the remains of the workshop
Posted on 02/16/2019 12:28:18 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Excavations carried out by an Egyptian mission at the Tel Abu Seify archaeological site in Northern Sinai uncovered the remains of a limestone building that was once a workshop for the construction and repair of boats and vessels during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. The site is said to have been the location of the Roman fortress of Silla.
Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that the workshop includes two dry dockyards where ships were built or repaired. But regretfully, along the span of time as the workshop lost its function, after the Nile branch passing across the area dried up, some blocks of the workshop were removed to be used in the construction of other buildings.
Remains of wooden beams, shipwrecks, bronze and iron nails of different sizes, fish bones and clay pots were found inside the workshop.
(Excerpt) Read more at english.ahram.org.eg ...
Archaeologists Find Ancient Workshop in Sinai
The Egyptian authorities said on Tuesday February 12th that archaeologists had uncovered in the Sinai Peninsula remains of a limestone building, a repair shop for boats and vessels dating back to the Ptolemaic and Roman times (332 - 30 BC).
In a report by AP, Mostafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, described the workshop as having two dry dockyards where ships were built or repaired.
According to the Ministry of Antiquities, the results of the excavations at the Tel Abu Saifi archaeological site in Northern Sinai indicate that it is the Roman fortress of Silla.
The work of the Egyptian archaeological mission in the Tel Abu Saifi is completion of a project that was launched at the beginning of the 1990s. It is also part of a plan to develop North Sinai's archaeological sites.
The Greco-Roman period in Egypt extended from the occupation by the army of Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC until the Islamic conquest in the seventh century.
Egypt hopes the discoveries will revive tourism, which suffered a major setback during the unrest that followed the 2011 uprising.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/egyptian-ship-0011470
More info and some nice pictures.
Probably the Pelusiac branch of the Nile.
I tried, I really did, to check that out, and found this much more interesting tidbit:
[snip] Among the objects excavated from a number of Silla royal burials were foreign-made luxury goods, notably more than thirty Roman-style glass vessels. Found in tombs dating to the fifth and sixth centuries, they attest to the continuing importance of Mediterranean glass in international trade at that time. [/snip]
(this isn’t Silla the Roman fort in the Sinai, it’s Silla the kingdom in what is now Korea)
Thanks Rocky.
and for Buttons 12:
Cities of the Pelusiac Branch - The Delta
Gazetteer of Cities and Towns of Ancient Egypt
The Complete Cities of Ancient Egypt - by Steven Snape
https://erenow.net/ancient/the-complete-cities-of-ancient-egypt/42.php
Regarding Silla.
There’s an old map at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/AncientEgyptJamesRennell01.jpg
on which you can find “Sile” or “Sela” at about 30.75 N, 32.25 W.
If I’m not mistaken (which is always a big if), this is Silla and the Greek name was Sile, while before they came along, it was an Egyptian fortress mentioned in the Amarna letters. Also, it was recently identified as being situated at Tel Habouah, not Tel Seif. Prior to the Amarna era it was
Tjaru, a settlement on the Way of Horus (an ancient highway to Canaan). Again I could be wrong but I have done some vigorous digging into the history of this region. :) It’s pretty obscure, so if anyone knows more/better I’d love to hear it.
In WWI there were some battles in the area, IIRC in 1916.
Many thanks for the links!
I still don’t know if the Pelusiac Nile ran along there and when it went “extinct.” There is so little in English to go on, and IMO a lot of the physical history is lost forever due to the Suez Canal construction and all that followed.
In my off hours I dial up (anachronism) the YouTube app on Roku and binge-watch episodes of Time Team. The amount of construction that just piffed out of existence in Britain alone during Roman times (and that's just the tip o' the iceberg) astonishes me. They built numerous huge structures (including canals, aqueducts, roads, ports, arenas, whole cities) in very short timeframes, and some of them just look like they weren't in use for long (although they probably saw at least as much use as anything being built right now will see by the time they're torn down).
Noah’s workshop?.....................
Let's see... no trees to work with... only stone and copper tools... nowhere near the upper reaches of the Euphrates... no wildlife to speak of... no supply of grain... no sign of rain... yeah, it all checks out!!! /s
Well, that’s NOW, not 4000 years ago........................
"We hired a new lumberjack. He's highly recommended. He just got here from the Sahara Forest." "You mean 'Sahara Desert'." "Sure -- *now*."
This site in the Sinai is also at least 1500 years too recent, but more generally, with modern power tools it took over 300 man-years of labor to build each of the Ark 'replicas'.
Always. It's what saved Apollo 13.
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