Egypt Discovers a Wanted Lost City Under the Desert

Egyptian archaeologists have discovered a great 3,500-year-old city lost under the desert sands near Luxor, dating back to that of Pharaoh Amenhotep I.

“Many foreign missions searched for this city and never found it. We began our work looking for the mortuary temple of Tutankhamun because the temples of Horemheb and Ay were found in this area,” said Zahi Hawass, head of the discovery team, in a statement released by the Ministry of Antiquities on his Facebook account.

The Egyptian expedition was surprised to discover the largest city ever found in Egypt. Founded by one of the greatest rulers of Egypt, King Amenhotep III, the ninth king of the XVIII dynasty who ruled Egypt from 1391 to 1353 BC, this city was active during the co-regency with his son, the famous Amenhotep IV / Akhenaten.

It was the largest administrative and industrial settlement of the era of the Egyptian empire on the west bank of Luxor.

“The streets of the city are lined with houses, some of its walls are up to 3 meters high,” Hawass continued, “we can reveal that the city extends to the west, up to the famous Deir el-Medina.”

Betsy Brian, a professor of Egyptology at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, said: “The discovery of this lost city is the second most important archaeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun.”

“The discovery of the Lost City will not only give us a rare glimpse into the life of the ancient Egyptians at a time when the Empire was richest, but it will help shed light on one of the greatest mysteries in history: Why did Akhenaten and Nefertiti decide to move to Amarna, “added Brian.

The excavation area is sandwiched between the temple of Rameses III at Medinet Habu and the temple of Amenhotep III at Memnon. The Egyptian mission began to work in this area in search of the mortuary temple of Tutankhamun.

Tutankhamun’s successor, King Ay, built his temple on a site that was later adjoining on its southern side the temple of Rameses III at Medinet Habu.

Egyptologists believe that the temple of Ay may have previously belonged to Tutankhamun, as two colossal statues of the young king were found there. The northern part of the temple is still under the sand.

Excavation began in September 2020 and within a few weeks, much to the surprise of the team, mud brick formations began to appear in all directions. What they unearthed was the site of a great city in good condition, with almost complete walls and rooms full of tools of everyday life.

The archaeological layers have remained intact for thousands of years, left by the ancient residents as if it were yesterday.

The first objective of the mission was to date this settlement. Hieroglyphic inscriptions have been found on clay lids of wine vessels. Historical references tell us that the settlement consisted of three royal palaces of King Amenhotep III, as well as the administrative and industrial center of the Empire.

A large number of archaeological finds, such as rings, scarabs, colored ceramic vessels and mud bricks with cartouche seals of King Amenhotep III, confirmed the dating of the city.

After just seven months of excavation, several areas or neighborhoods have been discovered. In the southern part, the mission found a bakery, an area for cooking and food preparation, with ovens and storage ceramics. Due to its size, we can say that the kitchen served a large number of workers and employees.

The second area that is still partially uncovered is the administrative and residential district, with larger and well-ordered units.

This area is enclosed by a zigzag wall, with a single access point leading to internal corridors and residential areas. The single entrance makes us think that it was a kind of security, with the ability to control entry and exit to closed areas.

Zigzag walls are one of the rare architectural elements in ancient Egyptian architecture, mainly used towards the end of the 18th Dynasty. The third area is the workshop.

On the one hand, the area of ​​production of the mud bricks used to build temples and annexes. The bricks are stamped with the cartouche of King Amenhotep III (Neb Maat Ra).

On the other, a large number of foundry molds for the elaboration of amulets and delicate decorative elements. This is further proof of the extensive activity in the city to produce decorations for both temples and tombs.

In all the excavated areas, the mission has found many tools used in some type of industrial activity such as spinning and weaving.

Metal and glass-making slags have also been unearthed, but the main area of ​​such activity has yet to be discovered.

Inside one of the rooms two unusual burials of a cow or a bull were found. Research is ongoing to determine the nature and purpose of this practice.

And even more notable is the burial of a person found with arms outstretched at his sides and the remains of a rope wrapped around his knees. The location and position of this skeleton are quite strange and more research is being done.

One of the most recent finds is a container containing about ten kilos of dried or boiled meat with a valuable inscription: Year 37, meat dressed for the third Heb Sed festival from the slaughterhouse in the Kha corral made by the butcher Luwy.

This valuable information not only gives us the names of two people who lived and worked in the city, but also confirmed that the city was active and the time of the co-regency of King Amenhotep III with his son Akhenaten.

The excavation also reveals a clay seal with inscriptions that can be read: “gm pa Aton” which can be translated as “the domain of dazzling Aten”, this is the name of a temple built by King Akhenaten at Karnak.

As the story goes, a year after this pot was made, the city was abandoned and the capital moved to Amarna. But was it? And because? And was the city repopulated when Tutankhamun returned to Thebes? Only more excavations of the area will reveal what really happened 3,500 years ago.

To the north of the settlement a large cemetery was discovered, the extent of which has not yet been determined. So far, the mission has uncovered a group of rock-cut tombs of varying sizes that can be reached via rock-cut stairs. It is a common feature of tomb building in the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Nobles.