Lost for 3000 years: an ancient city of gold was found in the sands of Egypt (photo)
This site, once a thriving gold mining city called Aton, was discovered near the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, where Tutankhamun lived. Excavations at this site began back in 2020, when the city was discovered, and were completed only recently.
Archaeologists have found the ruins of houses, workshops, administrative buildings, religious temples, and baths.
Among the artifacts found at the site are items from later historical periods, including the Roman (30 BC - 639 AD) and Islamic (642 AD - 1517 AD) periods. This indicates that Aton was a residential city for centuries and supplied gold to various Egyptian dynasties, which used it to decorate palaces, bodies, and tombs.
Among the numerous artifacts found is a collection of 628 fragments of pottery and stone with inscriptions in hieroglyphics, demotic and Greek.
Researchers believe that these inscriptions indicate that Atonus was a multicultural and multilingual city, reflecting the diversity of its inhabitants.
The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the completion of the excavation on Tuesday, calling it "an important step in preserving the country's ancient mining heritage, opening up access to this data for both scholars and a wider audience."
The researchers note that the excavation results provide new insights into Egypt's ancient mining industry and the daily lives of workers who worked in the region.
During the archaeological work, a well-preserved settlement of miners was found, with intact gold processing facilities and specialized workshops for extracting gold from quartz veins.
The remains of these workshops demonstrate a complex multi-stage gold refining process that included grinding quartz, filtering sediments in special pools, and melting ore in clay furnaces to produce pure gold.
Archaeologists note that after the translation of ancient texts, it will be possible to better understand the economy, government and culture of the Lost City of Gold.
Among the artifacts found are bronze coins from the Ptolemaic dynasty, the last and longest dynasty of ancient Egypt, which ruled from 305 BC to 30 BC.
In addition, the archaeologists discovered five sacrificial tables - stone slabs on which food and drink were left as gifts to the gods or the souls of the dead.
Other finds include terracotta figures of people and animals, stone sculptures of deities, ceramic vessels for storing perfumes, medicines and incense, as well as jewelry made of precious stones and shells.
"What was unearthed turned out to be a well-preserved site of a large city, with walls almost intact and rooms filled with everyday objects," said lead researcher Zahi Hawass, an archaeologist and former Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities.
He also noted that for many years, many foreign archaeologists have tried to find this lost city, but they have failed to make this discovery.
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