Archaelogy in Sinai

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"There are moments in Sinai when one feels as if the history of the entire world can be read in its stones."

The most ancient of Sinai’s elements are its craggy southern mountains, whose weatherworn granite dates from the Precambrian period, more than 600 million years ago.

Less old, though more expressive, are the dozens of wadi’s or fossilized riverbeds that define the terrain all over the Sinai Peninsula.

From the depth and frequency of the wadis, we can tell that Sinai was at one time a lush and fertile region.

Strange prehistoric structures were found as the Desert Kites (triangular built stone walls with the tip leading downhill and they were presumably used to entrap gazelles) and Nawamis.

Nawamis are roofed rooms, understood to be ancient burial chambers of the early Bronze Age, with an opening to the west and are found in different areas. Some of them are in an excellent state and they were presumably used by nomads for ceremonies or as resting places during their journeys.

The (so far) earliest presence of Egyptian Pharaohs in Sinai dates back to the first dynasty in 2600 BC.

It therefore dates back to the time before King Narmar succeeded in getting the two former independent kingdoms (Lower Egypt with the papyrus and Upper Egypt with the lotus as a symbol of state) to unite the first Egyptian the first Egyptian pharaonic dynasty began in 3100 BC.

The pharaohs got their copper and turquoise from Sinai.

In Wadi Maghara a bas-relief portraying Pharaoh Sekhemkhet was discovered.

In many places visitors from thousands of years ago literally recorded their passage in stone with rock inscriptions.

Archaeologists have discovered carvings that record the very earliest emergence of our alphabet. This is called the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet from which the Semitic languages derived and the western alphabet as we know it today.

Many rocks with ‘graffiti’ can be found of Nabatean times during the 2nd and 3rd century AD and Roman and Byzantine inscriptions.

The history of Sinai seems to be written in the land itself.

Many rocks with Nabatean 'graffiti', during the2nd and 3rd century AD, can be found and also Roman and Byzantine inscriptions.

Today, it's the Sinai's brilliant coral reefs, striking mountains and deserts and its enormous cultural heritage that hold the future once again, though in a very different way, the history of Sinai seems to be written in the land itself.

Only in recent years and for the first time, the history of Sinai seems to be emerging as a story about the land itself - its artefacts, its people and its extraordinary natural beauty - rather than the story of thos who are passing through this land.

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46512 Sharm El-Shaykh

South Sinai

Arab Republic of Egypt

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