8 August 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

New discoveries found under demolished historic Tawfiq Pasha Andraos Palace in Egypt

An Egyptian archaeological mission excavating at the site of the recently demolished Tawfiq Pasha Andraos Palace discovered a number of Byzantine-era amphorae and lamps.

The demolition of the 120-year-old Tawfiq Pasha Andraos Palace in Luxor had received a lot of criticism.

On Oct. 17, Mustafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, revealed that this find is part of a sequence in Luxor, Egypt’s southernmost city. Excavations on the property, he said, are nearing completion.

In August, Egyptian authorities demolished the 120-year-old Tawfiq Pasha Andraos Palace, located near the Luxor Temple and overlooking the Nile River, based on a decision by the Ministry of Antiquities that archeological sites were under it.

But the move was controversial. “Even the Louvre Museum has monuments below it and was never demolished,” Bassam al-Shammaa, an Egyptologist and a tourist guide told Al-Monitor. “Nothing justifies destroying antiquity for the sake of another, especially considering that Egypt has witnessed successive historical civilizations. It is just unthinkable to demolish antiquity because there is another one below it.”

Tawfic Pasha Andraos Palace
Tawfic Pasha Andraos Palace


Shammaa added that the palace in Luxor was just steps away from notable Roman structures and in front of the Luxor Temple’s initial western superstructure. Emperor Hadrian’s most renowned monument is dedicated to the deity Serapis, and a statue of him may be seen in the northwest corner of the courtyard of the Luxor Temple, quite near to the Andraos Palace. According to Shammaa, the Roman monument was constructed around 126 AD.

According to Ahmed Amer, an archaeological specialist at Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities, the finds herald a new era in archeology. According to him, the fresh discoveries provide new information on the religious and secular lives of the ancient Egyptians.

Other recent discoveries under the Tawfik Pasha Andraos Palace, Amer said, include a set of Roman bronze coins, a part of a wall from the Roman era, and an old storehouse. The lamps are made of different materials, and pottery is probably the most common, he said. 

Related Articles

Ancient Celtic Bone Pen Found in Southern Germany

14 December 2024

14 December 2024

From August to October this year, the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments (LAD) in the Stuttgart Regional Council...

New evidence suggests Indonesia’s Gunung Padang could be world’s oldest known pyramid

21 November 2023

21 November 2023

Gunung Padang, a  colossal megalithic structure nestled in the lush landscapes of West Java, Indonesia, could be the world’s oldest...

Lost Pirate Ship Possibly Identified Off Madagascar: Archaeologists Believe They’ve Found the Legendary Nossa Senhora do Cabo

9 July 2025

9 July 2025

Shipwreck site near Île Sainte-Marie matches historical records of pirate Olivier Levasseur’s treasure-laden vessel, say researchers After more than fifteen...

The Latest Surprises Revealed by Investigations Inside the Tomb of Cerberus in Giugliano

24 July 2024

24 July 2024

The latest surprise revealed by investigations at the Tomb of Cerberus in Giugliano: The remains of a corpse covered with...

New AI Tool ‘Fragmentarium’ Brings Ancient Babylonian Texts Together

6 February 2023

6 February 2023

An artificial intelligence (AI) bot was developed by linguists at the Institute for Assyriology at Ludwig Maximilian University in Germany...

Jiroft: The Mysterious Rival of Mesopotamia and the Dawn of an Ancient Civilization

24 March 2025

24 March 2025

Recent archaeological discoveries in southeast Iran are reshaping our understanding of early civilizations, particularly the Jiroft Civilization, which thrived around...

On the beach of Herculaneum, a victim of the Vesuvius explosion was discovered with his bag

4 December 2021

4 December 2021

Archaeologists released haunting images Wednesday of the skeletal remains of a man buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in...

10 Ancient Shipwrecks and Finds from Prehistoric to Ottoman Periods Discovered οff Kasos Island in Greece

14 March 2024

14 March 2024

The research team of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, has identified ten shipwrecks...

Farmer Found an Ice Age Cave Under His Field

30 March 2021

30 March 2021

A naturally formed cave was found near the town of Kraśnik in southeastern Poland, used by humans during the Ice...

Archaeologists unearth the long-lost homestead of King Pompey in Lynn

3 July 2024

3 July 2024

Archaeologists from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and a historian from Northeastern University believe they might have found the...

The 5,000-Year-Old Beaded Burials that Reveal Women’s Power in Copper Age Iberia: Over 270,000 Beads

6 February 2025

6 February 2025

Archaeologists investigating the Montelirio tholos burial site in southwestern Spain, dating back approximately 5,000 years, have uncovered that the women...

Statue heads of “Aphrodite” and “Dionysus” were found in Aizanoi Ancient City in Turkey’s

30 October 2021

30 October 2021

The statue heads of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, and Dionysus, the god of wine, were unearthed in...

Multiple Burials found at Çatalhöyük

17 September 2021

17 September 2021

Multiple burials were unearthed during the ongoing excavations in the house on the eastern mound of the Neolithic settlement Çatalhöyük....

Well-preserved Ming Dynasty tomb unearthed in China’s Shanxi Province

17 March 2024

17 March 2024

Archaeologists from the Shanxi Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology have unearthed a well-preserved tomb from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)...

4500-year-old tiger-patterned ritual weapon uncover in east China

4 April 2023

4 April 2023

Archaeologists discovered an extremely rare stone relic, an axe-shaped weapon used for rituals in ancient China, engraved with a tiger...