Shrine with evidence of previously unknown rituals discovered in Egyptian temple

The Sikait Research Team, led by Professor Joan Oller Guzman of UAB’s Department of Antiquities and Medieval Studies, recently published in the American Journal of Archaeology the results of a January 2019 excavation season at the ancient seaport of Berenice, located in Egypt’s eastern desert.

The article describes the archaeological excavations of the religious complex of the late Roman period (4th-6th centuries AD), called by the researchers the Falcon Sanctuary and located in the Northern Complex, one of the most important buildings of the city of Berenice at that time.

It was a harbor on the Red Sea founded by Ptolemy II Philadelphus (3rd century BC) and continued to operate during the Roman and Byzantine periods, when it was the main gateway for trade from Cape Horn, Arabia and India.

In the late Roman period, from the fourth to the sixth century, a nomadic group of people from the Nubian region, who at that time were expanding their possessions in most of the eastern desert of Egypt, appeared here.

Evidence has been found of the presence of the Blemmy peoples here, thanks to the discovery of the inscriptions of some of their kings or the aforementioned Temple of the Falcon.

Researchers have been able to identify a small traditional Egyptian temple which, after the 4th century, the Blemmys adapted to their own belief system.

“The finds are particularly noteworthy and include offerings such as harpoons, cube-shaped statues and a stele with indications related to religious activities,” said UAB researcher Joan Oller.

The most notable consecrated element found was the arrangement of up to 15 falcons within the shrine, most of which are headless. Although burials of falcons for religious purposes have already been observed in the Nile Valley, as well as the worship of individual birds of this species, researchers for the first time found falcons buried in a temple and accompanied by eggs, which is completely unprecedented.