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Archaeologists have been excavating the city of Berenike on Egypt's Red Sea coast on and off since 1994. Berenike was founded between 275 and 260 BC, but was temporarily abandoned sometime between 220 and 200 BC, before being repopulated for many centuries. After Egypt was annexed by the Roman Empire in 30 BC, Berenike became the empire’s southernmost port....the well dried up between 220 and 200 BC, and sand was blown into it by the wind. This sand is preserved in the well, and contains two bronze coins dating from the decades before 199 BC. Elsewhere in the fortress, there...

Research by archaeologists at the Roman port city Berenice shows that humans cared for their animals as much as current day people doThe ancient Egyptians love their pets just as much as any current-day cat lady or dog dad. What might be the world’s oldest pet cemetery was uncovered by archaeologists in the early Roman port city Berenice contains the remains of nearly 600 clearly much-loved animals that were placed in individual graves, covered by pottery that served as miniature sarcophagi, with adornments including bronze and beaded collars. The 2,000-year-old burials include many four-legged companions that had died of old...

Ancient Romans and Egyptians imported monkeys from India as household pets, Polish archaeologists have discovered. By examining the skeletons of monkeys buried in the animal cemetery in the Red Sea port of Berenice researchers found that the primates were rhesus macaques endemic to India, rather than some local species. Archaeologists from the Warsaw University's Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology were in the process of excavating a vast animal cemetery when they came across the monkey skeletons. For years they assumed they belonged to guenon species, quite common in this area. It was only by using 3D scanners and comparing the bones...

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...