Overview

• Divers and cranes in Abu Qir Bay lifted a limited selection of artifacts on August 21–22, including statues, coins, pottery and fragments of a merchant vessel.
• Officials say the area may be an extension of the ancient seaport of Canopus, with the assemblage dated to the Ptolemaic and Roman periods by Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.
• A quartzite sphinx inscribed with the cartouche of Ramesses II was among several damaged sculptures recovered, alongside a granite Ptolemaic figure and a marble statue of a Roman elite.
• Harbor evidence—such as a 125-meter dock, stone anchors, the base of a harbor crane and a merchant ship carrying nuts and a copper measuring scale—indicates intensive maritime activity.
• Recovered items are under conservation for display in the Alexandria National Museum’s Secrets of the Sunken City exhibition, while most finds remain in situ under strict recovery criteria as experts warn of ongoing coastal risks to Alexandria.