Posted on 02/12/2003 1:56:18 PM PST by vannrox
A SCOTTISH archaeological expedition, operating on a shoestring budget, has uncovered an ancient Egyptian city, buried by the sands of time. The expedition, which scrapes together £10,000 a year to maintain its dig near Memphis, the ancient Pharaonic capital, has written a new page of Egypts history. For the newly-discovered town, situated near the necropolis of Saqqara, 15 miles from Cairo, is almost certainly where the workmen who built the pyramids lived with their families. The presence of large temples, some nearly 200ft square, a number of tombs and the mix of large and small dwellings indicate a place where the wealthy lived alongside the artisan, a "real" town that will offer a unique insight into Egyptian life unaffected by the glamour of the royal and aristocratic classes. Ian Mathieson, a scientific archaeologist from Edinburgh and the director of the Saqqara Geophysical Survey Project, said: "I do not believe we will recover any chariots of gold or fabulous pharaoh masks, but in archaeological terms it is stunning; a hitherto undiscovered town, complete, buried beneath the sand." Mr Mathieson continued: "Instead of a road, we found that there had been a lake. The materials were carried by boat, and, on the edge of the lake, there was the town.
"In the past, we have excavated a gravestone, the most significant of its kind in the world, and its in Cairo. Who knows what lies here? The potential is immense. The Step Pyramid is also hugely significant." However, less of what they have left behind has been discovered, and fabulous treasures might lie undiscovered, possibly the equal of those discovered by the late 19th and early 20th century archaeologists. |
Neck.......twitching................voices........
All the time, actually. And "hence." Hence is definately a favourite.
Hmm... "49 AD: emperor Claudius expels Christians from Rome" but Egyptian Christianity didn't begin until about 70 AD. There's also this:
Hypostyle Hall
Temple of Khnum, Esna
Roman period, reign of Claudius (41-54 AD) and later.
http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/egypt/egy22-20.html
Probably the site just died out, after a preceding long period of a very low level of settlement. Historically, attempts to create new living space have not generally been of long duration unless sited on the Nile.
Even with the Nile, the town of Antinoos -- founded by the Emperor Hadrian to honor his catamite, Antinoos, who drowned at the site -- was empty within 20 years, perhaps even 10. Hadrian even ordered a whole new road system from the town to connect it with the Red Sea ports, but in recent years when the route was traced, it became evident that the roadway was probably never used except by the crews who constructed it.
And, more on topic, the city Akhetaten, now near the village of el-Amarna, was sited on the east side of the river, constructed and not long after destroyed for political reasons.
I was thinking of a natural disaster of some type. We have a tree ring event at 44BC...that's the closest I can get with a known catastrophic event.
Hmm... "49 AD: emperor Claudius expels Christians from Rome" but Egyptian Christianity didn't begin until about 70 AD.
54AD : Tiberius Claudius poisoned by his wife/niece Agrippina and her son Lucius Domitius (AKA Nero) becomes emperor.
And Apostle Mark began his ministry in Egypt in 54AD, although his church (Egyptian Coptic) wasn't formally founded until after his martyrdom in Alexandria in 68AD.
... the Irish could have done it for less....
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