Ancient mystery town ‘built by Tutankhamun’s DAD’ found in Egypt with wine jug of Nefertiti’s daughter among treasures
ARCHAEOLOGISTS claim to have unearthed a “major” Egyptian town – dating back 3,400 years.
The settlement offers groundbreaking insights into Egypt’s most famous pharaoh dynasty, with clues about Tutankhamun’s dad, mum and sister.
While studying a Greek settlement from 332 BC in northern Egypt, archaeologists made a stunning discovery – a hidden mudbrick town built more than a millennium earlier.
It likely originated during the powerful 18th Dynasty of Egypt, a period tied to Tutankhamun’s lineage.
The team uncovered what is now the earliest known Egyptian settlement north of Lake Mariout, according to the study published in Antiquity Journal by Cambridge University Press.
What has particularly excited boffins is the evidence suggesting that the town was founded under Pharaoh Akhenaten – Tutankhamun’s father – and expanded during the reign of Ramesses II.
Akhenaten ruled c. 1353-1336 BC alongside his influential queen, Nefertiti, who may have even ruled as pharaoh in her own right after her husband’s death.
One of the site’s most remarkable finds was a stamped amphora jug bearing the name of their daughter, Merytaton – likely used as a wine label.
Merytaton (also spelled Meritaten) is also thought to have been the sister or half-sister of Tutankhamun.
The shocking discovery led archaeologists to speculate that this could have been a major wine production facility, dedicated to the princess.
Besides jugs and bowls, archaeologists also unearthed temple blocks – dedicated by Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II, who ruled between 1279-1213 BC.
“There was a temple, built by King Ramesses II, as well as private funerary chapels, which mention military personnel,” Sylvain Dhennin, study author and archaeologist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, told Live Science.
Another find includes a street equipped with a drainage system, which especially impressed Manchester University honorary lecturer Roger Forshaw.
“This street was ingeniously designed with a water-collecting system to drain surface water and protect the fragile mudbrick walls,” he said.
These various finds suggest an organised settlement that may have been used seasonally or by military garrisons, according to the archaeologists.
“If the settlement was indeed military in nature, it’s possible that there was also a fortified wall and administrative buildings,” said Dhennin.
“The quality of the remains, their planned organisation around a street, could suggest a fairly large-scale occupation,” he added.
Kom el-Nugus, which was first excavated in 2013, is around 27 miles west of Alexandria, on a rock ridge between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mariout.
Until recently, scholars believed the Kom el-Nugus area was only inhabited by Greeks after 332 BC.
The name of this mysterious Egyptian settlement has yet to be uncovered – but future digs could reveal its identity.
It comes as scientists unearthed groundbreaking DNA evidence in relation to King Tutankhamun’s untimely death.
The young pharaoh’s untimely death at just 18 has baffled experts for over a century.
A team of scientists from Egypt’s National Research Centre and Cairo University, working with two German DNA experts, examined tissue samples from several royal mummies, including Tutankhamun himself.
Their findings suggest the teenage ruler was killed by a deadly combination of malaria and health problems linked to royal inbreeding.
Tim Batty, a general manager of the Tutankhamun Exhibition, hailed the results as “another piece of the great jigsaw” in the story of Egypt’s most famous pharaoh.
Meanwhile, archaeologists also say they discovered an ancient city buried below Egypt’s pyramids.
Researchers from Italy and Scotland claimed to have made the “groundbreaking” discovery after using SAR radar technology that revealed a sprawling hidden city underneath the Pyramids of Giza.
“A vast underground city has been discovered beneath the pyramids,” the spokesperson for the project excitedly announced last week.
The city was discovered at a depth of 1200m below the pyramids.
But, at a press conference on March 15, Professor Corrado Malanga, who led the project, declared that there is “a whole world” of structures under the site, with even more secrets to be revealed.
He said: “Until yesterday, Egyptologists said there was nothing, that is is an empty mountain of stones, but there are a lot of things”.
It is believed that as well as a hidden city, they came across an ancient water system and possibly the ancient chamber of wisdom.