Ancient city lost under sands 3,000 years ago discovered in Egypt

The Egyptian mission under Zahi Hawass has discovered an ancient Egyptian city in Luxor - The Rise of Aten - that was lost under the sands 3,000 years ago, Report informs referring to Ahram Online newspaper.

The city - dubbed the Lost Golden City - dates to the reign of Amenhotep III, and continued to be used by Tutankhamun and Ay.

“Many foreign missions searched for this city and never found it. We began our work searching for the mortuary temple of Tutankhamun because the temples of both Horemheb and Ay were found in this area,” Hawass said.

“The city’s streets are flanked by houses; some of their walls are up to 3 metres high,’ Hawass continued, “we can reveal that the city extends to the west, all the way to the famous Deir El-Medina.”

The excavation area is sandwiched between Rameses III’s temple at Medinet Habu and Amenhotep III’s temple at Memnon. The Egyptian mission started working in this area in search of Tutankhamun’s Mortuary Temple.

Tutankhamun’s successor, king Ay, built his temple on a site which was later adjoined on its southern side by Rameses III’s temple at Medinet Habu.

Egyptologists believe Ay’s temple may formerly have belonged to Tutankhamun, as two colossal statues of the young king were found there. The northern part of the temple is still under the sands.

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 with rooms filled with tools for daily life.

The archaeological layers have laid untouched for thousands of years, left by the ancient residents as if it were yesterday.