Prof. Dr. Mamdouh El-Damaty, Dean of the Faculty of Archeology, Ain Shams University, announced the start of the joint French-Egyptian mission excavations of the second season of the Sheikh Al-Arab Hammam Citadel, noting that the mission is the result of a fruitful cooperation between the French Institute of Oriental Archeology in Cairo, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and the Faculty of Archeology, Ain Shams University.

Dr. Ahmed El-Shouki, head of the mission and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Archeology for Graduate Studies and Research Affairs, announced that this season also witnesses the start of an excavation school for the inspectors of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, as well as archeology students at Ain Shams University, training is provided on archaeological excavation, documentation and lifting skills, in addition to architectural drawing, and the use of equipment on the site.

This school comes with the support of the French Institute of Oriental Archeology in Cairo and the Barakat Foundation in London.

This comes in light of the opening of the Department of Archeology and Excavations at the Faculty of Archeology, Ain Shams University for the first time in Egypt this year.

The castle of Sheikh Al Arab Hammam is located in the village of Al-Arki, about 6 km southwest of Farshout. The importance of this site is due to the fact that the castle is located in the face of Wadi Al-Houl, which is the main road leading to Darb Al-Arba’een from this area, it is the famous trade road that commercial caravans have been passing through for long periods of Egypt's history, this site is considered one of the pristine sites in which no excavations have previously been carried out, and it represents a unique model of the military installations that still remain in Upper Egypt.

The mission also includes Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim, a teacher of Islamic archeology at the Faculty of Archeology, and Dr. Mahmoud Ahmed, a teacher of archeology in the same department. It should be noted that the mission will continue for a whole month, ending at the end of September.