Archeologists in Egypt have unearthed what’s being called an “ancient Egyptian Pompeii” after discovering a 3,000-year-old lost city.
The mortuary city in the southern province of Luxor was discovered by an Egyptian mission and is the largest one ever discovered to date in Egypt, Reuters reported in a piece published Friday.
“It was the largest administrative and industrial settlement in the era of the Egyptian empire,” lead archaeologist Zahi Hawass said in a statement, CNN reported. (RELATED: WWI Shipwreck Graveyard Declared National Marine Park)
“Zahi Hawass Announces Discovery of ‘Lost Golden City’ in Luxor. The Egyptian mission found the city that was lost under the sands and called: The Rise of Aten,” a tweet from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities-Egypt read. “The city is 3k years old, dates to the reign of Amenhotep III, and continued to be used by Tutankhamun and Ay.”
الدكتور زاهي حواس يعلن عن اكتشاف المدينة المفقودة في الأقصر
اكتشفت البعثة المصرية برئاسة الدكتور زاهي حواس، المدينة المفقودة تحت الرمال والتي كانت تسمى “صعود آتون” والتي يعود تاريخها إلى عهد الملك أمنحتب الثالث، واستمر استخدام المدينة من قبل الملك توت عنخ آمون، اي منذ 3000 عام. pic.twitter.com/Tf9M3m1Fj2— Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (@TourismandAntiq) April 8, 2021
“Many foreign missions searched for this city and never found it,” Hawass explained about the discovery, the Associated Press reported.
Archeologist found the “city’s streets flanked by houses,” with intact walls up to 10 feet high and “rooms filled with tools of daily life … left by the ancient residents as if it were yesterday,” the report noted. (RELATED: America’s Muslim Cemetery Builders ‘Flabbergasted’ That Many Americans Oppose Muslim Cemeteries)
Items they discovered included colored pottery vessels, pots used to carry meat, and tools for spinning, weaving and metal and glass-making from pharaonic times.
“This is a very important discovery,” Peter Lacovara, director of the US-based Ancient Egyptian Heritage and Archaeology Fund told the outlet.
“It is a sort of ancient Egyptian Pompeii and shows the critical need to preserve this area as an archaeological park,” he added.
The excavation started in September of 2020 and has so far unearthed the southern portion of the city with the northern yet to be done.