The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Egypt: Archaeologists succeed in spectacular find near Luxor

2021-04-09T16:49:32.208Z


Archaeologists have discovered an almost entire city near Luxor. Can the find near the famous Valley of the Kings answer an age-old question?


Enlarge image

The streets of the village are flanked by houses, some of their walls are up to three meters high, says the well-known Egyptologist Zahi Hawass

Photo: Zahi Hawass Center for Egyptolog / via REUTERS

Almost every day tourists from all over the world cross the Nile in Luxor.

On a busy road on the west bank, past hotels and souvenir shops, you set course for the famous Valley of the Kings and the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut.

This trip alone reveals the tremendous archaeological heritage the city has in store.

You pass thousands of years old monuments of ancient Egypt, first come the Colossi of Memnon, two 14 meter high statues.

Then the huge mortuary temple of Amenhotep III.

And when the road bends, the mighty pillars of the will appear at some point

Ramesseums, a cult building built for Ramses II.

A few hundred meters to the south-east is the mortuary temple for Ramses III.

A team led by the well-known Egyptologist Zahi Hawass began digging close by last September.

Originally they were looking for the mortuary temple of Tutankhamun.

But they found something else entirely.

First, adobe bricks emerged from the ground, according to a statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Then walls, rooms, entire houses and buildings.

Enlarge image

The site on the west bank of the Nile near the Valley of the Kings

Photo: - / AFP

As it turned out, an entire city lay hidden untouched in the ground for about 3000 years.

"The streets of the town are flanked by houses, some of their walls are up to ten feet high," says Hawass.

To the edge of the famous workers' settlement Deir el-Medina, where the specialists for the tombs in the Valley of the Kings were housed, and the mortuary temple of Ramses III.

the settlement withdrew.

It is said to be the largest city that was ever found in Egypt, according to an article in the Egyptian newspaper "Al Ahram".

And the largest settlement in the time of the Egyptian Empire on the west bank of Luxor.

Excellent preserved

The information from Egypt about the excavation is still limited.

But apparently the time could not have done much harm to the place, everything should be perfectly preserved in the dry soil.

The excavators discovered a large number of everyday objects used by the people of that time, including tools such as molds for making amulets or for making textiles.

In addition, ceramic vessels, rings, worked stone objects.

In the southern part there was a bakery and large cooking areas for food preparation - with ovens and storage ceramics.

It is possible that a great many people were cared for here.

Even a vessel for meat was found, the name of the butcher still legible on it.

In addition, there is talk of an administrative and residential area with larger and clearer units, which has already been partially exposed.

Enlarge image

Pottery from the site: an ancient Egyptian Pompeii?

Photo: Zahi Hawass Center for Egyptolog / via REUTERS

The finds are so well preserved that some Egyptologists rave about an ancient Egyptian Pompeii and are already demanding that the area be given special protection.

Hawass, the country's former minister of antiquities, speaks of a lost city from the golden age of the Pharaohs.

Now Egypt is not exactly embarrassed when it comes to presenting new archaeological discoveries in a media-effective manner.

The pompous move of the mummies from the ancient Egyptian museum in Cairo to a new exhibition last week is the best example of what the Egyptian government can do when it comes to the country's glorious past.

It is not always easy for outsiders to judge the true value of a find when it is presented in Egypt.

Much has not yet been scientifically published.

But even the Egyptologist Richard Bußmann from the University of Cologne, who was not involved in the excavation, considers the discovery to be "incredibly interesting and comparatively sensational".

It has the potential to bring new knowledge into Egyptology.

The ancient Egyptian city of Thebes on the west bank of the Nile, on whose territory the find was made, was the religious center of the ancient Egyptian empire for over a thousand years until the third century BC.

Many of their monumental structures have been excavated and well researched.

As a result, science knows a lot about the customs in the palaces, about dynasties and burial rituals or ideas about the afterlife.

"But we still know very little about the lives of ordinary people from this time," says Bussmann.

Laborious excavations

The housing estates of that time either fell victim to the changes in the bed of the Nile or were overbuilt by other settlements.

In addition, settlement archeology has been neglected for a long time - until a few decades ago most archaeologists were more interested in the magnificent remains of the mighty and are also more likely to receive funding for such excavations.

In addition, digging up cities is tedious.

The excavations and documentation with the many layers of soil take time, the yield is manageable.

"It just takes a while to really understand a city," says Bussmann.

In the case of the village that has now been discovered, it could be worthwhile.

Via hieroglyphic inscriptions on wine vessels, it could be traced back to the time of Amenhotep III.

can be dated to the 18th dynasty.

He ruled from 1391 to 1353 BC.

His mortuary temple is very close to the excavation site.

At this time, the father of the famous Pharaoh Akhenaten initiated an elementary construction phase.

Thebes was literally pumped up to a monumental center.

The temple of Karnak on the other bank of the Nile was expanded and the largest statue that was ever in Egypt was built there.

Who was living in the settlement at that time?

Enlarge image

Remains of a person near Thebes

Photo: Zahi Hawass Center for Egyptolog / via REUTERS

Bussmann has doubts that they were actually just simple people and that the find can answer the question of where the people of Thebes actually lived.

It could have been a manufacturing facility for the most part.

Glass scraps found by the Hawass team indicate a higher degree of specialization and thus more craftsmen.

And in ancient Egypt they by no means belonged to the rank and file, but were highly respected experts.

The remains of a burial were also found.

At that time people were actually buried in cemeteries.

Perhaps the find is more related to a palace, Bußmann suspects.

A clay seal with an inscription was also discovered during the excavations.

It reads "gm pa aton" and possibly refers to a temple that Akhenaten had built in Karnak.

"Perhaps the administration of the settlement found was tied to this temple," suggests Bussmann.

With Akhenaten, the empire was in a state of upheaval.

The Pharaoh, who revolutionized religion and made Aton the god above all gods, moved the capital from Thebes to Amarna in Middle Egypt.

Although the settlement near Thebes was still inhabited at the time of Akhenaten's successor Tutankhamun and his successor King Eje II, there are also traces of decline.

Apparently the place was suddenly abandoned.

Only time will tell if you really lived in the city more than 3,000 years ago.

The excavations are far from over.

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2021-04-09

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.