Two engraved reliefs unearthed on Red Sea coastline

The two 4,000 year old reliefs were discovered at the Ptolemaic royal port of Queen Berenice on the Red Sea coast 

By Nevine El-Aref , Wednesday 22 Jul 2015 

During excavation works carried out by a Polish archaeological mission of Warsaw University at Berenice Port on the Red Sea coast, two engraved stony reliefs as well as coffins from different historic eras were unearthed.

Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty told Ahram Online that studies carried out revealed that the first relief belongs to the Middle Kindom because it bears the cartouche of the seventh king of the 12th Dynasty, King Amenemhat IV, whose reign was characterised by exploration for precious turquoise and amethyst on Punt Island. Meanwhile the second relief, which is in a bad conservation condition, can be dated to the Second Intermediate Period. After restoration, Eldamaty said, more information on the relief would be revealed.

Three Roman burials and parts of Berenice Temple's façade were also uncovered as well as a number of blocks of stone engraved with lotus and papyrus flowers, a standing goddess, and Greek texts. These texts, Eldamaty explains, are words of offering to the temple's gods.

After analysing satellite footage of the port and its surrounding area, scientists of the Polish mission uncovered the existence of a new archaeological site near the seaport of Berenice containing the of a long and narrow building with three platforms. Until now, said Eldamaty, no one can say for sure what the building was, but that further excavation would reveal more.

Berenice Port was established at the beginning of the 3rd century AD by King Ptolemy II who ordered campaigns to the East African coast to capture elephants to be used in battles. 

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/135962/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Two-engraved-reliefs-unearthed-on-Red-Sea-coastlin.aspx

 

Cedar timbers, rope point to historic Egyptian find

By Molly Murray, The News Journal

No one is certain why the Romans abandoned their port city of Berenike along the Red Sea.

It could have been disease, said Steven Sidebotham, a University of Delaware history professor and archaeologist who is studying the site.

"It wasn't sacked or burned or wrecked by an earthquake," he said.

But one thing is clear: where boats use to arrive in port is now high ground.

Sidebotham said that when it rains in the desert, it is a downpour and sand washes across the land. It is likely, he said, that the port simply silted in.

The Romans would have had the technology to dredge it but Sidebotham said it is possible they were losing control over the maritime trade route in the area.

In this hot, dry environment along the Egyptian coast, this once vital city is so well preserved that even cloth woven in the time before and after Jesus' death, survived.

The ancient city is about 500 miles south of the modern Suez Canal. In its heyday, it was a link in an important maritime route between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.

New discoveries at Berenice by Polish archaeologists

Archaeologists studied 2 thousand years old port infrastructure and a large animal cemetery in Berenice on the Red Sea in Egypt.

"This time during excavations we got lucky. Undoubtedly, this year's most interesting find is a frame - wooden part of a ship hull from the early Roman period" - told PAP Iwona Zych from the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, who leads the research project in cooperation with Prof. Steven E. Sidebotham of the University of Delaware in the United States.

This is the first fully preserved and documented frame from the hull of the ship from this period in Egypt. The find and the place of its discovery leads researchers to believe that the ship was dismantled and its parts stored in the warehouse in the port bay. Archaeologists will examine the object. Detailed measurements will allow for an approximate reconstruction of the size of the ship.

"This will be the first time that we know the actual size and construction of a Red Sea vessel, because no ancient vessels, or even wrecks have survived to this day" - said Zych.

North-east of the port, archaeologists discovered a large cemetery of small animals. Only this year they studied 60 burials, mostly of cats, but also a small number of dogs, two small vervets and a baboon. Most of the animals were buried either inside damaged clay vessels or covered with shards of clay pots and amphorae. An interesting fact is that one of the vervets had a metal collar.

Scientists are not sure why animals had been buried in this place. Archaeozoologist of the mission, Dr. Marta Osypińska, believes that such an accumulation of burials may be a result of a plague brought to the port from a remote destination. Another possibility is exploitation of young animals in magical rituals, during which the oracle was consulted before a long sea journey. Pet cemeteries are also known from the areas of the Roman Empire, and this beloved animals also can not be ruled out in the case of Berenice. Further research may help solve this puzzle.

Ruins of Bustling Port Unearthed at Egypt's Giza Pyramids

By Owen Jarus, LiveScience Contributor   |   January 28, 2014

TORONTO — The remains of a bustling port and barracks for sailors or military troops have been discovered near the Giza Pyramids. They were in use while the pyramids were being built about 4,500 years ago.

The archaeologists have been excavating a city near the Giza Pyramids that dates mainly to the reign of the pharaoh Menkaure, who built the last pyramid at Giza. Also near the pyramids they have been  excavating a town, located close to a monument dedicated to Queen Khentkawes, possibly a daughter of Menkaure. The barracks are located at the city, while a newly discovered basin, that may be part of a harbor, is located by the Khentkawes town.

Several discoveries at the city and Khentkawes town suggest Giza was a thriving port, said archaeologist Mark Lehner, the director of Ancient Egypt Research Associates. For instance, Lehner's team discovered a basin beside the Khentkawes town just 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) from the nearest Nile River channel.

This basin may be "an extension of a harbor or waterfront," Lehner said at a recent symposium held here by the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities. Lehner said his team also found at Giza charcoal remains of cedar, juniper, pine and oak, all trees that grew in a part of the eastern Mediterranean called the Levant, along with more than 50 examples of combed ware jars, a style of pottery from that region. Additionally, large amounts of granite from Aswan, located on ancient Egypt's southern border, have long been known to be at Giza, and these could have been brought down the Nile River to Giza's port.

"Giza was the central port then for three generations, Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure," said Lehner in his presentation, referring to the three pharaohs who built pyramids at Giza.