4 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

3,000-Year-Old “Lost Golden City” Found in Luxor

Approximately 3000 years old “lost golden city” has been unearthed in Luxor city in southern Egypt. The archaeological mission said in a statement on Thursday that it may be the most important discovery in Egypt since the tomb of the boy-king Tutankhamun.

The lost city, known as Aten, is believed to have been founded by King Amenhotep III, the ninth king of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, who ruled the country from 1391 to 1353 B.C., says the mission statement. It is believed to be the largest administrative and industrial settlement of the time, located on the west bank of Luxor.

Archaeologists began excavations in September in the area between the temples of King Ramses III and Amenhotep III. The original purpose of the mission was to find the mortuary temple of King Tutankhamen, the statement said.

“Within weeks, to the team’s great surprise, formations of mud bricks began to appear in all directions,” the statement said. “What they unearthed was the site of a large city in a good condition of preservation, with almost complete walls, and with rooms filled with tools of daily life.

“The archaeological layers have [lain] untouched for thousands of years, left by the ancient residents as if it were yesterday,” it said.

“Many foreign missions searched for this city and never found it,” Zahi Hawass, an Egyptian archaeologist and former minister of state for antiquities affairs who led the mission, said in the statement.

Zahi Hawass
Famous Egyptologist Zahi Hawass announces the discovery of the Lost City of Luxor. Source: https://www.elnacional.cat/

The city was active during the reign of Amenhotep III as well as during his co-regency with his son, Amenhotep IV, also known as Akhenaton. The city was later used by Tutankhamen and his successor, King Ay.

Hawass said the city’s streets are flanked by houses, some of which have walls nearly 10 feet high.

The archaeological team dated the settlement through hieroglyphic inscriptions found on wine vessels, rings, scarabs, pottery, and mud bricks bearing the seals of King Amenhotep III’s cartouche, the statement said.

So far, several enclaves in the city have been discovered. The statement said that in the south, archaeologists found a bakery and a large kitchen equipped with ovens and crockery to store food. They also found an administrative and residential area surrounded by a jagged wall with only one entrance, implying that it was to provide security.

In a third area was a workshop. The team found casting molds to produce amulets and ornaments, apparently for temples and tombs, according to the statement.

“All over the excavated areas, the mission has found many tools used in some sort of industrial activity like spinning and weaving,” the statement said, adding that metal and glassmaking slag has also been found.

In other parts of the city, the graves of two cows or bulls were found in a room. And in another area where the remains of a person, found with arms outstretched to his side and a rope wrapped around his knees. The team is investigating both cases to glean more information about social practices during that era, the statement said.

A large cemetery was found to the north of the city, as well as a group of tombs cut from the rock.

“Work is underway and the mission expects to uncover untouched tombs filled with treasures,” the statement read.

This lost city is the latest in a series of archaeological discoveries excavated in the country in recent months, which gave people a new understanding of the dynasty that ruled ancient Egypt. The Egyptian government hopes that these discoveries will boost the country’s most important tourism industry, which has been hit by the coronavirus pandemic, attacks by Islamic radicals, and political unrest in recent years.

Cover Photo: The photo is illustrative / iStock / Getty Images

Related Articles

Ancient Christian Settlement Discovered in Egypt

14 March 2021

14 March 2021

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities said on Saturday that a French-Norwegian archaeological team had discovered a new ancient Christian settlement...

Ramses the Great

7 May 2021

7 May 2021

Ramses the Great was the name given to Ramses II, also known as Ramesses or Rameses. He was the third...

The World’s First Pet Cemetery May Have Been Found in Ancient Egypt

2 March 2021

2 March 2021

Hundreds of animal skeletons found in Berenice harbor in 2011 made researchers think that this place was used as a...

Farmer was Discovers 2600-year-old Stone Slab of Pharaoh Apries

19 June 2021

19 June 2021

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced that a farmer in Ismailia, Egypt, uncovered a 2,600-year-old stone monument erected by Pharaoh...

The Egyptian Gynecologist Metrodora

1 May 2021

1 May 2021

Metrodora, an Egyptian gynecologist, was a notable figure in the world of medicine. Her work as a gynecology researcher and...

First Visual Evidence of the Milky Way Found in Ancient Egyptian Cosmological Vignettes

1 May 2025

1 May 2025

Did ancient Egyptians gaze upon the Milky Way and immortalize its form in their artwork? New research suggests this very...

New stone ram heads unearthed in Luxor, Egypt

15 October 2021

15 October 2021

Mustafa al-Waziri, the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), recently announced the discovery of new stone ram heads...

Archaeologists reveal 4,000-year-old rock-cut tomb, artifacts in Saqqara

8 January 2024

8 January 2024

A team of Egyptian and Japanese archaeologists has unveiled a rock-cut tomb believed to be more than 4,000 years old...

World’s First Pregnant Ancient Egyptian Mummy has been Discovered

29 April 2021

29 April 2021

Experts from the Polish Academy of Sciences aim to research all mummies in museums as part of the Warsaw Mummy...

13.000 Ostraca Discovered in Upper Egypt

20 December 2021

20 December 2021

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism announced that a German-Egyptian mission at the Al-Sheikh Hamad archaeological site in Tel...

The Cairo University archaeological mission unearths the tomb of Ramses II’s royal treasurer at Saqqara necropolis

1 November 2021

1 November 2021

Archaeologists working at the Saqqara necropolis have unearthed the tomb of Ptah-M-Wiah, a high-ranking ancient Egyptian official and head of...

Archaeologists Found an Egyptian Temple Slotted into a Cliff Face, Probably Dedicated to a Lion-Headed Goddess Repit

15 December 2024

15 December 2024

Archaeologists have uncovered a hidden gateway leading to a 2,100-year-old temple built into a cliff face at the ancient city...

Scientists reveal new discovery inside the Pyramid of Khufu

20 March 2023

20 March 2023

An Egyptian pyramid for 4,500 years is still spilling secrets. After a years-long project using modern technology to reveal the...

Egyptian archaeologists found 110 ancient tombs in the Nile Delta

28 April 2021

28 April 2021

The Tourism and Antiquities Ministry announced Tuesday that Egyptian archaeologists had discovered 110 burial tombs on the Nile Delta dating...

Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of what may be one of the four lost Ancient Egyptian “Sun Temples”

31 July 2022

31 July 2022

A Polish and Italian archaeological mission, while conducting an excavation in the Abusir necropolis near Saqqara in Egypt, unearthed the...