TITLE:
Archaeo-Geophysical Survey around Itay El-Baroud Area, Nile Delta, Egypt
AUTHORS:
Hany Shaaban, Gad El-Qady, El-Said Al-Sayed, Ashraf Khozaym, Ahmed Al-Emam, Hosni Ghazala
KEYWORDS:
Geophysics, Nile Delta, Kom Geif, Canopic Branch
JOURNAL NAME:
Archaeological Discovery,
Vol.2 No.3,
July
18,
2014
ABSTRACT: Around the Nile Delta branches, the ancient settlements had been created and left their remains to be good witness for the paleoenvironment during the Holocene time. Therefore, tracing of these remains and their associated environments are of great importance. The area of study is located in the central part of the western Nile Delta (west of Rosetta branch), around Itay El-Baroud city. It is located between Latitudes 30°50'N - 31°N and Longitudes 30°35'E - 30°45'30''E covering an area of about 380 Km2. It is mainly covered with cultivated lands and is characterized by its numerous archaeological hills such as Kom Geif. It also includes the Greek trading centre of Naukratis. The city was extinct about the beginning of the third century A.D. The archaeological site of Naukratis is now occupied by Kom Geif village. Integrated geophysical studies including magnetic and multi-frequency electromagnetic methods were conducted at Kom Geif village. The study area is divided into two main sectors sites: A (100 m × 20 m in length) and B (40 m × 40 m in length), respectively in 18 grids. Each gird is 10 m × 20 m and subdivided into a number of parallel traverses with spacing of 0.5 meter. Site A was selected to carry out a detailed electromagnetic survey in E-W direction, 20 zigzag profiles with 100 m length and 1 m interval were carried out. The station intervals along each line were 1 m. Based on the interpretation of the acquired geophysical data, seven structures of possible archaeological interest (mud bricks) have been recognized in a relatively small area at the southern end of Kom Geif Lake. Further detail geophysical studies are important to establish the nature, date, depth and state of preservation of these buried archaeological remains.