Archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of an ancient Egyptian town dating back 3,400 years near the city of Alexandria, according to a recent study published in Antiquity.
The researchers from the French National Centre for Scientific Research have theorized that the mud-brick settlement was likely founded during Egypt‘s 18th Dynasty (ca. 1550 BCE–1292 BCE), due to the presence of items bearing an amphora stamp with the name Merytaton. Merytaton was the daughter of the pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti and the sibling of Tutankhamun, better known as King Tut.
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The remains, located at Kom el-Nugus near Lake Mariout, likely date back to the New Kingdom. They were found while doing surveys and excavations of a more recent town occupied by the Greeks during the Ptolemaic period (332 BCE–331 BCE). Researchers also found traces of settlements from the Late Period (664 BCE–332 BCE) and the Third Intermedia Periods (1070 BCE–664 BCE) at the settlement.
In addition to the amphora stamp, archaeologists found a fragment of a stele with cartouches of Seti II, who reigned from 1203 BCE to 1197 BCE, and several blocks from a temple dedicated to Ramses II, who ruled from 1303 BCE to 1213 BCE and who is generally considered to be the biblical pharaoh of Exodus.
The researchers also found several mud-brick buildings, drainage systems, and defined, organized streets, suggesting a level of urban planning and more permanent development.
“The discovery of New Kingdom remains at the site was a great surprise,” Sylvain Dhennin, an archaeologist from the University of Lyon who led the French National Centre for Scientific Research, told the New Scientist. “This discovery completely revises the history of Egypt’s western frontier in the New Kingdom.”
Prior to this most recent discovery, scholars generally believed that Egypt’s Mediterranean coast was only occupied from the Ptolemaic period onward.
However, Rennan Lemos, an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge, cautioned against certainty around the dates the site occupied. “Continuing excavations will hopefully provide more details regarding the establishment of this settlement and its occupation phases,” he told the New Scientist.