Egyptian archaeologists have discovered an ancient copper smelting workshop and several associated structures during an excavation in South Sinai. The significant find was announced by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in an official press release.
This discovery is part of the Ministry's broader initiative to promote and support archaeological research across the Sinai Peninsula. According to the head of the ministry, these findings provide concrete evidence of the region's strategic importance in Ancient Egypt as a vital source of copper, a metal crucial for tool and weapon production.
Mohamed Abdel Badi, head of the department of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman antiquities, provided details on the excavation: "The buildings were initially used as observation points. Later, during the New Kingdom era, they were repurposed into copper smelting workshops. Inside, we uncovered several smelting furnaces, blocks of copper slag, and ingots—one of which weighed over 1 kg. We also found clay bellows of various sizes used to stoke the furnace fires."
This is not the first major archaeological discovery in Egypt this year. In July, a team unearthed several tombs from the Greco-Roman period near Aswan in southern Egypt, one of which belonged to a high-ranking official. Furthermore, a January excavation in Luxor revealed sections of the foundation of a temple belonging to Queen Hatshepsut and the nearby tomb of Queen Tetisheri, dating back to the Middle Kingdom era (2050–1710 BC).
