A British archaeological mission from the University of Manchester unearthed the ruins of the ancient city of Imet at Tell al-Faraon in Egypt's Sharqia Governorate. The discovery includes remains of residential buildings, granaries, and animal shelters dating back to the early or mid-4th century BCE. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced that the find sheds light on one of the important historical cities in ancient Egypt's Delta.
Dr. Nikki Nielsen, the mission director, stated that the city of Imet was one of "the most prominent residential centers in Lower Egypt, especially during the New Kingdom and the Late Period," distinguished by a huge temple dedicated to the worship of the goddess Wadjet. According to Enikos, Dr. Nielsen emphasized the strategic importance of Imet due to its location on the trade routes of the Nile Delta.
The excavation mission focused on the eastern sector of the mound, where satellite images and remote sensing techniques detected unusual concentrations of mudbrick. These techniques revealed dense concentrations of mud bricks in specific locations, leading the team to structural discoveries. The buildings found have very thick foundation walls designed to support the weight of the structures themselves.
Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, explained that the discovered structures refer to tower-shaped houses, a characteristic architectural style of Lower Egypt between the Late Period (664 - 332 BCE) and the Roman conquest. "These houses, with multiple floors and unusually sturdy foundations, were designed to be inhabited by a large number of people," Dr. Khaled said, according to Enikos.
Among the notable archaeological finds in Imet is the upper part of a ushabti statue made of high-quality green faience, carved with precision, dating back to the 26th Dynasty (664 - 525 BCE). A stone stele was also discovered, depicting the ancient Egyptian deity Horus standing on two crocodiles while holding snakes, flanked by the dwarf god Bes, protector of the home and fertility.
In the temple area, the archaeologists uncovered a large limestone platform and the remains of two colossal columns made of mudbrick, which "may have been covered with plaster." It is believed that these remains belong to a building erected over the processional way that connected the Late Period temple precinct and the Wadjet temple precinct. This suggests that the processional way went out of service by the middle of the Ptolemaic Period.
The temple of Wadjet was rebuilt by Ramses II (1279 - 1213 BCE) and later by Pharaoh Amasis II (570 - 526 BCE), serving as a religious center of great importance in the Delta. According to Dr. Nielsen, during the New Kingdom (1550 - 1069 BCE), Imet was a strategic enclave and remained so in later periods. The discovery revealed that the temple of Wadjet was reused during the reign of King Ramses II and again in the era of King Amasis II, attracting pilgrims and merchants, which explains the multitude of houses and storage buildings.
The excavation also uncovered a bronze musical instrument called a sistrum, decorated with heads of the goddess Hathor and made during the Late Period. Additionally, the team found other buildings that were used for service purposes such as storing grains or housing animals. Next to these, they discovered auxiliary buildings for grain storage and animal protection, indicating that Imet was an active urban center whose economy was based on agriculture and trade.
"Restoring the importance of the Delta in the course of ancient Egyptian civilization confirms the necessity of intensifying excavations and studies in these promising areas," confirmed Dr. Hussein Abdel-Basir. The Egyptian authorities hope that future missions at Tell al-Faraon will bring to light more information about the historical site, the earliest layers of which may date back to times earlier than previously known.
The historical importance of Tell al-Faraon lies in its status as the site of the ancient city of Imet, the capital of the nineteenth province of Lower Egypt, where the main goddess was Wadjet. The name of the discovered city carries linguistic and cultural significance, possibly deriving from an ancient Egyptian root meaning "the place," "the town," or "the site of residence."
According to Dr. Nielsen, these constructions were part of a building constructed by the ancients to connect the sanctuary of Wadjet and another temple of the Late Period. These findings suggest that urban or ritual changes occurred in the city during the mid-Ptolemaic Period (3rd century BCE).
The preparation of this article relied on a news-analysis system.