New excavations in Aqaba revealed the presence of extensions to the walls of the Aqaba Castle dating back to historical eras older than the building of the current castle walls, Head of Aqaba office of the Department of Antiquities, Sausan Fakhery said. "The newly discovered walls extends in some locations outside the current castle, which implies that the castle was built on older fortifications dating back to the Mamluk era", Fakhery said. Fakhery told Petra news agency correspondent that the excavations are carried out in cooperation with the University of Jordan and the German Institute of Archaeology. The excavations revealed that Hujayrat al-Ghuzlan (6 Km north of Aqaba castle) was an important industrial site in ancient times where the disclosure of mining operations and manufacture of metal and copper were found. --MORE
