CAIRO: The Egyptian archaeological mission working at the Shiha Fort site in the Aswan Governorate has discovered the remnants of a Roman fort, including part of a church from the early Coptic period, and a temple from the Ptolemaic dynasty.
Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the mission discovered a group of architectural elements of the Ptolemaic temple inside the fort as well as an incomplete sandstone panel, with pictures of the model of the temple entrance, a man in the form of a Roman emperor, and four sandstone blocks engraved with palm leaves.
The mission also found a clay vase and part of a red-brick vault dating back to the Coptic era.
“The mission has completed the work of uncovering the remains of the monastery and the church, and there are indications they were built on the ruins of a fort. German archaeologist Hermann Junker was able to uncover part of it between 1920 and 1922. That mission revealed the extension of the remnants of a mud-brick wall surrounding the Shiha church from the western side,” Mohamed Abdel-Badi, head of the Central Department of Antiquities of Upper Egypt, said.
During excavations, Abdel-Badi expected to find the remains of a marina. “The area was a quarry for cutting stones during the Ptolemaic period and, naturally, there was a marina that was used to transport these stones to build forts and temples,” he said.
He explained that work is still underway to uncover the remains of the fort.
