CAIRO – Archaeologists said on Thursday they had discovered a large ancient pharaonic city that lay unseen for centuries near some of Egypt’s most famous monuments.
The city was built more than 3,400 years ago during the lavish rule of Amenhotep III, one of Egypt’s most powerful pharaohs, according to the Egyptian archaeologist in charge of the excavations, Zahi Hawass.
The team began searching for a mortuary near Luxor in September and within a few weeks found mudstone formations in all directions, said Mr. Hawass said in a statement.
They excavated the well-preserved city with almost complete walls and rooms filled with tools of daily living, along with rings, scarabes, colored pottery, and mudstones with seals of Amenhotep’s cartouche.
“The city’s streets are surrounded by houses and some of their walls are up to three meters high,” said Mr. Hawass said.
The excavations are located on the western bank of Luxor near the Colossi of Memnon, Medinet Habu and the Ramesseum, or mortuary of King Ramses II, not far from the Valley of the Kings.
“This is a very important discovery,” said Peter Lacovara, director of the U.S.-based Ancient Egyptian Heritage and Archeology Fund.
The state of preservation and the amount of articles from everyday life made another famous excavation think, he added.
“It is a kind of ancient Egyptian Pompeii and shows the critical need to preserve this area as an archeological park,” said Mr. Lacovara said, who has been working in the Malqata Palace area for more than 20 years but was not involved in the excavations.
The site contains a large number of furnaces and ovens for making glass and faience, along with the rubble of thousands of statues, said Betsy Bryan, a specialist at Amenhotep III’s government.
“Just to trace the manufacturing centers, the details are revealed about how the Egyptians under a great and wealthy ruler like Amenhotep III did what they did,” she said. “It will provide many more years of knowledge.”