Egyptian pigeon towers are tall mud-brick dovecotes built to house hundreds or thousands of pigeons, which were raised for meat and for their droppings, used as fertiliser. Excavations at Karanis in the Fayum found towers from about the 1st century BC with clay nesting pots set into thick walls. A few traditional towers are still in use.
Why Egyptians built pigeon towers
Pigeons were raised in Egypt for two products: young birds for the table and manure for the fields. The papyrologist Elinor Husselman, writing about the Karanis excavations, notes that pigeon raising for both purposes was widespread in ancient Egypt and still was in her own day (University of Michigan (opens in new tab)). The manure went on vineyards and vegetable gardens, and young birds could go to market at three to four weeks old.
A tower gives a large flock somewhere safe to roost and breed, close to the farm. The birds were the same species as the domestic pigeons kept today, descended from the wild rock dove. For how the meat is eaten now, see which pigeons people eat.
What the excavations at Karanis show
Karanis was a farming town in the Fayum, south-west of Cairo, excavated by the University of Michigan. In 1953 Husselman described five large dovecotes and part of a sixth found there (University of Michigan (opens in new tab)). The oldest, known as D301, was probably built in the 1st century BC. A land survey papyrus from 118 BC already lists property that included dovecotes with 1,000 nesting pots.
The towers were roughly 4.5 metres square at the base, with walls of sun-dried brick about 1 to 1.5 metres thick at the bottom, thinning to 0.75 to 1 metre at the top. Inside, the walls were lined with clay pots laid on their sides in the brickwork. Each pot was about 45 cm high and 25 cm across at its widest, and its round mouth, about 15 cm wide, was the entrance to the nest. In one complex, C37, the surviving part alone held at least 1,000 nesting places, and Husselman thought the full number could have been 1,500 or more. A dovecote of that size was a commercial business, not a family one.
Below the pots were two or three rows of small square niches. Their purpose is not known; Husselman suggested they may have held young birds before they were old enough to breed. The basements were used as storerooms, sometimes divided into grain bins, under vaulted ceilings about 2.5 metres high. A small door at the base of one tower was probably used to clear out the manure. Because every nest faces inwards and no roofs survive, the towers were probably open at the top so the birds could fly in and out. The keeper reached the nests by ladder.
How the design changed, and what stayed the same
Not every Egyptian dovecote looked like those at Karanis. The Palestrina mosaic, a Roman-era mosaic of Nile scenes, shows a round tower with a conical dome, its nests opening to the outside and branches set in around the top for the birds to land on (University of Michigan (opens in new tab)). Writing in 1953, Husselman found that the Egyptian dovecote was still essentially what it had been 2,000 years earlier: clay pots set in masonry, branches embedded in the walls as perches, and either a separate tower or a pigeon house on the upper floor of a house or granary.
A 2023 study of dovecotes in and around Cairo describes traditional conical adobe towers up to 25 metres tall, of which few are still in use, alongside wooden dovecotes built on the flat roofs of city houses (ARQ (opens in new tab)). For a general overview of the building type, see what a dovecote is.
The pigeon towers of Iran
Iran has the other great tradition of pigeon towers, known in Persian as borj. The Encyclopaedia Iranica records that the English traveller Thomas Herbert described them in 1629–31 and that the French traveller Jean Chardin counted more than 3,000 towers around Isfahan (Encyclopaedia Iranica (opens in new tab)). They are usually cylindrical, 30 to 50 feet high and 15 to 30 feet across, and built of unbaked mud brick, with 4,000 to 6,000 perches inside. Some were said to hold more than 14,000 pigeons.
The main product was the droppings. Iranica notes that some towers are still opened once a year so the manure can be carried to the fields (Encyclopaedia Iranica (opens in new tab)). A survey of the Safavid dovecotes near Isfahan published in Antiquity describes hundreds of clay towers, thought to be around 700 years old, whose dung was used as fertiliser and in tanning (Antiquity (opens in new tab)). You can read more about pigeon droppings as fertiliser.
Smaller dovecotes for a garden are a different thing altogether; if you want to build one, see our free dovecote plans.
Egyptian pigeon towers: FAQs
How old are Egypt’s pigeon towers?
The oldest excavated example at Karanis in the Fayum was probably built in the 1st century BC, and a papyrus from 118 BC already mentions dovecotes with 1,000 nesting pots.
Why did the Egyptians keep pigeons in towers?
To raise young pigeons for food and to collect the droppings, which were used to fertilise vineyards and gardens. A tower kept a large flock together and safe in one place.
How many pigeons did a tower hold?
The large Karanis dovecote known as C37 had at least 1,000 nesting places and perhaps 1,500. Some Iranian towers were said to hold more than 14,000 pigeons.
Are pigeon towers still used in Egypt?
A few are. A 2023 study of Cairo found that only a small number of the traditional conical towers are still in use, while wooden dovecotes on the roofs of houses are common.
What were Iran’s pigeon towers for?
Mainly manure. The droppings were collected and spread on the fields, and around Isfahan they were also used in tanning. Some towers are still opened once a year to collect it.
Sources
References used for this page:
- Husselman, E.M. (1953). The Dovecotes of Karanis. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 84: 81–91 (University of Michigan Papyrology Collection). (opens in new tab)
- Bitrán (2023). Palomares de El Cairo como supraestructuras urbanas. ARQ (Santiago). (opens in new tab)
- Encyclopaedia Iranica: BORJ i. In architecture (pigeon towers). (opens in new tab)
- Antiquity project gallery: Safavid dovecotes near Isfahan. (opens in new tab)
Last updated 12 November 2026 · Facts