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Nevine al-Aref – Ahram Online
The remains of a large administrative facility dating back to the First Intermediate Period were uncovered by an Austrian-Egyptian archaeological mission led by Eriny Foster this week in Kom Ombo, 45 km North of Aswan.
The facility consists of many rooms, which contain cellars, staircases, storerooms and over 20 conical silos used for the storage of grains. The building probably served as a centre for grain distribution.
“The walls of these silos are exceptionally well preserved, standing up to two meters in height, and some of the silos are even taller. It is a unique discovery at Kom Ombo, which indicates the importance of the town in Upper Egypt during the First Intermediate Period”, according to Eriny Foster.
Abdel Monem Saeed, the head of Aswan and Nubia Antiquities, said “Kom Ombo is a protected area, containing the famous Ptolemaic Temple of Kom Ombo, which is a regular feature of tourist itineraries”.
The Austrian Archaeological Institute in Egypt, which has a long-term research interest in settlement archaeology, began an investigation project in Kom Ombo in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in 2017.
The town had been settled since the Early Dynastic times until the Early Islamic Period. After a long gap, the town was resettled again during the British occupation of Egypt, when a fort was constructed as part of defences erected against the Mahdist uprising in Sudan.
