A 3,000-year-old city has been discovered in Egypt and is said by some experts to be the most important archaeological find in the country for almost 100 years.
The 'lost golden city' was uncovered near the city of Luxor last week. Luxor is home to some of Ancient Egypt's most famous discoveries, and where sits the Valley of the Kings, where many prominent Ancient Egyptians were buried.
The location of the lost city was discovered in September of last year, but the pandemic and ongoing restrictions meant that uncovering the city was held back. The lost city was covered by sand dunes for almost 3 millennia and has been found to be packed with artefacts such as pottery, tools, jewellery and even bones. These objects will be examined in due course by experts, but it is hoped that they will give insight into the daily lives of people living at the time.
The city dates back to the reign of Amenhotep III, one of Egypt's most powerful pharaohs, who ruled Egypt as pharaoh from 1391 to 1353 BC. It is believed that the city was still functioning during the reign of Egypt's most famous pharaoh Tutankhamun.
Famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, released a statement which said of the excavation:
"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 a good condition of preservation, with almost complete walls, and with rooms filled with tools of daily life."
Betsy Brian, Professor of Egyptology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, US, said of the discovery:
"The discovery of this lost city is the second most important archaeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun."
She added however that it is still not clear, or likely to be clear, why the city was eventually abandoned and left to be consumed by the desert, she added:
"I don't know that we'll get closer to answering that question through this particular city. What we will get is more and more information about Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, and their families. It's early days, but I think we'll see more and more connections."
The Egyptian tourist board is hoping that the new discovery will boost a tourist industry that has suffered greatly due to the ongoing pandemic. Recently the tourist board organised a huge march through the Egyptian capital of coffins linked to the pharaohs as they moved from one museum in Cairo to another.
[h/t: BBC]
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