Archaeologists in Egypt have
unearthed what they describe as a city that dates back more than 5,000 years,
containing houses, tools, pottery and huge graves.
It lies by the River Nile,
close to the Temple of Seti the First in Abydos.
Experts say the size of the 15
newly discovered graves indicates the high social standing of those buried.
It is believed the city was
home to important officials and tomb builders and would have flourished during
early-era ancient Egyptian times.
The discovery comes at a time
when the country is trying re-energise its tourism industry, which has suffered
amid militant violence since President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in 2011.
Archaeologists have made a
range of finds in the newly-discovered city including buildings, shards of
pottery and tools.
It is believed that this
location was home to important officials and tomb builders who may have been
engaged in the construction of royal graves in the nearby sacred city of Abydos
- a place of many temples, and a capital in an early period of ancient Egyptian
history.
The area is in the southern
province of Sohag, in Upper Egypt, home also to the city of Luxor, one of the
country's most popular tourist sites.
"About a mile behind
where this material is said to be we have the necropolis with royal tombs going
from before history to the period where we start getting royal names, we start
getting identifiable kings," Prof Chris Eyre, an Egyptologist based at the
University of Liverpool, told the BBC.
"So, this appears to be
the town, the capital at the very beginning of Egyptian history."
The discovery was made by an
archaeological mission that belongs to the country's Antiquities Ministry, and
not a foreign group, officials quoted in Egypt
Independent website said.
Archaeological sites near Luxor
(above) and elsewhere in Egypt have struggled to attract visitors amid
continued political uncertainty
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38084391
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