Egyptian Excavation Uncovers New Chambers in 2,500-Year-Old Temple

Egypt's Tourism and Antiquities Ministry announced that an Egyptian archaeological mission finished excavation of new sections of an ancient temple complex in the village of al-Qasr in the Bahariya Oasis. The work, completed two weeks before the June statement, exposed the temple's main hall containing 16 sandstone columns and several connecting chambers and shrines.

The temple dates to Egypt's 26th Dynasty, the last native dynasty before the Persian conquest in 525 BCE. Stone blocks found inside the chambers bear the names and titles of King Psamtik I, the first pharaoh of that dynasty.

Hieroglyphic carvings discovered in the temple name the deities Amun-Ra, Amunet, and Khonsu. Archaeologists also recovered a stone stele from the 18th Dynasty during the reign of King Amenhotep II and fragments from the 19th Dynasty during the reign of King Ramesses II. The same statement noted that the finds illuminate activity in the Bahariya Oasis in the centuries before the 26th Dynasty.

The director-general of Bahariya Oasis Antiquities reported fourth- and fifth-century CE ostraca and Coptic and Latin texts at the site, along with basins used for producing wine and oils. These items indicate Greek and Roman activity at the location.

Earlier in June, a separate excavation at the Tel Kom Aziza site in Beheira Governorate uncovered a Greco-Roman cemetery containing varied burial types, painted plaster coffins, and complete burials of wild boars.