Archaeologists cheer discovery of ancient city

CAIRO — Egypt’s most prominent archaeologist on Saturday revealed details on a Pharaonic city recently found in the southern province of Luxor.

Zahi Hawass said archaeologists found brick houses, artifacts, and tools at the site of the 3,000yearold lost city. It dates back to Amenhotep III of the 18th dynasty, whose reign is considered a golden era for ancient Egypt.

“This is really a large city that was lost. … The inscription that was found inside here says that this city was called ‘The dazzling Aten’,” Hawass told reporters at the site.

Archaeologists started excavating in the area last year, searching for the mortuary temple of boy King Tutankhamun. However, within weeks they found mud brick formations that eventually turned out to be a wellpreserved large city.

City walls and even rooms filled with ovens, storage pottery and utensils used in daily life were present. Archaeologists also found human remains.

“We found three major districts, one for administration, one for the workmen to sleep, one for the industry and (an) area for dried meat,” said Hawass.

He said he believes that the city was “the most important discovery” since the tomb of Tutankhamun was unearthed in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor nearly fully intact in 1922

Paola Cartagena, a graduate student of Egyptology at the University of Manchester, agreed and said the discovery was of “great importance.”

“Settlement archaeology is extremely valuable for learning true historical facts and broaden our understanding of how the ancient Egyptians lived,” she wrote on Twitter.

The newly unearthed city is located between the temple of King Rameses III and the colossi of Amenhotep III on the west bank of the Nile in Luxor. The city continued to be used by Amenhotep III’s grandson Tutankhamun, and then his successor King Ay. Some mud bricks bear the seal of King Amenhotep III’s cartouche, or name insignia.

Amenhotep III, who ruled ancient Egypt between 1391 B.C. and 1353 B.C., built the main portions of the Luxor and Karnak temples in the ancient town of Thebes.

Egypt has sought publicity for its archaeological discoveries in the hopes of reviving its tourism sector, which was badly hit by the turmoil following the 2011 uprising, and more recently the coronavirus pandemic.

Khaled Desouki / AFP / Getty Images The 3,000yearold city uncovered in the southern province of Luxor dates back to Amenhotep III of the 18th dynasty, whose reign is considered a golden era for ancient Egypt.