Archaeologists uncover a 3000-year-old Egyptian fort that guarded kingdom against mysterious ‘sea peoples’
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Reported by the Independent:
Archaeologists have uncovered a 3,000-year-old fort that defended the ancient kingdom against the invading “sea peoples” tribes from near the eastern Mediterranean.
Researchers uncovered a series of mudbrick building ruins in northwestern Egypt, including remains of military barracks for soldiers and storage rooms for weapons, food, and provisions from the New Kingdom era spanning 1550BC to 1070BC.
They also found several artefacts and personal items belonging to Egyptian soldiers stationed at the Tell Al-Abqain site on the Nile’s Western Delta.
Previous research has hinted that the collapse of several dominant civilisations around 1200BC could be partly attributed to naval raids by the so-called sea peoples, whose exact origins still remain unclear.
The tribe coalition is thought to have managed to settle in a small section of the Mediterranean after its first wave of invasions in northern Egypt.
Now, the latest findings seems to confirm the historical importance of forts in northern Egypt guarding the ancient kingdom from invasions by Libyan tribes and the sea peoples.
These buildings were meticulously designed, divided into two identical groups separated by a narrow passage, highlighting the ingenuity of ancient Egyptian engineers, researchers say.
Some parts of these forts served as storerooms to provide daily provisions for soldiers and contained large individual granaries.
These building units were found to contain substantial fragments of broken pottery with remains of fish and animal bones.
Archaeologists also found cylindrical pottery ovens used for cooking at the site.
The artefacts unearthed in the recent dig reveal insights about the daily lives, religious beliefs, and military activities of the fort’s occupants, which mainly included soldiers.
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