Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham: Home

<body background="_themes/expeditiongeo1/exptextb.jpg" bgcolor="#CC9900" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000"><font face="Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Times"> <p><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><font size="3">Along Egypt's Mediterranean coast and down the western edge of Nile Delta lie the little known, fragmentary remains of what is believed to be a chain of fortified settlements dating to Egypt's Ramesside Period (c.1295-1070BC), more specifically to the reign of Ramesses II (c.1289-1224BC). It is thought that these were primarily intended to be a first line of defence principally against Egypt's western neighbours, several semi-nomadic groups generally known as<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>"Libyans".<font size="3"> </font> </font> </span> </p> <p><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><font size="3">This website aims to bring you the latest information on the ongoing archaeological excavation at one of these fortresses - </p> </font> <h3 style="text-indent: 0" align="center"><font color="#660033"><b><span style="text-decoration: overline; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"><u><font size="6">Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham</font></u></span></b></font></h3> <font size="3"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: o" align="justify">This site, located 20km west of modern Marsa Matruh on the Mediterranean coast, is currently under investigation by Dr Steven Snape of the University of Liverpool. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: o" align="left">Here you will find updates on the excavation and the latest extraordinary finds, as well as interpretations of the site's history, comments on its role in the Mediterranean Bronze Age world, and discussion of other archaeological sites on Egypt's western frontier.</p> If you are seeing this page, it means your browser cannot read frames. All areas of the site can be reached via the contents page: <p align="center"><a href="ZURHomeAlt.htm">Contents</a></p> </font></span> </font></body>