A 3000-year-old ‘lost golden city’ discovered in Egypt

Context

Egypt announced the discovery of a three-millennia-old “lost golden city”, being touted as the most important find since the unearthing of King Tutankhamun’s tomb, 100 years ago.

About the “Lost golden city”

• Largest City:The city is known as "The Rise of Aten" and the largest city ever found in Egypt.
• Dynasty:The city is thought to belong from the era of 18th-dynasty king Amenhotep III (1391 to 1353 B.C.).
• The city is also considered to have been used by Tutankhamun and his successor Ay during a period believed to be the golden era of ancient Egypt.
• It is considered the largest administrative and industrial settlement of the pharaonic empire.
• Location:The golden city is situated at the west bank of the Nile river, close to the Colossi of Memnon, MedinetHabu, and the Ramesseum, or mortuary temple of King Ramses II.
• Architecture:The city is fenced in by a zigzag wall and has only one access point leading to internal corridors and residential areas.
• Zigzag walls are one of the rare architectural elements in ancient Egyptian architecture which were mainly used at the end of the 18th Dynasty.
• The northern part of the city includes the administrative and residential districts and in the southern part workshops, bakery, oven, and pottery storage are found.
• Houses are made up of mud-bricks.
• Some mud bricks have the seal of Tutankhamun’s grandfather King Amenhotep III, who is known to be one of Egypt’s most powerful pharaohs.
• Other findings: The artifacts and tools were also discovered from the reign of the Pharaohs.
• The site has also seen a large number of ovens and kilns for making glass and faience.
• The clay caps of wine vessels, rings, scarabs, colored pottery, and spinning and weaving tools were also found.
• Two burials of acow or bullare also found inside one of the rooms.
• The burial of a person with arms outstretched to his side and remains of a rope wrapped around his knees is also found.

Significance of the finding

• The discovery will shed light on one of history's greatest mystery that is why did Akhenaten and Nefertiti decide to move to Amarna, which is an extensive Egyptian archeological site which represents the remains of thenewly established capital city in 1346 B.C.