Lost 3000-year-old city rediscovered
In one of the most important archaeological finds since 1922, a 3,000-year-old “lost city” has been discovered by Egyptian archaeologists in present-day Luxor.
According to prominent archeologist Zahi Hawass, who led the expedition, the newly-found city dates back to the era of king Amenhotep III, who ruled from 1391 to 1353 BC.
“Many foreign missions searched for this city and never found it,” Hawass said in an online statement.
“The Egyptian expedition was surprised to discover the largest city ever found in Egypt,” the 74-year-old added.
“The excavation started in September 2020 and within weeks, to the team’s great surprise, formations of mud bricks began to appear in all directions.
“What they unearthed was the site of a large city in good condition of preservation, with almost complete walls, and rooms filled with tools of daily life.”
According to Hawass, the city was the largest administrative and industrial settlement at the time on the western bank of Luxor, in southern Egypt.
The team also found rings, scarabs, coloured pottery vessels, and mud bricks bearing the seal of king Amenhotep III’s cartouche which help confirm the dating of the city.
“The discovery of this lost city is the second most important archaeological find since the tomb of Tutankhamun,” said Betsy Bryan, a professor of Egyptology at John Hopkins University in the US.
Images: Dr Zahi Hawass / Instagram