古代エジプトの「失われた黄金都市」発見　史上最大規模の都市遺構

【カイロＡＦＰ＝時事】エジプトの著名考古学者ザヒ・ハワス氏率いる発掘チームは８日、南部ルクソール近くで、同国発掘史上「最大規模」の古代都市遺構を発見したと発表した。「失われた黄金都市」と呼び、少年王ツタンカーメンの墓以来の最も重要な発見の一つだとしている。（写真はエジプト・ルクソール近郊で発見された古代都市遺構）
　発掘チームの発表によると、砂の中から見つかったこの古代都市は「３０００年前のアメンホテプ３世の治世のもので、ツタンカーメンやアイに継承された」とみられる。
　米ジョンズ・ホプキンス大学のベッツィ・ブライアン教授（エジプト美術・考古学）は、「ツタンカーメンの墓に次ぐ重要な考古学的発見」だと述べた。
　遺構からは、指輪などの宝飾品、彩色陶器、スカラベの護符、アメンホテプ３世の印章入りの泥れんがなどが出土した。
　チームは、古代エジプトの墳墓群「王家の谷」のあるルクソール近郊で２０２０年９月、ラムセス３世とアメンホテプ３世の葬祭殿に挟まれた地区の発掘を開始。数週間のうちに、泥れんがの遺構が出土した。「保存状態の良い大規模な都市遺構で、壁はほぼ完全に残り、各室内には日用品がたくさんあった」という。
　７か月に及ぶ発掘調査で、焼き窯や貯蔵用の陶器を備えた製パン店のある地区や、行政地区、居住地区などが見つかった。
　発掘チームは「数千年間にわたって手付かずの考古学上の地層が、古代の人々によって、つい昨日のことのように残されている」と指摘。ブライアン氏は、「王朝が最も豊かだった時代の古代エジプト人の生活を垣間見ることのできる貴重な」遺構だと語った。
　チームはまた、王家の谷で見つかったものと同様の「岩に掘られた階段」を抜けた先に墳墓群を発見したことを明かし、「宝物に満ちた手付かずの墳墓が出土すると期待している」と話している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/04/13-14:44）

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of an ancient city in the desert outside Luxor that they say is the largest ever found in Egypt and dates back to a golden age of the pharaohs 3,000 years ago.
Famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass announced the discovery of the lost golden city, saying the site was uncovered near Luxor, home of the legendary Valley of the Kings.
The Egyptian mission under Dr. Zahi Hawass found the city that was lost under the sands, the excavation team said in a statement Thursday.
The city is 3,000 years old, dates to the reign of Amenhotep III, and continued to be used by Tutankhamun and Ay.
The team called the find the largest ancient city ever uncovered in Egypt.
Betsy Bryan, professor of Egyptian art and archaeology at Johns Hopkins University, said the find was the second most important archeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun nearly a century ago, according to the team's statement.
Items of jewellery have been unearthed, along with coloured pottery vessels, scarab beetle amulets and mud bricks bearing seals of Amenhotep III.
Many foreign missions searched for this city and never found it, said Hawass, a former antiquities minister.
The team began excavations in September 2020, between the temples of Ramses III and Amenhotep III near Luxor, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) south of Cairo.
Within weeks, to the team's great surprise, formations of mud bricks began to appear in all directions, the statement said.
What they unearthed was the site of a large city in a good condition of preservation, with almost complete walls, and with rooms filled with tools of daily life.
- 'Tombs filled with treasures' -
After seven months of excavations, several neighbourhoods have been uncovered, including a bakery complete with ovens and storage pottery, as well as administrative and residential districts.
Amenhotep III inherited an empire that stretched from the Euphrates River in modern Iraq and Syria to Sudan and died around 1354 BC, ancient historians say.
He ruled for nearly four decades, a reign known for its opulence and the grandeur of its monuments, including the Colossi of Memnon -- two massive stone statues near Luxor that represent him and his wife.
The archaeological layers have laid untouched for thousands of years, left by the ancient residents as if it were yesterday, the team's statement said.
Bryan said the city will give us a rare glimpse into the life of the ancient Egyptians at the time where the empire was at his wealthiest.
The team said they were optimistic that further important finds would be revealed, noting they had discovered groups of tombs reached through stairs carved into the rock, a similar construction to those found in the Valley of the Kings.
The mission expects to uncover untouched tombs filled with treasures, the statement added.
After years of political instability following the Arab Spring uprising of 2011, which dealt a severe blow to Egypt's tourism industry, the country is seeking to bring back visitors, in particular by promoting its ancient heritage.
Last week, Egypt transported the mummified remains of 18 ancient kings and four queens across Cairo from the iconic Egyptian Museum to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation in a procession dubbed the Pharaohs' Golden Parade.
Among the 22 bodies were those of Amenhotep III and his wife Queen Tiye.
In January, Egypt unveiled ancient treasures found at the vast Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo, including more than 50 wooden sarcophagi dating to the New Kingdom (16th to 11th centuries BC), a discovery Hawass said rewrites history.
The former antiquities minister, whose taste for hyperbole in his promotion of his finds has drawn criticism from some other archaeologists, is to lead a press tour of his team's latest discoveries outside Luxor on Saturday.