Alfantine Island traces ancient life since pre-historic ages to dynasties
Egypt, Local, 3/8/2002

Alfantine is an archaeological island that falls opposite Aswan. The island embraces the oldest remains of housing agglomerations as old as the pre-historic ages. The island bears monuments that date back to the age of Naqada i.e 3500 BC. Remains of the temple of goddess Sat which existed since the late Naqada age about 2300 B C can still be seen.

At the end of the l960s archaeologists decided to excavate Alfantine Island to discover the way of living in this area in a shift from the traditional interest in ancient Egyptian finds.

Visitors to the island can easily notice the development of life on the island since it was a small village during pre-historic times and then turning to a city, its harbour used for trade with Nubia earning it more significance. A fortress was also established in the city to protect the southern boundaries of Egypt and the city itself as encircled by a wall. Among the rare monuments on the island are a royal shrine belonging to the third dynasty, a small step pyramid, a palace and the tomb of a governor of the 6th dynasty as well as two Nilometres.

Experts of the German Institute for Archaeology have suggested a visiting track starting with the Roman temple dedicated to goddess Sant and ending up with a six-century church.

However, the museum on the island has been lately developed and is distinguished by its modern display facilities. The premises of the museum was originally the administrative building established for the senior engineer of Aswan Dam and an annex was added in l991 to absorb the many items found on the island and those excavated in north Nubia before the building of Aswan Dam.

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