The 2002 University of Toronto and SCA (renamed MoA) expedition to el-Markha Plain, South Sinai, mapped and excavated the eastern portion of a small, seasonal copper smelting site and anchorage (Rothenberg’s site 346), which W. F. Albright had discovered in 1948 and dated to the early New Kingdom. In 2002, this encampment yielded potsherds from…
Preliminary Findings at a Late Old Kingdom Fort in South Sinai, Including the Pottery, from the 2008 Season
The 2008 excavations at Ras Budran continued exposing the late Old Kingdom fort’s courtyard, finding baking installations, deep hollows filled by ash and sand, and parts of an underlying occupation layer that may reflect earlier activity at the fort (which needs further clarification). The exploration of a suggestive “chamber” in the eastern enclosure wall revealed…
The Sinai Peninsula and its Environs: Our Changing Perceptions of a Pivotal Land Bridge Between Egypt, the Levant, and Arabia
The Sinai Peninsula has provided a continuous land bridge connecting northeast Africa and Asia, and particularly Ancient Egypt with the Levant. This paper focuses mainly upon past through recent explorations of Ancient Egypt’s Prehistoric through pharaonic interactions with the Sinai and its environs, including the Negev, and in particular considers our changing perceptions of Egyptian…
A Late Period Riverine and Maritime Port Town and Cult Center at Tell Tebilla (Ro-nefer)
Tell Tebilla (Ro-nefer) represents one of several riverine and maritime ports in Egypt’s delta during Dynasties 21–30 (1069–343 BCE). It displays diverse relations, including with southern Egypt, the East Mediterranean, and Near East. Tebilla apparently flourished, despite periodic political fragmentation, economic decline, civil wars, rebellions, and attacks and invasions by Kushites, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians….