Authors: E. Alibrandi, M. Cavallaro, G. Ammendolia, F. Spadola

Download article as .pdf: La fauna ittica nel portico di Punt del Tempio di Milioni di Anni di Hatshepsut a Deir el-Bahari. Nuovi studi tassonomici e implicazioni socioculturali

This study concerns the analysis of the wall reliefs in Hatshepsut’s Temple of Millions of Years at Deir el-Bahari (18th Dynasty; 1550-1069 BC), with particular attention to the reliefs depicting various fish species, together with other depictions, relating to expeditions for various imports of animals, plants, and various goods from the island of Punt. the reliefs in the Portico of Punt depict numerous examples of marine fish fauna, for which no real taxonomic investigation has ever been carried out. Thanks to the joint work of the University of Messina (Department of Veterinary Medicine) and the Museum of Fauna, a new naturalistic study has been carried out for the first time since 1898, reorganizing the information on this important and unique historical testimony of Egyptian marine aquatic fauna, analysing in detail the figures of the fish represented and thus arriving for the first time at their total taxonomic identification. The results of this study can be used by zoologists, Egyptologists, and ichthyologists for the study of faunal and ichthyological remains in various archaeological sites related to ancient Egypt and the Near East, from a zoological, biological, and other fields related to zoology and marine biology.