Archaeologists have discovered 5,000-year-old rock carvings in Wadi Khamila, a dry valley in the southwestern Sinai, depicting ancient Egypt’s conquest of the region, the University of Bronn shared in a Tuesday statement.
The carvings, which show a large man with his arms raised and another figure kneeling with an arrow piercing their chest before him, was first found by Egyptian archeologist Mustafa Nour El-Din during an “exploratory trip” to the area.
The carvings were later interpreted by Egyptologist Prof. Dr. Ludwig Morenz.
According to Morenz, the “fear-inducing Egyptian standing in a victor’s pose in front of a kneeling, injured Sinaite” depicts the ancient Egyptian’s conquest and subjugation of the locals.
While several ancient Egyptian rock carvings have been discovered in other dry valleys in the Sinai, finding 5,000-year-old evidence of an ancient Egyptian presence in the Wadi Khamila area “suggests that the Egyptians had a kind of colonial network,” according Morenz.
“The southwest of the Sinai is the region in which we can find economically motivated colonization using images and inscriptions, some of which are over 5,000 years old,” Morenz explained, noting that this Wadi Khamila carving is “one of the oldest known scenes of killing with an accompanying inscription.”
More carvings to be found in the area
A carving of a boat was also found alongside the killing scene.
According to a study on the carving published by El-Din and Morenz in the 2025 edition of the journal Blätter Abraham, there used to be the carving of a name near the carving of the boat, possibly of the pharaoh, which was deliberately erased. Though who removed the name, when it was removed, and why, remains unclear.
An inscription referring to the Egyptian deity Min as the “divine protector of the Egyptians in areas beyond the Nile Valley,” was also found nearby, the study claimed.
El-Din later discovered a second depiction of the deity Min in Wadi Khamila.
Both El-Din and Morenz believe that “even more rock drawings” could be found in the area, noting that “research has just begun, and we are planning for a first bigger campaign.”