Tyler Durden – Saturday, Apr 10, 2021 – 08:45 AM
Archaeologists unearthed a 3,000-year-old city in Egypt known by some as the “lost golden city.” The ancient city’s actual name is called “The Rise of Aten,” which is located in the desert outskirts of Luxor, a city on the east bank of the Nile River in southern Egypt.
“The Egyptian mission under Dr. Zahi Hawass found the city that was lost under the sands,” the excavation team told CBS News. “The city is 3,000 years old, dates to the reign of Amenhotep III, and continued to be used by Tutankhamun and Ay.”
Hawass said the discovery is one of the “largest” ancient cities ever found in Egypt that dates back to the golden age when pharaohs ruled the land.
The excavation crew began operations in September 2020, between the temples of Ramses III and Amenhotep III near Luxor, and within weeks, they uncovered parts of the city.
“Within weeks, to the team’s great surprise, formations of mud bricks began to appear in all directions,” he said.
Amenhotep III, one of Egypt’s most powerful pharaohs, ruled between 1391 to 1353 BC.
“The discovery of this lost city is the second most important archaeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun,” Betsy Brian, professor of Egyptology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, US, said.
Brian said the ancient city “gives us a glimpse into the ancient Egyptians’ life” when Egypt was at its most prosperous.
Following seven months of excavations, the team has uncovered multiple neighborhoods, and within, it has found a complete bakery with ovens and storage containers. The team also found administrative and residential districts.
“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 of daily life,” Hawass said.
CBS noted the team also found pottery vessels, jewelry, scarab beetle amulets, and bricks with the seal of Amenhotep III.
The excavation team’s next objective is to “uncover untouched tombs filled with treasure,” said Hawass.
Only further excavations will uncover what lead to the demise of the ancient city more than 3,000 years ago.
Video: Inside “Lost” Egyptian City
You never know what the sands of Egypt will hide – apparently a lost city that may rewrite history books.