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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 April 1999 Issue No. 424 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 April 1999 Issue No. 424
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Fortress of Ramses II uncovered
By Nevine El-ArefA fortress-town and temple built by Ramses II to protect Egypt's western border has been unearthed. Nevine El-Aref describes the new find.
The art of defending its borders is one which Egypt is well-versed in. An example of this is an amazing ancient fortress built by Ramses II which has been uncovered by a joint British-Egyptian archaeological team in the Zawiyet Umm Al-Rakham area of Marsa Matrouh Governorate, along with its fortress town.
"It is one of a series of significant defence line structures built by Ramses II in the 19th Dynasty to guard his country's north-western border and repel Bedouin attacks," said Gaballa Ali Gaballa, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).
In a joint effort between the Liverpool University Mission and the SCA, the site was discovered during the last excavation season. Found within the settlement area were mud-brick silos for grain storage covered with a layer of gypsum and pieces of pottery from Cyprus, Greece, Crete and Palestine. "This collection of imported pottery is important as it provides evidence of Egypt's prominence in foreign trade during the reign of Ramses II," Gaballa said.
Eight storehouses were discovered on the northern side of a temple built in the name of Ramses II, each with a separate entrance clearly identifiable by a limestone doorway set into the mud-brick of the storehouse itself. Each doorway consists of a threshold with inscribed vertical door jams and a supporting lintel.
An inscription on the lintel of the fifth storehouse is unusual. Mohamed El-Saghir, head of the Pharaonic department at the SCA, said, "It shows the central double cartouche of Ramses II flanked by two crouching figures with their arms raised in adoration. Both figures represent Neb-Re, the commandant of the fortress."
According to Steven Snape, the head of the Liverpool mission, many items were found in the first storehouse, including a superb array of intact ceramic vessels. The second storehouse did not contain such a rich variety of objects but it did have some significant fragments of ceramics from Canaanite amphorae. "This indicates that the storehouse was also used for the storage of non-Egyptian material," Gaballa said.
Lintel showing the comandant of the fortress, Neb-Re, adoring the cartouches of Ramses II
When the Liverpool mission excavated the southern side of the temple, three small private chapels were revealed. In front of them was an open, roughly paved, courtyard with a set of column bases at its western end. "These were presumably for a portico just in front of the chapels," El-Saghir said. "The northernmost chapel was excavated to the ancient ground level revealing a range of ceramic shards almost certainly used in cultic practices within the chapel."
The excavated area of Zawiyet Umm Al-Rakham reveals that the site is much larger than previously thought, which adds to the impression that it was a major settlement with massive defensive constructions, not just a small and poorly-defended outpost at the western end of Egyptian territory along the Mediterranean coast.
A mud-brick wall some five metres thick and including the eastern rampart of the fortress crossing was also found. "It is a major part of the excavation," said Gaballa. A limited test trench along the wall revealed a substantial plastered ramp running up to it.
The annual excavation report of the Liverpool mission underlines the importance of Zawiyet Umm Al-Rakham. It reveals that it was an integral feature of the Eastern Mediterranean trading network and a major destination for traders leaving ports in Cyprus, southern Turkey, the Aegean and Crete and crossing the sea to Egypt.
In fact, the traders may well have refitted their ships and restocked on basic supplies in Zawiyet Umm Al-Rakham before heading east, hugging the coast towards major markets in the Mediterranean.
