Merimde Beni Salama site in Delta is larger than was thought

The Merimde Beni Salama site is about 60km north-west of Cairo and is considered to be the oldest evidence of civilisation on the Delta

By Nevine El-Aref , Thursday 9 Apr 2015

During the recent archaeological season which ends in April, the mission of the Egypt Exploration Society uncovered new scientific evidence revealing that the borders of the major Neolithic settlement site of Merimde Beni Salama on the western margin of the Delta, extends a further 200 metres to the south-west.

Joanne Rowland, head of the mission, explained that they started the work to know about such extensions in the summer of 2014, after test trenches had been dug by the ministry of antiquities prior to the laying of a gas pipeline. It was then possible to examine the area just to the west of the modern asphalt road and it was also confirmed by the ministry investigations, as well as in test trenches worked on by the the current mission, that ceramics of the Neolithic era were present.

“This means that the settlement extents at least 200m south-west of what was formerly considered to be the boundary of the settlement,”  Rowland told Ahram Online. She continued to say that the forthcoming investigations and post-excavation analysis would be able to confirm whether this newly discovered area was occupied during the latest periods of occupation of the settlement as anticipated, or whether it is from earlier times.

Rowland and her team will reconsider the site within its wider geographic and environmental context.

Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty said that the team also unearthed a collection of ceramics and lithics of Neolithic dates and that more investigations will present much information about the various roads and means of living during this era.