The first archaeological evidence for the Sea Peoples invasion of Egypt has been found.
It validates Ramses III's account of defeating a fort of the Sea Peoples.
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http://forum.egyptiandreams.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=4161&sid=a4f4a0fa8adecd04cb0b673dd1b5ab2b New Evidence for the Sea People's Invasion of Egypt in North Sinai by James Hoffmeier of Trinity International University and Jessica Lim of the University of Memphis.
Unfortunately, Hoffmeier was unable to attend so Jessica Lim very ably gave the entire presentation.
Although references to the sea-people's invasion are present in text form, no archaeological evidence has been uncovered until now.
Tell el-Borg is now far inland but geological studies have shown that during D20 it was on the coast, with two branches of the Nile joining the sea at that point. Marshy terrain and a lagoon were in the close vicinity of the fort which the Egyptians had built there. Ostraka from the fort reference Ramesses II, Merneptah, and Ramesses III. There are no ostraka of a later date.
The fort itself shows signs of destruction by fire and the smashing of granite.
The fact that the texts indicate that the sea-peoples attempted to enter Egypt via the river, that the fort was located at a strategic point on the north-eastern frontier facing Canaan, which is the direction the texts say the attack came from, that a land-sea attack would have had to go through the fort, that the fort was destroyed cataclysmically, and that the ostraka stop in the reign of Ramesses III who was the king who resisted the invasion argue strongly that the battle took place here. Afterwards, the Egyptians were able to move north into Canaan. The fort was not rebuilt.
You can find more information at
http://www.tellelborg.org/.
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Other information about the fort at Tel el Borg has been known previously.
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http://www.deltasinai.com/uwsegyptfort/speakers.htm At Tell el-Borg the scant remains of two New Kingdom forts have been uncovered. The earlier one appears to have been constructed [by Seti I] during the mid-15th century and continued in use till the end of the 18th Dynasty, while the second one apparently replaced the former with little or no occupational gap between the two. The second, or Ramesside period, fort appears to have functioned until the 20th Dynasty when the fort apparently was destroyed and never rebuilt. As a consequence of these discoveries, it is clear that this site was constructed at a critical defensive point on the approach to Tjaru/Sile (Hebua), just 5 kilometers to the NE.
Its proximity to Tjaru/Sile has forced us to rethink the view that the forts of North Sinai on the military highway or "Ways of Horus," was a supply line with forts stationed a day’s march apart. As will be argued, the placement of the forts in the western sector is based on strategic defensive entry points into Egypt.
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