Largest Egyptian City from 1137 BCE Uncovered

King Amenhotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten to better reflect his religious beliefs, is said to have been King in the “Lost Golden City” uncovered recently outside Luxor. (Flickr)

An Egyptian archaeological team began excavating the remnants of an ancient city in September 2020. The group began sharing their findings on April 8, via a Facebook post by famed archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass.

After seven months of excavation outside Luxor, the home of the Valley of the Kings, Egyptian excavators confirmed the age of the largest ancient city to have been uncovered in all of Egypt, deemed the “Lost Golden City.” Most notably, the city dates back to King Amenhotep’s rule, and likely that of his son Akhenaten (who changed his name from Amenhotep IV) about 3400 years ago.

The archaeologists are hopeful that their findings will provide more context and possibly even answers to long-held questions held by the global archaeological community, such as why the city moved its capital to Amarna, or what quotidian life looked like during the city’s wealthiest period under Amenhotep IV and his son and successor, Akhenaten. 

According to historians, King Akhenaten, of the 18th dynasty, ruled ancient Egypt “during a golden period of peace and prosperity.” Al-Ahram, Egypt’s daily newspaper, states that historical references indicate that the newly-uncovered settlement “consisted of three royal palaces of King Amenhotep III, as well as the empire’s administrative and industrial center.” Such a remarkable find was in part due to luck: Dr. Hawass, the former Egyptian Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, was leading a team in search of Tutankhamun’s mortuary temple when their digs gave way to mud brick walls running in all directions. “Many foreign missions searched for this city and never found it,” Hawass noted in his Facebook post.

Excavators discovered the age of the “Lost Golden City” with the help of hieroglyphic inscriptions located on clay caps of wine vessels and mud bricks “bearing seals of King Amenhotep III's cartouche”—in other words, the royal seal. Two gallons of meat were also found in a pottery vessel whose lid was inscribed with the ancient Egyptian equivalent of “Year 37,” roughly 1337 BCE: proof that the city existed at the time of King Amenhotep III’s co-regency with Akhenaten, his son. Past excavations and research determined that the city’s relocation to Amarna likely occurred just one year after the pot was dated.

Although the excavators have made sense of much of their findings, such as the discovery of entire neighborhoods and a bakery, some of the remnants they have unearthed are much more enigmatic. For instance, a mummy was discovered, buried with his arms outstretched to his side and rope wrapped around his knees. According to Dr. Hawass, “The location and position of this skeleton are rather odd, and more investigations are in progress.” A cow skeleton was also unearthed, bringing with it suspicions that perhaps there were religious rituals or other cultural practices existent in the time of Amenhotep, not yet known to regional archaeologists. 

Further excavation should answer the many questions dogging the excavators and other archaeologists and historians. After all, the team has only just uncovered the southern region of the city and is hopeful that the northern region will be just as abundant in archaeological discovery.

This article is dedicated to Erik Lindemann for his helpful expertise and unmatched enthusiasm for archaeology and ancient Egyptian history.