Children’s footprints and painted murals preserved at site linked to Biblical exodus
The Art Newspaper
February 14, 2017
© Henning Franzmeier
A German-led archaeological team has made surprising finds in a mortar pit at the ancient Egyptian city of Pi-Ramesses.
Archaeologists working at the ancient city of Pi-Ramesses, near modern Qantir in Egypt’s Nile Delta, have discovered children’s footprints preserved in mortar and fragments of a large painted wall, both dated to roughly the era of Pharaoh Ramesses II.
The city is traditionally regarded as the site of the Biblical exodus.
The team, from the Roemer- und Pelizaeus Museum Hildesheim, uncovered fragments of a large painted wall that was used to fill an ancient mortar pit. Due to the size of the motifs, the scenes may originally have decorated the entrance to a temple, a chapel, or were perhaps from a nearby palace, says the field team’s director, Henning Franzmeier.
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