Archaeological fieldwork in Berenike in 2014 and 2015: from Hellenistic rock-cut installations to abandoned temple ruins

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 315-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iwona Zych ◽  
Steven E. Sidebotham ◽  
Martin Hense ◽  
Joanna K. Rądkowska ◽  
Marek Woźniak
Keyword(s):  
Red Sea ◽  
Satellite Imagery ◽  
Eastern Desert ◽  
Middle Kingdom ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Red Sea Coast ◽  
The City ◽  
The Town ◽  
Sea Coast ◽  
Late Roman

The report brings a comprehensive summary of archaeological fieldwork and survey carried out in Berenike on the Red Sea coast of Egypt and in the Eastern Desert hinterland over the course of two seasons in 2014 and 2015. The completed magnetic map of the site is discussed in some detail, assessing the potential for future excavations. The report covers the most important discoveries of the two seasons, which include fragments of Middle Kingdom Pharaonic stelae, possibly pushing back the foundation of the harbor, archaeological evidence of a rock-cut watercollection system forming part of the Hellenistic-age fortifications and two inscribed stone bases, one of which records a secretary of an aromatics warehouse at Berenike, discovered undisturbed in the courtyard of the Great Temple of Berenike (also called the Serapis Temple). A previously unknown religious(?) complex was discovered on the western outskirts of the site thanks to work with Corona satellite imagery. In turn, analysis of the magnetic mapping of the city revealed an administrative(?) complex in the northern part of the town; the later, 5th and 6th century layers were examined inside a chamber with niche forming part of this complex. Work also continued in the early Roman harbor, uncovering among others a complete timber ship frame, and a collection of garnets in subsidiary buildings in the late Roman temenos located in the entrance to the southwestern bay.

Berenike Project. Hellenistic fort, Roman harbor, late Roman temple, and other fieldwork: archaeological work in the 2012 and 2013 seasons

2016 ◽  
Vol XXIV (1) ◽  
pp. 297-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven E. Sidebotham ◽  
Iwona Zych ◽  
Joanna K. Rądkowska ◽  
Marek Woźniak
Keyword(s):  
Red Sea ◽  
Eastern Desert ◽  
Archaeological Survey ◽  
The Third ◽  
Archaeological Work ◽  
Red Sea Coast ◽  
Sea Coast ◽  
Late Roman

Brief overview of two seasons of archaeological survey and excavation carried out in 2012 and 2013 at the site of Berenike on the Red Sea coast and in two sub-projects in the Eastern Desert: the prehistoric cattle cemetery at Wadi Khashab and the Roman-era emerald mines at Sikait and Nugrus. Highpoints of the work at Berenike included discovery of the Hellenistic fort and fortifications that mark the original settlement of the site in the third quarter of the 3rd century BC, continued clearance of harbor-related structures in the southwestern bay interpreted as the early Roman harbor of Berenike and the uncovering of an earlier phase of the late Roman harbor temple (so-called Lotus Temple) of the 5th–6th century AD in the harbor.

ЗАГАДКИ ДОДИНАСТИЧЕСКОЙ ПЕТРОГЛИФИКИ С ПОПРАВКОЙ НА КЛИМАТ И ГИДРОЛОГИЮ: ЛОДКИ (И РЕКИ?) В ВЕРХНЕЕГИПЕТСКИХ ВОСТОЧНЫХ ВАДИ

2020 ◽  
pp. 20-42
Author(s):  
Dimitry B. Proussakov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Red Sea ◽  
Eastern Desert ◽  
Cultural Affiliation ◽  
Central Eastern Desert ◽  
Red Sea Coast ◽  
Central Eastern ◽  
Local Traditions ◽  
Sea Coast ◽  
Predynastic Egypt

Prehistoric rock drawings of large boats in wadis of the central Eastern Desert, Egypt, divided their investigators into two main groups with quite different views about their origins and cultural affiliation. One of the groups (P. Červiček et al.) insisted on ‘religious’ (cultic, magic, etc.) nature of these petroglyphs attributing them to local traditions but actually tearing away from the reality, primarily on the ground that boats could have never come to be in the desert many tens of kilometers from both the Nile and the Red Sea. Another one, following ideas of W. M. Flinders Petrie, interpreted these boat images as ships of a ‘Dynastic Race’ of oversea invaders who conquered Egypt and consolidated her under their power. This hypothesis, once disapproved by most of archaeologists and Egyptologists, has recently acquired many new adherents; it assumes, in particular, the most real rivers to have flown at the time of the earliest boat petroglyphs (5th to 4th Millennia B.C.) along Wadi Hammamat and Wadi Barramiya, where short routes pass from the Red Sea coast to the Nile. Even rejecting Petrie’s ‘diffusionistic’ version on the whole, one cannot ignore the palaeogeographical fact that the climate of Predynastic Egypt was moist, characterized by monsoon rains which, in combination with geomorphology of the Eastern Desert, could only have favoured here in the period under consideration the formation of regular tributaries of the Nile.

scholarly journals Back to Mahal Teglinos: New Pharaonic Evidence from Eastern Sudan

2020 ◽  
Vol 106 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 89-104
Author(s):  
Andrea Manzo
Keyword(s):  
Red Sea ◽  
Eastern Desert ◽  
The Third ◽  
General Overview ◽  
Cultural Exchanges ◽  
Red Sea Coast ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Sea Coast ◽  
Eastern Sudan ◽  
The Way

This article provides a general overview of the archaeological finds which suggest that Eastern Sudan was in contact with Egypt in the second half of the third and into the second millennium BC. The finds and their contexts are discussed, along with their chronology, typology and distribution in order to understand if they arrived in Eastern Sudan via Upper Nubia, the Red Sea coast, or even through the Eastern Desert. Moreover, the discussion highlights how these finds are providing support to the hypothesis that Eastern Sudan may have been a part of Punt. Finally, the contribution of these finds to our understanding of the economic and cultural exchanges between Egypt and inner Africa is discussed. This review also addresses the definition of the Egyptian commodities exchanged for those of inner Africa and the reconstruction of the way contacts between the involved groups took place.

Roman Game Boards from Abu Sha’ar (Red Sea Coast, Egypt)

Antiquity ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 78 (301) ◽  
pp. 602-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynda Mulvin ◽  
Steven E. Sidebotham
Keyword(s):  
Red Sea ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Board Games ◽  
Hot Days ◽  
Red Sea Coast ◽  
Roman Military ◽  
Sea Coast ◽  
Late Roman

The discovery of twenty game boards – including some in a dedicated den or gaming room – in the late Roman fort at Abu Sha’ar, on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, conjures up images of daily life at a well established, but remote Roman military station. Here, during the long hot days and cool nights, soldiers no doubt played board games and gambled incessantly. This paper describes the boards, the likely games played on them and the areas of the fort where they were played.

Berenike 1996: Report on the 1996 Excavations at Berenike (Egyptian Red Sea Coast) and the Survey of the Eastern Desert

2000 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 492
Author(s):  
Tasha Vorderstrasse ◽  
Steven E. Sidebotham ◽  
Willemina Z. Wendrich
Keyword(s):  
Red Sea ◽  
Eastern Desert ◽  
Red Sea Coast ◽  
Sea Coast
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