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News
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2010-11-12
Saudi Unearths First Pharaonic Relic
Press report: "Saudi Unearths First Pharaonic Relic"
"Saudi Arabia announced Sunday that its archeologists had discovered a rock carrying an ancient hieroglyphic inscription of an Egyptian pharaoh, the first confirmed pharaoh-era relic discovered in the kingdom, local Arab News reported. The discovery was made in July near the ancient oasis of Tayma, Tabuk province, which has been posited as a stop on an ancient land route between the western coast of Arabia and the Nile Valley, the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquity (SCTA) vice president Ali al-Ghabban was quoted by the paper as telling a press conference on Sunday.
"The rock was bearing an inscription of King Ramses III, one of the kings who ruled ancient Egypt between 1192-1160 BC," Ghabban told reporters.
Archeologists believe that the trade route was connecting Nile Valley and the Egyptian city of Suez then cross the Sinai Peninsula to Arabia.
Ghabban noted that a temple of King Ramses III was found near the port of Abu Zenima on the Gulf of Suez and several inscriptions similar to the one found in Tayma were found in Sinai Peninsula."
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article182756.ece
(D.Salvoldi)