north both by sea and overland along trade routes through the mountains running north along the east coast of the Red Sea.

A 2005 expedition to Mersa/Wadi Gawasis, Egypt by archaeologist Kathryn Bard found remains of Egyptian seagoing vessels and hieroglyphic texts on stelae about royal expeditions to Punt, including cedar planks from Queen Hatshepsut's expedition in the 15th century BCE, demonstrating that Mersa/Wadi Gawasis was the port in Egypt from