Archaeologists unearth tree-lined walkway that led to ancient Egyptian fortress in Sinai Desert News By Owen Jarus publi

[Judi Lynn]

By Owen Jarus published May 6, 2025

The ancient Egyptian fortress was in use around 2,000 years ago in the Sinai Desert.



This area shows parts of the fortress that archaeologists are uncovering in the Sinai Desert of Egypt. It was rebuilt and modified over a period of centuries. (Image credit: Photo courtesy of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)


A large ancient Egyptian fortress in the northern Sinai Desert had an elaborate landscape of 500 trees leading to its entrance more than 2,000 years ago, new excavations reveal.

Archaeologists made the finding while uncovering more of a fortress that was rebuilt and modified over several centuries. The existence of the fortress has been known for decades. However, new finds by archaeologists from Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities shed light on what the fortress was like more than two millennia ago.

Located at the site of Tell Abu Saifi, the fortress was in use during the Ptolemaic period (circa 304 to 30 B.C.), when Ptolemy I — a general of Alexander the Great — and his descendants ruled Egypt, and the Roman period (circa 30 B.C. to A.D. 642), when Egypt was a province in the Roman Empire.

They found that during the Ptolemaic period, there were 500 planting circles surrounded with clay on both sides of a road that led to the entrance of the fortress. These would have contained trees, the ministry said in a translated statement. It’s not clear what exactly the climate was like in the Sinai Desert around 2,000 years ago.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/ancient-egyptians/archaeologists-unearth-tree-lined-walkway-that-led-to-ancient-egyptian-fortress-in-sinai-desert