Cairo: Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on Saturday the discovery of a military fortress from the New Kingdom era near the Mediterranean coast in northern Sinai, in northeastern Egypt.
In a statement, the ministry said the find was made by an Egyptian archaeological mission working at the Tell El Kharouba site.
It described the fortress as one of the largest and most significant ever uncovered along the ancient Horus military route, covering about 8,000 square meters - roughly three times the size of a fortress excavated at the same site in the 1980s, which lies some 700 meters to the southwest.
The statement noted that the excavation had revealed a section of the fortress's southern wall, stretching about 105 meters long and 2.5 meters wide, with a secondary entrance measuring 2.2 meters across.
So far, 11 defensive towers have been unearthed, along with the northwestern tower and portions of the northern and western walls.
A zigzag wall, 75 meters long, was also found on the western side, dividing the fortress from north to south and enclosing a residential area designated for soldiers - a distinctive architectural feature of the New Kingdom that highlights the ancient Egyptians' ability to adapt to harsh desert conditions.
The statement added that the dig had yielded assorted pottery sherds and vessels, including foundation deposits beneath one of the towers dating to the first half of the 18th Dynasty.
Among the artifacts was a vessel hand stamped with the name of King Thutmose I. Quantities of volcanic stones, likely transported by sea from volcanoes on Greek islands, were also recovered, as was a large bread oven flanked by lumps of fossilized dough - evidence that the fortress served as a self-sufficient hub for soldiers' daily life.
