Waleed el-Hawatky's "Here Comes the Sun: A diachronic study on the role of music during the Amarna Period," the latest lecture sponsored by the Northern California chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt, is now available on the chapter's YouTube channel. To view it, please go to https://youtu.be/tJ7W6hbSqPo To see what else is available on the channel, or to subscribe to the channel, please go to https://www.youtube.com/@NorthernCaliforniaARCE . If you subscribe, you will be notified whenever a new lecture is posted on the channel. If you have any questions about the channel, or about this recording, please send email to arcencZoom@gmail.com or glenn@glennmeyer.net.
Glenn Meyer
ARCE Northern California Publicity Director
An Egyptian archaeological mission working at the Sheikh Soby archaeological site in Egypt’s Bahariya Oasis has uncovered three tombs dating to different periods of ancient Egypt, along with mummies, limestone and pottery coffins, pottery vessels, offering tables and terracotta votive figurines.
The excavation season is being led by Sabry Farag, Director General of Antiquities of the Bahariya Oasis.
Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy said the discovery is particularly significant as it provides new evidence about the history of Bahariya Oasis and sheds further light on ancient Egyptian civilisation.
Hisham El-Leithy, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the mission uncovered three tombs representing distinct architectural styles.
The first is a rock-cut collective tomb carved into sandstone and is believed to have been used by a family of five. The second is an undecorated tomb, likely dating to the Roman Period, featuring a staircase-style design. The third, also believed to date to the Roman Period, follows the shaft-tomb architectural style.
According to Mohamed Abdel Badie, Head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, the first tomb consists of a square shaft approximately three metres deep, leading to two burial chambers.
The western chamber is small and rectangular and contained a limestone coffin holding a mummy wrapped in linen. The coffin was placed in a recess in the chamber floor, a burial practice consistent with Late Period tombs at the site.
The northern chamber is larger and also rectangular and appears to have been used for the burial of the remaining family members. Four limestone coffins were found inside, each containing a mummy wrapped in linen.
The second tomb consists of a small shaft leading to a three-step staircase that ends in a burial chamber. Archaeological evidence suggests the tomb was never used for burial.
The third tomb consists of a rectangular shaft with an entrance leading to a small, open-roofed hall.
Archaeologists believe the hall may have been used to receive the mummy during the burial ceremony before it was transferred to its final resting place, in accordance with burial practices associated with this type of tomb.
The hall leads to two burial chambers. The southern chamber contained fragments of a pottery coffin, while the eastern chamber housed a limestone coffin with parts of its lid missing.
Four small entrances were also identified on the eastern, northern and western sides of the shaft.
Excavations at the eastern entrance revealed a subsidiary burial containing a cylindrical pottery coffin broken into several pieces. Its lid features a prominent relief depicting a human face with clearly defined features.
Qutb Fawzy, Head of the Central Administration for Cairo and Giza Antiquities, said the mission also uncovered a diverse collection of archaeological artefacts, including pottery vessels, small bottles and plates of various shapes and sizes, as well as offering tables made of limestone and sandstone.
The mission also discovered a number of terracotta votive figurines, including representations of maternal figures and stylised animal forms.
Head of the mission Sabry Farag said excavations at the site will continue during future excavation seasons in light of its archaeological significance and the wealth of evidence it contains.
He expressed hope that future excavations would uncover additional tombs, revealing successive generations of the oasis’s inhabitants and providing further insight into its history.
The Sheikh Soby site contains a necropolis of the rulers and priests of Bahariya Oasis dating to the Late Period. The necropolis is carved into the archaeological hill known as Sheikh Soby, one of the oasis’s most important archaeological sites.
The site also includes the Temple of El-Bawiti, built by Jed-Khonsu-iuf-ankh, the ruler of Bahariya Oasis during the 26th Dynasty, in honour of King Ahmose II.
Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of an ancient roadside caravanserai at the town of ‘Asila’ in North Sinai, offering new clues about the historic network of routes that once connected Egypt with the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula.
Archaeologists believe the structure served as a roadside station for commercial caravans, Egyptian pilgrims and other travellers using the Sultan’s Road, also known as the Egyptian Pilgrims’ Road.
The route was one of the region’s major historic arteries, facilitating the movement of pilgrims traveling to Mecca, as well as merchants, postal services and military forces between Egypt, the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula.
According to Hisham El-Leithy, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, excavations have revealed sections of walls built of mudbrick and red brick, with their foundations reinforced with large limestone blocks, a construction technique commonly used for major buildings during the Islamic periods.
The walls extend along the northern, eastern and southern sides of the site and contain architectural divisions indicating a number of rooms. Some of these may have functioned as shops attached to the caravanserai.
The layout bears similarities to Khan al-Khwaynat, another important commercial station in North Sinai, although the ‘Asila’ structure is considerably smaller. El- Leithy said the comparison strengthens the possibility that it served as a stopping point for pilgrims and merchants traveling along the Sultan’s Road.
The site is located near several other historic stations, including Al-Khwaynat, ‘Amuriya and Qatiya, placing ‘Asila’ within a broader network of settlements and service stations that supported travel, trade and pilgrimage across Sinai.
Diaa Zahran, Head of the Islamic, Coptic and Jewish Antiquities Sector, explained that excavations have also yielded a range of pottery and other artifacts that provide a glimpse into everyday life at the site.
He continued that among the finds are large pottery vessels apparently used to store water and provisions, olive-green glazed vessels, red-and-white pottery, and fragments of lamps used for lighting.
“The finds reinforce the importance of the site for understanding Sinai’s role as a major corridor between Egypt and the eastern Arab world,” Zahran asserted
Mission directors Mohamed Khalil and Saddam Hussein said the artefacts discovered so far point to a Mamluk-period date. Particularly significant are olive-green glazed vessels characteristic of the period, along with fragments of glazed pottery featuring decorative elements that may be associated with the reign of Sultan Al-Nasir Mohamed Ibn Qalawun during the Bahri Mamluk era.
Some artefacts also bear Arabic letters that may form part of the name “Al-Nasir.” Archaeologists caution, however, that further study and analysis will be needed before a precise date and function can be established.
The Sultan’s Road, or Egyptian Pilgrims’ Road, was for centuries a vital route linking Egypt with the wider Islamic World. Beyond its role in facilitating pilgrimage to Mecca, it carried commercial caravans and served networks of communication, postal services and military movement.
The route eventually fell out of use amid major political and military changes in the region, including the Crusader threat in the East during the 11th century AD. The pilgrimage route was subsequently redirected southward through Aydhab and Jeddah.
Excavations at ‘Asila’ continue in an effort to uncover additional architectural remains and associated structures. Further discoveries could help confirm the building’s function as a caravanserai and provide a clearer picture of how travelers, pilgrims and caravans were accommodated along one of Egypt’s most important historic routes.
"Guardians at the Threshold: Doorscapes, Demons, and the Making of the Underworld in Ancient Egypt and Etruria"
Prof. Lucarelli will be joining the Stanford AIA Chapter on Friday, October 9 at 7:00pm, Stanford Archaeology Center
Lecture is free and open to the public. Reception to follow.
Abstract:
The ancient underworld was anything but empty. In both ancient Egypt and Etruria, tomb paintings and funerary monuments depict a richly inhabited Beyond, where gates, doors, and liminal passages are guarded by powerful supernatural beings. Far from being merely terrifying figures, these guardians regulated movement between worlds, protected sacred boundaries, and enforced the cosmic order of the afterlife.
This lecture offers a comparative visual exploration of these "doorscapes", the architectural and symbolic landscapes of thresholds, and the demonic beings that inhabit them. By bringing Egyptian and Etruscan evidence into dialogue, I examine how each culture imagined the geography of the Beyond, the role of its guardians, and the symbolic significance of doors and gates as places of judgment, transition, and protection. Through this comparison, the lecture highlights broader questions of worldmaking, visual imagination, and the ways ancient societies conceived and represented liminal spaces between life and death.
The American Research Center in Egypt, Northern
California chapter, invites you to attend a Zoom
lecture by Waleed
el-Hawatky, The American University in Cairo:
