Abstract
Occurrences of copper and fuel resource are main factors controlling trade routes of Bronze age copper in Sinai and Eastern Desert, Egypt.
Abdel Motelib*, A., Elderby**, A. and A. El Manawi*
*Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Egypt
**South Wadi University, Faculty of Archeology, Egypt
The aim of this work was to obtain geoarcheological materials suitable for provenance studies and correlation of Bronze Age copper sites to clarify the exchange relations and cultural interaction between Lower Egypt and the copper sources in Sinai.
A detailed geoarcheological inspection for ancient copper settlements and slag in Sinai and Eastern Desert led to the recognition of many routes commonly coincides with the recent asphaltic roads. These routes are generally connected with the mega routes of the Paleolithic and Chalcolithic and generally have connection to marine route surrounding Sinai Peninsula and along Red Sea Coast extending towards Jordan and Palestine and Arabia. The discovery of Ras Badran Castle on the western part of Gulf of Suez and Ain Sukhna Harbor elucidate the concurrent geographic relation between the smelting sites of copper and artifacts sites of Sinai and Nile Valley.
The microscopic investigation of the slag charges revealed a recognition of common plants of Retama raetem which comprising the more widespread and famous plant species around Egypt. Ancient fossilized charcoals were recorded within the dumped slag materials of the paleosol materials in some sites as well as charcoal prints on the fyallite and glass slag pieces. The epidermal and endodermic fabrics were recognized and correlated with the lived forms.
The copper settlements were established either around the copper mines i.e. Serabit El Khadim, Wadi Baba, Wadi Nasib in Sinai, and Hamama, Semna and Dara of Eastern Desert or far from the mines to obtain wood fuel and wind draft as in Wadi Nasib, Wadi Humur and some occurrences along Gulf of Aqaba.
