Marsa Bagoush Excavations

The site of Marsa Bagoush, which takes the form of a bay 1000m X 300m, is located 250km west of Alexandria. Marsa Bagoush (ancient Zygris) was mentioned by Claudius Ptolemaeus in the 2nd century AD as one of the harbor sites that extended between Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh (ancient Paraetonium).

In 1861, as part of a coastal survey of North Africa, the British Royal Navy surveyed the site of Marsa Bagoush and published the first map of the site. In 1968 the Egyptian Oceanographer Anwar Abdel Aleem reported the accidental discovery of some amphora in the bay of Marsa Bagoush, which he believed to be the remains of an ancient shipwreck. In 1996 the Institute of Nautical Archaeology conducted a limited survey of the site where two intact early Roman amphorae were found and raised. However, no further exploration of the site was made, until 2015 when the Alexandria Centre for Maritime Archaeology and Underwater Cultural Heritage started its systematic survey of the site.