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An Egyptian archaeological mission has discovered a copper smelting workshop, administrative buildings and observation posts at a site in the south of the Sinai Peninsula, which could date back to before the New Kingdom (around 1570-1069 BC), the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities reported this Sunday.
This finding could shed "new light on the scale and organization of the ancient Egyptian mining industry", as well as the "pioneering" role at this time in the "management and exploitation of its mineral resources", which opens "new horizons for cultural tourism in areas that still hold many secrets", the ministry said in a statement.
The Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mohamed Ismail Khaled, assured that the excavation results reveal architectural and industrial evidence that confirms "the continuity of Egyptian mining activity in Wadi al Nusub from the Old Kingdom to the Late Period, with a notable boom during the New Kingdom."
He highlighted that the workshops for the casting of copper and copper alloys of various shapes and sizes, including "bellows heads, found here, constitute clear evidence of the existence of a sophisticated industrial system for the manufacture and casting of copper before its transport to the Nile valley for use in crafts, the military, and administration".
These buildings were initially used as observation posts and later, during the New Kingdom, were transformed into copper smelting workshops.
Inside, several copper smelting furnaces, slag blocks, and copper ingots were found, one of them weighing over a kilo, and clay bellows heads of various sizes, according to the head of the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman Antiquities section of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mohamed Abdel Badie.
The Egyptian mission continues its work at the Wadi al Nusub site in order to discover more details that document the strategic role of Sinai throughout the era of ancient Egypt and shed light on its importance as one of the most important mining centers in Egyptian history.
