Ancient city, second largest to Tutankhamun, discovered in Egypt
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t is being called the largest find of an ancient city in Egypt and is being hailed as the second most important 'archaeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun'
Archaeologists have discovered what is being believed to be the largest ancient city found in Egypt since the unearthing of Tutankhamun’s tomb.
A famous Egyptologist Zahi Hawass discovered a “lost golden city” near Luxor, which is hailed to be the Valley of the Kings.
"The Egyptian mission under Dr Zahi Hawass found the city that was lost under the sand," the archaeologists said. "The city is 3,000 years old, dates to the reign of Amenhotep III, and continued to be used by Tutankhamun and Ay."
Known as Aten, it is being called the largest find of an ancient city in Egypt and is being hailed as the second most important “archaeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun”.
Experts also unearthed pieces of jewellery and coloured pottery vessels, scarab beetle amulets. Mud bricks bearing the seals of Amenhotep III were also found.
However, the city had been hard to locate as a former antiquities minister revealed that “Many foreign missions searched for this city and never found it”.
The excavations began in September 2020 in Cairo between the temples of Ramses III and Amenhotep III near Luxor.
“Within weeks, to the team’s great surprise, formations of mud bricks began to appear in all directions,” the statement read. “What they unearthed was the site of a large city in a good condition of preservation, with almost complete walls, and with rooms filled with tools of daily life.”
The experts were also able to unearth several neighbourhoods, including a bakery fitted with ovens and storage, administrative and residential districts.
“The archaeological layers have laid untouched for thousands of years, left by the ancient residents as if it were yesterday,” the experts said.