New borders for Merimde Beni Salama

The Egyptian Minister of Antiquities, Dr. Mamdouh Eldamaty, has announced that the Egypt Exploration Society's mission in collaboration with The Ministry of Antiquities has found new scientific evidence that the borders of the famous Neolithic settlement extend approximately 200 metres to the south west of its currently known area.

Above you can see some of the EES and Ministry of Antiquities team at work on the site, left to right: Annett Dittrich, Burcu Urundel, Mona Akmal and Sebastian Falk.

The full press release is available here:

Ministry of Antiquities
Press Office

Antiquities Minister: New Archaeological borders for Merimdet Beni Salama

Minister of Antiquities, Dr. Mamdouh Eldamaty declared that the Egypt Exploration Society's mission in collaboration with The Ministry of Antiquities has reached new scientific evidences that the borders of the famous Neolithic Settlement extends approximately 200 m. to the south western side of its existing borders.

Eldamaty added that the team uncovered a number of ceramics and lithics of Neolithic date and that more investigations at the area will present us much information about the various roads and means of living during this era.

According to the Mission's report: " In summer 2014 after test trenches had been conducted by the Ministry of Antiquities prior to the laying of a gas pipeline – it was possible to investigate the area just to the west of the modern asphalt road and it was confirmed that in the pits of the MA investigations, as well as in a test trenches by the current mission, ceramics and lithics of Neolithic date were present. This means that the settlement extents at least c. 200m southwest of what was formerly considered to be the boundary of the settlement. Forthcoming investigations and post-excavation analysis will be able to confirm whether this newly-discovered area was occupied during the latest periods of occupation of the settlement – as we anticipate – or whether it is earlier."

Merimdet Beni Salama where the discovery took place lies along the desert edge of the Nile Delta and one of the aims of the Prehistoric Survey performed by the Egypt Exploration Society in Imbaba Area and directed by Dr Joanne Rowland of the Free University of Berlin, is to reconsider the site within its wider geographic and environmental context.

Geophysical surveys conducted in a previous season revealed what appeared to be pits that had not previously been investigated before, a matter indicating the extension of the Neolithic settlement.

Eman Hossni
M A Press Office