Tell El Sakan

Tel El Sakan was an important ancient Canaanite/Egyptian maritime settlement during the early Bronze Age, situated at the mouth of wadi Ghazzeh. Its geographical situation endowed it with a position of importance at the crossroads on the land based trade routes to Arabia, the Egyptian empire to the south and the Canaan region to the north. The site (dated between 3500-2350 BCE) appears to be the predecessor to the Tell al-Ajjul settlement, where geomorphological dynamics of the estuary caused settlement trans-location or abandonment. The site dates from a period prior to the Egyptian military domination of the Levant.

The Bronze Age port was contemporary with En Besor, an Egyptian First Dynasty Staging Post along the "ways of Horus" trade route in the Northern Negev.[1][2] By comparison, Tel es-Sakan was larger and surrounded by a city-wall, the earliest Egyptian town wall datable with any certainty. There were three consecutive building-phases, correlating with three strata of occupation.

The site was discovered by chance in 1998 during construction of a new housing complex, and construction work was temporarily suspended to allow an archaeological investigation to be conducted.[3]

In 2017 Hamas authorities leveled the site with bulldozers to make way for military bases and construction projects, despite local protests by Gazans protesting destruction of ancient Palestinian archaeological heritage.[4][5][6]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ McGovern, Patrick E. (2003) Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-07080-6 p. 101
  2. ↑ Hornsey, Ian Spencer (2003) A History of Beer and Brewing Royal Society of Chemistry (Great Britain) ISBN 0-85404-630-5 p 53
  3. ↑ Ancient Perspectives on Egypt By Roger Matthews, Cornelia Roemer, University College, London Institute of Archaeology Published by Routledge Cavendish, 2003 ISBN 1-84472-002-0 pp 24-25 and pp 34-37
  4. ↑ In Gaza, Hamas levels an ancient Canaanite archaeological treasure, Times of Israel, Fares Akram, 6 October 2017
  5. ↑ "Gazans protest destruction of archaeological site by Hamas: they are trying to wipe out Palestinian identity". MEMRI. (Arabic TV). October 17, 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  6. ↑ "Gazans protest destruction of archaeological site by Hamas: they are trying to wipe out Palestinian identity - Transcript". MEMRI. October 17, 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2018.

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