Mersagawasis

   Modern name for the site of an ancient Egyptian port on the Red Sea north of Quseir al-Khadim (Myos Hormos). Ancient Saww. It lies at the entrance to the Wadi Gawasis and is accessed via the Eastern Desert to the Nile Valley. The port flourished from the end of the Old Kingdom to the early New Kingdom, but the period of its greatest activity appears to be during the Middle Kingdom. It was used by expeditions to Punt. Inscriptions have been recovered naming Senusret I; Senusret’s vizier, Intefyoker; and Amenemhat III. The site was discovered and examined by an Egyptian team from 1976–1977 and has been under excavation by a joint American–Italian expedition since 2001.

Historical Dictionary Of Ancient Egypt by Morris L. Bierbrier