Sinai

Peninsula situated between Egypt and the Levant at the northern end of the Red Sea and to the east of the Suez canal, which has tradi

Relieffragment of King Sanakht from the turquoise mines at Wadi Maghara, centra! Sinai. 3rd Dynasty, c.2680 nc, sandstone, it. 33 cm. (f. a69I)

Tionally been settled by uedouin. The people of the Nile valley and southern Palestine periodically exploited its mineral resources (primarily consisting of i LRCiUOisi. and c;out’i;R), and created settlements, shrines and rock-carvings at sites such as Serabit el-Khadim, Wadi Maghara, Wadi Arabah and Timna. major archaeological. survey of the Sinai was undertaken by Flinders I’trrRir; in 1904—5, and in the 1990s many sites were investigated in northwestern Sinai in advance of the construction of a new canal.

Texts written in an unusual. script known as Proto-Sinaitic have been found at a number of places in the Sinai, including Serabit cl-Khadim, as well as at sites in Palestine. The script consists of at least twenty-three signs, about half of which appear to derive from Egyptian hieroglyphs, and the texts probably date mainly to the late Middle Kingdom (r.1800-1650 bc) or Second Intermediate Period (1650-1550 uc;), but it has still not been properly deciphered. It is possible that Proto-Sinaitic represents a crucial early stage in the development of the alphabet.

W. .M. F. Pe i-rie and C. T. Currellv, Researches in Sinai (London, 1906).

W. F. Albright, The prolo-Sinitic inscriptions and their decipherment (Cambridge, .MA, and London, 1966).

B. Rothenblrg et Sinai: pharaohs, miners, pilgrims and soldiers (New York, 1979).

W. V. D-WIF..S, Egyptian hieroglyphs (London, 1987), 57-60.