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Discovery of an ancient pharaoh’s temple on the Horus military road, Northern Sinai, Egypt

اكتشاف معبد فرعونى قديم على طريق حورس الحربى ،شمال سيناء – مصر

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Abstract

Detailed geophysical measurements have been carried out in the northwestern part of the Sinai Peninsula. This area was mainly used by the ancient Egyptian army forces to support the trading and mining trips to Sinai and Asia. The geophysical field work aimed to discover new buried archeological remains using the efficient archeogeophysical detailed and nondestructive methods including total magnetic field, vertical magnetic gradient, and very-low-frequency electromagnetic measurements. Results of the field geophysical measurements have led to a discovery of a temple which is located on the Horus military road. This discovery has been verified by an excavation program, under the supervision of the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities, where buried remains of a pharaoh’s temple were detected and photographed. Some other sites were recommended for further excavation in the future.

لملخص العربى:-

تم فى هذا البحث تنفيذ قياسات جيوفيزيائية تفصيلية فى الجزء الشمالى الشرقى من شبه جزيرة سيناء حيث كانت هذه المنطقة تستخدم بواسطة القوات الحربية المصرية فى العصر الفرعونى لحماية أنشطة التجارة والتعدين لسيناء وقارة أسيا. وتهدف هذه القياسات ، التى تضمنت قياس المجال المغناطيسى الكلى والتدرج المغناطيسى الرأسى والموجات الكهرومغناطيسية منخفضة التردد ، الى اكتشاف بقايا أثرية جديدة فى منطقة الدراسة. توصلت نتائج القياسات الجيوفيزيائية الحقلية الى اكتشاف معبد فرعونى على طريق حورس الحربى. وقد تأكدت نتائج هذه الدراسة باجراء برنامج حفر تحت اشراف المجلس الأعلى للأثار المصرية حيث تم العثور على المعبد المذور وتصويره. توصى هذه الدراسة باستمرار عمليات الاستكشاف الجيوفيزيائى فى المنطقة لامكانية اكتشاف مواقع أثرية أخرى.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr. Mohamed Abd El-Maksoud, General Manager of the northern Egypt and Sinai Sector of the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities, for his great effort in the excavation step to verify the results of these surveys on the field. It is really a huge task with a very large group of workers and inspectors. The excavation part was totally funded by the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt

    El-Arabi H. Shendi & Akram M. Aziz

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  1. El-Arabi H. Shendi
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  2. Akram M. Aziz
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Correspondence to El-Arabi H. Shendi.

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Shendi, EA.H., Aziz, A.M. Discovery of an ancient pharaoh’s temple on the Horus military road, Northern Sinai, Egypt. Arab J Geosci 3, 249–255 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-009-0047-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-009-0047-z

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