World’s oldest bowling alley unearthed in Egypt

Italian archeologists have found in Egypt what may be the world’s oldest indoor bowling alley, Egyptian media said Monday.

A spacious room, with a shallow lane running through into a pit and twoheavy stone balls lying nearby, was found at an ancient site in theprovince of Al-Fayyum, 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of Cairo, andappears to be man’s first attempt to create an area for a game that wasto become the prototype for modern-day bowling, archeologists takingpart in the excavations were reported as saying.  The site dates back to the Ptolemaic era, which began in 332 B.C withPtolemy I Soter declaring himself Pharaoh of Egypt following Alexanderthe Great’s conquest, and ended with the Roman conquest in 30 B.C.  The period bowling room was apparently part of a residential building,with papyruses, pottery and copper utensils found at the site inabundance.

Source:  Russian News and Information Agency, http://en.rian.ru/world/20070528/66210723.html