Not at all! This is rendered with the path tracer, however. The environment light would not have the same effect, correct?
The scene is a lighting challenge because of the deep, deep shadow cast by the left wall of the cut. Freely changing the orientation of the sun is not an option because I want it to be historically accurate. The channel is on a N-S axis, facing south, so you will either get a heavy shadow on either side or the sun shining directly into the camera. I went for a late-morning sun in early summer to minimize the shadow, but it still needed some help or the poor fellows under the wall just disappeared.
Add to that the heavy overcast and several layers of dust clouds . . . this was not a pleasant place to work, so my goal was to make the atmosphere look thick and oppressive . . . almost like a storm is about to break.
