Archaeologists have discovered a “lost Golden city” dated back some 3,400 years has been discovered buried under the ancient Egyptian capital of Luxor, described as “untouched…as if it were yesterday.”
Lost Golden City may be largest ancient settlement ever discovered in Egypt
A newly discovered ancient city has been unearthed near Luxor that dates back some 3,400 years and is believed to be the largest ancient settlement ever uncovered in Egypt, the Huffington Post reported.
It is being described as the most important discovery in Egypt since the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922, NBC reports.
“Many foreign missions searched for this city and never found it,” famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, the archaeologist who led the team that made the discovery, wrote in a news release posted on his Facebook page. He explained that the city was “untouched” and “left by the ancient residents as if it were yesterday.”
Archaeologists discovered storage houses, grinding stones, ovens and areas for meat production and everyday tools still intact.
“This is amazing because actually we know a lot about tombs and afterlife,” Hawass told NBC News while giving a tour of the site. “But now we discover a large city to tell us for the first time about the life of the people during the Golden Age.”
“Each piece of sand can tell us the lives of the people, how the people lived at the time, how the people lived in the time of the golden age, when Egypt ruled the world,” Hawass added.
The Golden City: The Rise of Aten
The so-called “Lost Golden City” was known as Aten, and dates to the reign of Amenhotep III, the grandfather of Tutankhamun, Live Science reports. Amenhotep III was one of Egypt’s most powerful pharaohs, who ruled from 1391 to 1353 BC, the BBC reported.
The remains of this rich city have eluded archaeologists until now. Historical documents have reported that Aten was home to King Amenhotep III’s three royal palaces, serving as the largest administrative and industrial settlement in Luxor at that time.
The “Golden City” continued to be used during Amenhotep III’s co-regency with his son, Amenhotep IV (who later changed his name to Akhenaten). This continued during the rule of Tutankhamun, as well as the pharaoh who followed him, known as Ay.
The nearly intact tomb of Tutankhamun, (commonly called King Tut), was discovered in the Valley of the Kings by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922.
