Remains of two limestone forts, bronze arms and a collection of scarabs and reliefs bearing the names of New Kingdom Pharaohs have been unearthed on the Horus Road at Tel Al-Borg in Sinai, Nevine El-Aref reports An archaeological mission from Trinity International University in the United States working in the Tel Al-Borg area, 10 kilometres east of Qantara East and five kilometres southeast of Tel Habua, has stumbled upon a complete New Kingdom fortified camp. The site includes two limestone forts, one dating from the reign of the XVIIIth-Dynasty Pharaoh Thutmosis III (1475-1425) and the second from the XIXth Dynasty. Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said that the only remaining part of the first fort was found on the east bank of the Al- Salam Canal. It consists of a moat built on a foundation of between nine and 14 layers of fired red bricks, a material that was only rarely used during the New Kingdom. Only 50 per cent of the second fort has been uncovered, but this includes a wall with a large opening 13.5 metres wide. Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, says early studies show that this opening could have been where the fort's original gate and towers were positioned. The wall expands for 70 metres along the canal bank before being cut off. Hawass said both buildings were originally part of a series of military fortresses that were drawn and mentioned in a relief dating from the time of Seti I found at Karnak Temple in Luxor. "This is a very interesting discovery and reveals details of one of the most important ancient military strategic points at Tel Al-Borg," Lower Egypt Antiquities Director Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud said. He pointed out that the discovery also showed how ancient artists had drawn an accurate topographic map of the Horus Road -- which stretched from Egypt to Palestine -- on the walls of Karnak Temple in Luxor. According to Seti I's relief, 11 forts were originally built on this section of the road, although excavations have so far unveiled only four. American team leader James K Hoffmeier says several bronze bows, arrows, knives, and limestone reliefs bearing the names of the Pharaohs Seti I, Ramses II and Ramses III have been found. A relief giving the name of an Ancient Egyptian army corps was also among the objects recovered. Hoffmeier believes that the hundred or so burnt limestone fragments scattered around the site prove that both forts were subject to major enemy offensives. He suggests the damage might have resulted from a series of attacks perpetrated by the Sea Peoples, who tried to invade Egypt in the reign of Ramses III (ca 1185 BC). Ramses narrated his triumph over them on a relief on the wall of his temple at Madinet Habu on Luxor's West Bank. "But perhaps not before the fortress at Tel Al-Borg was attacked," Hoffmeier commented. Abdel-Maqsoud says that recent studies carried out by his team of archaeologists suggest Egypt's frontier town was located at Tel Habua. As there was a large lagoon to the east, he says, the road from there ran in a southeasterly direction. This lagoon was fed by two branches of the Nile, one passing Habua and the other Tel Al-Borg, while the area to the north of ancient Habua in the time of the New kingdom was completely covered by the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Abdel-Maqsoud said the mission had successfully located the second branch, which once passed Tel Al-Borg.
