CAIRO — Archaeologists exploring an old military road in the Sinai have unearthed 3,000-year-old remains from an ancient fortified city, the largest yet found in Egypt, antiquities authorities announced Wednesday.
Among the discoveries at the site was a relief of King Thutmose II (1516-1504 B.C.), thought to be the first such royal monument discovered in Sinai, said Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. It indicates that Thutmose II may have built a fort near the ancient city, located about 2 miles northeast of present-day Qantara and known historically as Tharu.
A 550-by-275-yard mud brick fort with several 13-foot-high towers dating to King Ramses II (1304-1237 B.C.) was unearthed in the same area, he said.
Hawass said early studies suggested the fort had been Egypt’s military headquarters from the New Kingdom (1569-1081 B.C.) until the Ptolemaic era, a period of about 1,500 years.
The ancient military road, known as “Way of Horus,” once connected Egypt to Palestine and is close to present- day Rafah, which borders the Palestinian territory of Gaza. The Associated Press
