Egypt Announces Byzantine Settlement and Additional Tombs at Two Sites

Egypt announced two archaeological discoveries on July 4 that include a well-preserved Byzantine residential settlement at the Dakhla Oasis and 18 additional tombs at the Marina el-Alamein site west of Alexandria. The Dakhla Oasis settlement, located in the western desert province of New Valley, dates to the fourth century during Byzantine rule.

Archaeologists mapped north-south thoroughfares crossed by east-west streets that form open squares. A mid-fourth-century basilica church overlooks the main streets, and two watchtowers protected the perimeter. A fortified structure with thick walls, houses with reception halls and vaulted roofs, and the house of Tisous, identified as a church deacon’s residence used as a house church, were also uncovered.

Bread ovens, kitchens and grinding tools indicate on-site food production. Bronze coins bearing Byzantine emperor portraits and Christian symbols, gold coins from the reign of Constantius II, and roughly 200 inscribed pottery fragments recording commercial transactions and daily life were recovered.

Eleven are rock-cut chambers averaging 8 meters deep and seven are limestone surface structures. Artifacts recovered include pottery, amphorae, lamps, plates, altars and limestone basins. A 2.5-meter granite sarcophagus containing skeletal remains is under study, and a plaster sphinx fragment was found nearby.

Four gold pieces known as “the golden tongue” were placed in the mouths of some individuals.

The Marina el-Alamein site, first unearthed in 1986, is identified as the ancient Greco-Roman port of Leukaspis that operated from the second to the fourth century. The Dakhla Oasis is on UNESCO’s Tentative List. Official figures show 19 million tourists visited Egypt in 2025, a 21 percent increase from 2024.

In the first four months of 2026 the country recorded 6.1 million arrivals compared with 5.7 million in the same period of 2025.