Sunday, October 22, 2006

Google Earth: Kom el-Hisn

Finally tracked down the lat-long of the site: 30 48'N 30 36'E. Plug that into GE and it will take you there. Everything you want to know about Kom el-Hisn and probably more than you want to.

That particular location is on the road right next to the site. The mound itself is just south of that -- there's a small dirt road off the main paved one. Follow it down to the large sandy blob. The field house is located pretty much smack in the middle and is surrounded by a few palm trees (we called it the Seven Palms Resort).

The green area is the main mound midden -- green because it holds water better than the gezira sand that it all rests on. The cemetery was mostly located to the north in the gezira; these were all excavated in the late 1940s and 50s.

There's an area just north of the main mound that looks something like a river delta; this is, I believe, the site of the small temple that may have been located here. It's now just a bunch of blocks in the middle of a swampy area.