Speakers

Mr Ibrahim  METWALLI
Director, Nile Department , Central Department of Underwater Antiquities

Biography:

Ibrahim Ahmed Metwalli Mohamed is the Director of Nile Maritime Archaeology Department. He holds an MA in Maritime and Coastal Archaeology from Aix Marseille University. He was a Maritime Archaeologist at the Department of Underwater Archaeology (DUA) (1996–2009); and Inspector for Archaeology for the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) (1992–1996). His expertise in land and underwater excavations includes participating in the maritime excavation at Qaitbay site directed by J.Y. Empereur in 1996, the underwater survey at El Agamy in Alexandria directed by Douglas Haldane in 2000, the survey and underwater excavation at Wadi el-Jarf, Khufu’s harbor in 2016, and a topographical survey and mapping at the site of Miami Island in 2003. Moreover, he took part in several conferences and workshops, such as Archaeological Activities in Alexandria and Environs in Ten Years (1993–2003) Conference held at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in 2003; and a workshop conducted at the Centre for Alexandrian Studies entitled “Natural Coastal Risks: Archaeological and Natural Contexts of Ancient Alexandria and its Area” in 2014.

Abstract:

Department of Underwater Antiquities Archaeological Activities in Two Decades

Ibrahim Metwalli

Ehab Fahmy

While the activities on underwater cultural heritage were undertaken in Egypt since about one hundred years, the Department of Underwater Antiquities (DUA) was founded in late 1996. Since then, the DUA has supervised several cooperative and independent archaeological surveys and excavations in its territorial and inland waters. These include geophysical and visual archaeological surveys, and underwater excavations in different sites in the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Nile, Lake Qarun, and around Lake Mareotis, covering the Pharaonic, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic Periods.

The presentation will briefly shed light on the most important archaeological activities conducted by the DUA in the past twenty years in Lake Mareotis, Lake Qarun, El-Kour Island and Maamoura. The results of the Nile Archaeological Mapping Project (NAMP) in both Aswan and Al-Silsilah, will be introduced in some details. In addition, an overall archaeological map containing all the underwater cultural heritage sites in Egypt, and the surveyed areas in both territorial and inland waters, will be presented.