Egyptian Fort May Have Protected Ptolemaic Elephants

WARSAW, POLAND—Live Science reports that a monumental 2,300-year-old fortress has been unearthed at the port of Berenike, near Egypt’s Red Sea coast, by a team of researchers led by Marek Woźniak of the University of Warsaw and Joanna Radkowska of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Woźniak said the western part of the fort was built with double walls and faces inland, suggesting its designers thought an attack might come from that direction. The fort was also equipped with a rock-cut well within the gatehouse, and a series of drains and pools that could possibly have held more than 4,000 gallons of water. A trash dump at the site yielded terracotta figurines, coins, and a piece of elephant skull. The researchers suggest the fort may have been one of a chain of forts constructed by the Ptolemies to transport war elephants imported from East Africa. To read about another recent discovery in Egypt, go to “Mummy Workshop.”