Overview
- Egypt’s antiquities ministry announced a new reading of a red-brick structure at Tell el-Farama as a sacred water installation used for rituals.
- Excavations revealed a circular basin about 115 feet wide with a square pedestal at its center, ringed by engineered channels, cisterns, and tanks tied to the Nile.
- Archaeological layers indicate continuous use from the second century BCE through the sixth century CE across Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine eras.
- Researchers suggest the shrine may honor the local river deity Pelusius, while outside experts call the attribution tentative pending direct evidence.
- The team first uncovered a curved wall in 2019 and thought it was a senate hall, a view now overturned as authorities commit to further excavation and scientific study.