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Stay updated!
Stay updated!
An Egyptian mission lead by Dr. Zahi Hawass have discovered a city that is over 3000 years old, hidden under the sands of Luxor. The city dates back to the reign of Amenhotep III and was also used by Tutankhamun and Ay.
This is the largest city ever to be discovered in Egypt. The excavation started in September 2020 and within weeks the team found formations of mud bricks. The streets of the city are filled with houses, some of which have complete walls up to 3 meters high. The city has been left by it ancient residents as if it was just yesterday.
The excavation site is in between Rameses III’s temple at Medinet Habu and Amenhotep III’s temple at Memnon and the Golden city extends all the way to the famous Deir el-Medina.’ The city has been able to be dated by finding seals bearing King Amenhotep III’s cartouche and after only working on the area for seven months several neighborhoods have been uncovered.
In one area they have found a bakery, a large cooking and food preparation area, complete with ovens and storage pottery and lots of general tools used for daily work. A second area, which is still partly uncovered, appears to be the administrative and residential district. This area has a zig zag wall and only one entrance through internal corridors, which makes you think that there may have been some kind of security.
The third area is the workshop with a production area with lots of casting moulds for the production of amulets. They have also uncovered a large cemetery to the North of the city.
The Egyptian mission started work in this area in search of Tutankhamun’s Mortuary Temple initially and then stumbled on something as important and totally unexpected. Betsy Brian, Professor of Egyptology at John Hopkins University in Baltimore USA, said ‘The discovery of this lost city is the second most important archaeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun”.
Work continues on the site and the mission expect to find untouched tombs filled with treasures. Further excavations will tell us exactly what happened 3500 years ago. We will keep you updated!
If you are interested in exploring Egypt, take a look at the group tours we offer or contact us and we will prepare a unique, individual tour for you, according to your requirements.
