On Tuesday, Egyptian archaeologists announced that they had uncovered a complete 1,800-year-old residential Roman city in Luxor.
Dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, this latest settlement is the “oldest and most important city found on the eastern bank of Luxor,” according to Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.
The team discovered a number of residential buildings, as well as two pigeon towers used to house the carrier birds and metal workshops, Waziri said.
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Inside the workshops was a trove of pots, tools, and bronze and copper Roman coins.
Most archaeological work in Luxor, a city that has regularly turned up all kinds of ancient material, has focused on temples and tombs, so the city is a somewhat unusual find. This year alone, there has already been a discovery of 60 mummified remains and a new royal tomb unearthed in Luxor.
Luxor is also home to the Valley of Kings and Queens, where a number of rock-cut tombs have been excavated.
Egypt’s focus on promoting discoveries such as the ones made in Luxor is part of a larger effort to revive tourism in the country after years of political unrest and the Covid-19 pandemic. The country’s tourism industry accounts for some two million jobs and 10 percent of its gross domestic product. Meanwhile, later this year, the country is expected to open the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum, a new Cairo institution that will house many archaeological riches.