One of the largest and historically critical civilizations of the world, Egypt is home to some of the most miraculous discoveries of the modern era. Egypt has long been the favorite playground for explorers, archeologists and history buffs, and what they have discovered has left them and us scratching our chins with wonder and shaking our heads with disbelief. These discoveries are guaranteed to astound!
1. Alexandria
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The fabled city of Alexandria was lost for 1200 years until just 16 years ago. The famed stage of historic interactions between Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Marc Antony and Octavius had been lost under sea. The royal residences, as archeologists discovered, were gradually sent to the bottom of the sea after a series of earthquakes and tsunamis. The most interesting sections of the Hellenistic city, including the palace quarter is still being extensively investigated by the French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio and his team.
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Alexandria was among the largest and most magnificent cities in Egypt. Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, it was lost to the ocean some time in the 4th century. It is truly remarkable that for more than 1,200 years, temples, buildings, palaces, statues, ceramics, coins, jewellery and other every day objects lay untouched on the seabed covered by thick layers of sand and sediment.
2. Unfinished Obelisk Of Assuan
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During the 5th Dynasty, the obelisk began to play an important role inside the temples of Ra. The obelisk is considered to be a sacred symbol of the cult of the sun. They were erected on a great base in an open court, and then as the suns-rays fell on its pyramidal top, the bright light filled the Temple, giving the people the symbol of the power of the sun.
hiddenincatours
The unfinished obelisk is the largest ancient obelisk and is located in the northern region of Egypt in Aswan. Archaeologists claim that the female pharaoh known as Hatshepsut sanctioned its construction in 1508–1458 BC. It remained unfinished due to cracks appearing in the granite. If finished, it would have measured around 42 m and would weighed 1,200 tons.
3. Canopus
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The ancient city of Canopus is named after an unfortunate sailor, Canopus, who died here after being bitten by a viper on the sands of Thonis. The oldest mention of Canopus can be found in a poem by Solon in the early 6th century BC. During the last Pharaonic dynasties and the Ptolemaic period, Canopus was famous for its sanctuaries of Osiris and Serapis. Pilgrims from all over the world came here in search of miraculous healing!
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The mysterious city consists of a row of ruins, 150 metres long. Numerous archaeological remains and artifacts, including jewels, crosses, coins and seals of the Byzantine Period, have been found during various archeological investigations. Granite inscribed with hieroglyphs and a marble head of the god Serapis with mysterious origins has been a huge talking point amongst historians.
4. Khufu Ship
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The Khufu ship is on display in The Khufu Boat Museum at the Giza pyramid complex since 1982. In 1954, Egyptian archeologist Kamal el Mallakh, found the Khufu Ship on the south side of the Great Pyramid. The ship was later reconstructed using conifer, cedar of Lebanon. The ship was built for Khufu (King Cheops), the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. It was buried for him to use in the afterlife.The Khufu ship is one of the oldest, largest, and best-preserved ships from ancient times. Measuring 43.6 m long and 5.9 m wide, the Khufu ship is a masterpiece of woodcraft!
5. Tomb of Tutankhamun
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The tomb of the young pharaoh, Tutankhamun was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter. It was buried underneath the remains of workmen’s huts built during the Ramesside Period. The King’s body was placed within three coffins, with the innermost being composed of 110.4 kg pure gold. The mummy itself was adorned with a gold mask, mummy bands and other funerary items. Even the funerary mask is made of gold and weighs 11kg.
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The treasury side-room contained over 5,000 objects, most of them funerary and ritual in nature. These included twenty six wine jars, a canopic chest and a large statue of Anubis. The tomb was densely packed with items and it took 8 years to empty the tomb and transfer items to Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Howard Carter, on his experience of discovering the tomb, “At first I could see nothing, the hot air escaping from the chamber causing the candle flame to flicker, but presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold – everywhere the glint of gold. For the moment – an eternity it must have seemed to the others standing by – I was struck dumb with amazement.”
6. Deir El-Medina (The Town of the Tomb Builders)
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Deir el-Medina is an ancient Egyptian village which was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th to 20th dynasties. The site is located on the west bank of the Nile, within easy walking distance of the Valley of the Kings to the north. The village was built in order to preserve secrecy of sensitive nature of the work carried out in the tombs.
The archaeological site was excavated by French team directed by Bernard Bruyère,between 1922–1951. In the vicinity of the village many objects were found during excavation.
7. Temples At Abu Simbel
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The Abu Simbel temples are two massive rock temples in Abu Simbel, a small village in Nubia. The twin temples were originally carved out during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th century BC. The design of Abu Simbel expresses a measure of ego and pride of Ramesses II.
With the passage of time, the temples fell into disuse and eventually became covered by sand.The temple was forgotten until Belzoni dog out an entry to the temple in 1817, and entered the complex.
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The complex is named after a young local boy named Abu Simbel who guided early re-discoverers to the site of the buried temple. The larger temple is dedicated to Ra-Harakhty, Ptah and Amun, Egypt’s state deities of the time, and features four large statues of Ramesses II in the facade. The smaller temple is dedicated to the goddess Hathor, personified by Nefertiti, Ramesses’s most beloved wife.
8. Thonis-Heracleion
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Thonis-Heracleion is a city lost between legend and reality. It was founded probably around the 8th century BC and sunk into the Mediterranean in the 8th century AD. The city was discovered in 2000 and is located in the western part of Aboukir Bay. Heracleion and Thonis were in fact names of the same city. Heracleion was the name of the city for the Greeks and Thonis for the Egyptians. The city extended all around the great temple of Heracleion, surrounded by a network of canals.
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Some of the major and most mysterious discoveries included, a 5 meter high red granite statue of a pharaoh, a dark stone statue of his queen possibly Cleopatra II or Cleopatra III and a 5.4 m high colossal red granite statue of the god Hapy (symbol of abundance and fertility). All these date back to the 4th century BC.
9. The Secret Mummy Cave
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Two caches of royal mummies were discovered in the 1881. The more popular one is often referred to as the Deir-el-Bahari Cache. It is an extraordinary cache of mummified remains and funeral equipment of more than 50 kings, queens, royals and various nobility. The tomb may have been discovered as early as 1860 by the Rassul brothers. Initially the Abd el-Rasuls, sold the antiquities they discovered in the local market. When objects from the tomb began appearing on the market an investigation was made, and after torturing the Rassul brothers one of them revealed the location of the tomb. The tomb had to be excavated in haste to prevent further plunder by the locals.
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The tomb is thought to have initially been the last resting place of High Priest of Amun Pinedjem II, his wife Nesikhons and other close family members. Pinudjem II died around 969 BC in a time of decline of the Egyptian kingdom. In this time the mummies from former dynasties were vulnerable to grave robbery and were moved here to protect the remains of these royal personages.
10. The Mummy Of Ramesses II
Valerio Tuveri
King Ramesses is probably the most popular Egyptian King ever. He was the third ruler of the 19th Dynasty and ruled for an amazing 67 years, the second longest reign of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. Regarded by many historians as Egypt’s most powerful pharaoh, Ramesses II is said to have upwards of 100 children. His body was originally entombed in the Valley of the Kings, as was customary for a pharaoh, but ancient Egyptian priests later moved it.
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In 1881, Ramesses II’s mummy was discovered in a secret royal cache at Deir el-Bahri, along with those of more than 50 other rulers and nobles. In 1974, archeologists noticed its deteriorating condition and flew it to Paris, where it was treated for a fungal infection. Before the journey, Ramses II was issued an Egyptian passport, which listed his occupation as “King (deceased).”
11. Valley Of The Golden Mummies
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Mummies was discovered recently by an Egyptian team at Bahariya Oasis, located about 380 km west of the pyramids. Around 250 mummies were recovered over the period of several seasons. Eventually, the excavator further estimated that more than ten thousand mummies were present, many of them beautifully gilded. These mummies, represent the very best of Roman-Period mummies ever found in Egypt. Their ancient remains are around 2000 years old, but they have withstood the test of time remarkably well.
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The story of discovery begins back in 1996 when a guard of the Temple of Alexander the Great was crossing the desert on his donkey. Suddenly the leg of the donkey buckled and it fell. There was a small hole in the desert floor where the donkey had fallen. And hence the Valley of the Golden Mummies was discovered.
12. Tomb Of The Unknown Queen
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Czech Institute of Egyptology has made the discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown queen. The tomb was found in Abu-Sir, south-west of Cairo, and is thought to belong to the wife or mother of Pharaoh Neferefre who ruled 4,500 years ago.The tomb was discovered in Neferefre’s funeral complex.
The tomb dates back to the middle of the 5th Dynasty (2994-2345 BC). The location and inscription on queen’s tomb indicates that she was the wife of the pharaoh and called the queen Khentakawess III. The name of this queen had been unknown before the discovery of her tomb. The archaeologist team also found there about 30 utensils made of limestone and copper.
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