Recent Excavations at the Pharaonic Port of Mersa Gawasis on the Red Sea, 2004-2005 Field Season

Basketry

A well preserved rope bag was found inside the cave in WG 24 (Room 1, SU 34), in association with a grinding stone, wooden vessel, and a base of a pot with traces of ochre inside. The rope bag was formed by closely twined ropes. Its shape is a tapering rectangle, 60.0 cm x 45.0 cm in size, with two loops at the top. The bag is made of a number of parallel bundles of rope held in place by fixing them with two strands, which twist around the bundles and around each other (Wendrich 2000: 256). This kind of twined bag was probably used to transport seeds, as it is frequently represented in agricultural scenes in tomb paintings (foto 8).