In 'Ezbet Helmi near the modern village Tell el-Dab'a a sizeable palatial precinct of 13 acres, dating to the reign of Hatshepsut/Thutmose III and Amenhotep II, was excavated over the last two decades. Its size, date and position at a big harbour basin of 450 x 400m permit us to treat it as a possible royal residence of the site, identified by Manfred Bietak as the naval base Peru-nefer. Within the enclosure wall we find three palaces of different sizes on high platforms of mud brick, all accessible by ramps. In spite of the fact that only the substructures were preserved, reconstructions of floor plans are possible to a certain extent. Of main interest for the wall painting project are ‘Palace F’ and ‘G’. In their vicinity, mainly at the foot and around the landing of the ramps, more than twenty thousand wall painting fragments have been discovered in dumps. They must have flaked off due to the shrinking of the voluminous mud brick walls on alluvial ground, and then carried down the ramps and dumped there.
For more detailed information on the palatial precinct of 'Ezbet Helmi, please see the following link.