SOUTH SINAI

El-Markha 10

	Site 345: Pottery & Artifacts: Most of the pottery sherds obtained from the first and second surfaces within the fort are non-diagnostic, yielding no indication as to the date of the structure. It is hoped that future excavation will yield more diagnostic pottery and that radiocarbon dating of charcoal from both surfaces will provide a better clue as to the structure’s construction and occupation date and the date of its reuse as a campsite			South Sinai (El-Markha) Arabic Summary Arabic Report Bibliography Sources for El-Markha Sites 346 and 345 El-Markha 1 Project Personnel Introduction El-Markha 2 Site 346: Tell Markha El-Markha 3 Topographic Mapping El-Markha 4 Site 346: Unit B-4 & C-3 Copper Smelting Furnace El-Markha 5 Site 346 Trench & Waterfall El-Markha 6 Other discoveries in El-Markha Plain El-Markha 7 Interaction with Local Bedouin El-Markha 8 Site 345: Tel Ras Budran El-Markha 9 Site 345: Units 1 to 4 El-Markha 10 Site 345: Pottery & Artifacts Satellite lmaging Image Interpretation in El-Markha Plain

	Above left: Site 345: Six pottery jars (view of exterior surfaces). (Photo: P. Carstens) Above right: Site 345: Six pottery jars (view of profiles). (Photo: P. Carstens)
	Aside from the modern debris from the surface, very few non-pottery artifacts were discovered in the first and second occupation phases. The main discoveries include the basalt hammer stone from just above the second occupation phase and the copper pieces from the first occupation phase.
	Site 345: Basalt hammer stone from Unit 2, loc.3, just above later campsite pottery layer. (Photo: P. Carstens)
	Line drawing of Basalt hammer. (Drawing: G. Mumford)
	The two diagnostic sherds from Tell Ras Budran (Site 345) came from the surface of the circular strucure. A preliminary assessment of both potsherds reveals that the flask neck fragment (below left photograph) parallels late Roman-Byzantine examples, while the decorated bowl base (below right photograph) is an Islamic piece. Dr. Robert Mason (Royal Ontario Museum) has ascribed the decorated Islamic bowl fragment to ca.1475 to 1525 A.D., based upon examples from Fustat (Cairo, Egypt). Further examination of the earlier juglet fragment and parallels should reveal a more acurate date range for this vessel.

	Above left: Site 345: late Roman/Byzantine flask neck from surface of site (Photo: P. Carstens) Above right: Site 345: base fragment from a decorated Islamic bowl from surface of site (Photo: P. Carstens).
	Conclusion: Site 345 definitely merits further investigation, excavation, conservation, and preparation as a tourist site. It may represent one of a series of coastal watch towers and forts built in the 6th century AD, or later. It may extend as late as the 12th century AD or even the early 16th century AD, when several other forts were built or refortified in Sinai. At this stage, the surface find of a decorated bowl base, ca.1475-1525 A.D. (communication from R. Mason), suggests that the fort was either built or re-occupied during this period. The local inhabitants of El-Markha Plain have mentioned another structure to the south, near Abu Rodeis, which may represent a similar structure; of note, a Roman fort has recently been discovered at el-Tor, over 100 km to the south. Hence, it is hoped that the University of Toronto and Supreme Council of Antiquities will resume work in this region in the near future, clarifying the nature and date of this structure and other archaeological remains.

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