left by hermits living in the caves around Ain Amur during the Christian era. Ain Amur has yet to be excavated. A local guide is essential to reach Ain Amur. Qasr el Nessin, the Fortress of the Breeze, is 14 kilometres (8.7 kilometres) along a dirt track to the west of the main road 6 kilometres (4 miles) south of Qasr Kharga. Little is known about this site, but it is probably Coptic. Tabid el Darawish is a small Islamic fortress erected in Maks Bahri by the British during the Dervish invasion of the oasis. It is a two storey structure and until recently was used as a home by a member of the village (Vivian 1990).
