News Lost Ancient Egyptian City Discovered

Hello everybody and welcome to Ancient Architects. Please subscribe to the channel for regular content on ancient architecture as well as all the latest news from the world of archaeology. This week, news reports have hit the world's media as the Egyptian authorities claim to have discovered a lost fortified city in Egypt's Dakhla Oasis. The city dates back to the 4th century AD when Egypt was part of the Byzantine Empire, and we see details of daily life, urban development and economic activities. There's streets, houses, open squares and public spaces, a basilica-type church, coins, pottery, tools and so on, meaning this is a truly groundbreaking discovery. But whether by design or by complacency, the Facebook post by the Ministry of Antiquities and all the news headlines that followed, have left out some critical details, because this is not a new discovery at all. So once again, it's down to an independent researcher to give you the details. It would be more accurate to say new parts of an already known about archaeological site have been uncovered. It's a site known as Ain el Seville and was first identified by the Dakhla Oasis Project in 1982, after which excavations were conducted by the Islamic and Coptic section of the Dakhla Inspectorate on behalf of the Ministry of Antiquities. These excavations were ongoing from 2009 to 2011 and then restarted in 2019 and they continue to the present day. In 2009, mud-brick houses, coins, pottery and more were discovered at the site and it was already dated to the early 4th century AD. From 2010 to 2011, a large basilica church, more residential buildings, streets, Christian artwork, more coins and also writings were found. The vast majority of this settlement had been uncovered by 2011. In fact, in November 2011, yes 15 years ago, the discovery was publicly announced. And here we can see a 15 year old news story from Aurum online. It gives more details of the large basilica church, having a wooden altar adorned with foliage decoration, there are columns and also icons of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, angels and saints. They even discovered a fully furnished house with a large hall enclosing several small living rooms, a kitchen, an oven and also a large staircase. The work that took place from 2019 onwards is more of a mystery because nothing has been formally published but I assume the archaeological site expanded. So now rolling ahead to 2026 and as you may have seen the city has hit the news once again with misleading clickbait headlines like Egypt uncovers lost Byzantine era city in the western desert. Technically by using the word uncovers the headline is kind of accurate but it does imply a new discovery, which is actually what the Facebook post by the Ministry of Antiquities blatantly says. They don't mention it was first identified in the 1980s or that major excavations and the dating of the site took place between 2009 and 2011. No, it gives the impression that this is a completely new discovery. But anyway, those details aside, this is a very cool archaeological site and one you may not know anything about because it gives such a detailed look into life in Egypt's Byzantine era. We learn about the daily life of the Egyptian people in the Dakhla oasis and we've been able to document many urban, social and economic aspects of the region witnessed in this period. There are numerous streets that stretch from north to south having a clear and organised urban plan. Occasionally there are streets orientated east to west creating open fields and squares. The main street was overlooked by the Basilica Church. The remains of two watchtowers on the outskirts of the city have now been identified as well, along with a thick walled fortress. Among the most prominent buildings discovered is the House of Tessos, the deacon of the church, and this dates back to the second half of the 4th century AD. We also have the House of Tibibus, dating back to the early 4th century and before the basilica was built in the city, this building was used as a house church. And the finds in the city are incredible, from pottery and coins to grinding stones and bottles that held oils and perfumes. The most important discovery though is the 200 pieces of ostraca, shards of pottery that people wrote on. Both the Coptic and Greek languages were written down and they record things like sales, purchases and also general correspondence as well as other details of daily life in this long lost city. Bronze coins bear the image of Byzantine emperors, Latin writings and Christian symbols. Amazingly, a set of gold coins dating back to Emperor Constantine II were also found, a man who ruled the Byzantine Empire from 337-361 AD. The site has been excavated, documented and it looks to have been tidied up so it's fit for tourism, which I assume is the reason for the sensational misleading claims of a brand new discovery, to get the site global media headlines and attention, like a free advert for tourism. The article by the Associated Press even says the Egyptian government hopes the discovery will boost the country's vital tourism sector and personally, I do hope it does. Because of all the countries in the world, if you love history, Egypt certainly has the most to see. And yes, I love ancient Egypt so of course I'm biased, but I would love as many people as possible to see the went in 2023 I was completely blown away. The only thing that irks me is the slight of hand announcement, the rewriting of our own modern history of exploration and forgetting the work that was done in the 1980s and between 2009 and 2011 because that's when the real ground-breaking discoveries were first made. We don't need to rewrite history to get people interested. The Facebook announcement makes it feel like a brand new discovery, with quotes like this is an important addition to the Egypt archaeological record and the discovery of an integrated residential city. 15 years ago, the news stories that appeared online pretty much said the same thing. Breaking this story of a new discovery is great for Egypt, and it's great for the media for generating clicks, but once again it comes to an independent YouTuber to tell everyone the truth behind the discovery, and really that shouldn't be my job. It reminds me of the lost golden city that was apparently discovered in 2021, when the fact is, this site in Egypt had been known about since the 1930s, and it was also partially excavated. The Egyptian authorities and media claimed it to be a new discovery, and they even shoehorned Pharaoh Tutankhamen into the announcement. But the truth about the lost golden city was that it was merely an already-known-about beige worker's village, but I guess that doesn't sound as exciting. It was interesting for those that love history, but when you fill the story with buzzwords like gold, King Tut and lost city, well, you're not giving a true account of history. But anyway, it is great to see more and learn more about this Byzantine city in the Dakhla Oasis. A new discovery, no, but a fascinating find, absolutely. Thank you very much for watching this episode of Ancient Architects. If you enjoyed the video, please subscribe to the channel, please like the video and please leave a comment below. Thank you very much.