Roman-Era Residential Area Revealed in Luxor

Archaeologists have discovered a residential area in Luxor dating to the time when the Roman Empire ruled Egypt. 

A team of archaeologists from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities found a number of residential buildings, along with workshops and pigeon towers (where pigeons could be raised for eating), according to a ministry statement, which noted that this is the “first complete residential city” from the Roman Empire era found in east Luxor.

A variety of artifacts were also uncovered, including pottery, bells, grinding tools (often used for food preparation), and Roman coins made of copper and bronze.

The residential area is close to Luxor Temple, a large religious center built during the reigns of several pharaohs before the Roman Empire, including Amenhotep III, Ramesses II and Tutankhamun. But the residential area dates to much later, during the second and third centuries A.D. During this time, Egypt was a Roman province and Roman emperors were sometimes depicted as pharaohs. 

The team found that when the Romans took over Luxor, they started raising pigeons by erecting pigeon towers containing pots that the pigeons could use as nests, the statement said. Pigeons are the descendants of rock doves (Columba livia), which breed on rocky, coastal cliffs; but towers can mimic cliff conditions, making the birds feel right at home.

Live Science contacted a number of scholars who were not involved with the research to get their thoughts. 

Susanna McFadden, a professor of art history at the University of Hong Kong who specializes in Greco-Roman art, called the finds “exciting news.” She is curious to learn how the team determined that the remains dated to the second and third centuries A.D. 

She also wonders if there could be a relationship between this settlement and a military camp that was active in the area during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian (reign circa 284 to 305). “It stands to reason that a residential area servicing the camp would have grown up outside the walls,” McFadden told Live Science in an email. 

Another scholar noted that this Roman residential area is not an entirely new find. The residential area in Luxor has “been known for a long time,” Jacek Kościuk, professor emeritus at the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology in Poland, told Live Science in an email. 

Kościuk participated in excavations of Roman residential remains at Luxor that were carried out by an Egyptian-German team in the early 1980s. He sent Live Science two papers, published in 2011 in the journal Bulletin de la Société d’Archéologie Copte (Bulletin of the Coptic Archaeological Society), noting that while the 1980s team was able to survey only a small part of the settlement, they found the remains of Roman houses and baths. 

While the existence of the Roman residential area was already known, the recent excavations unearthed a large portion of it, which may shed new light on what Luxor was like in Roman times.

The new finds have “the potential to elucidate some critical research questions about Roman-era [Luxor], if the analysis is done carefully,” McFadden said. 

Egypt discovers 4,300-year-old tombs in the ancient burial ground

Egypt on Thursday said it uncovered several 4,300-year-old tombs in Saqqara as it continues a series of discoveries in the ancient burial ground.

The tombs date back to the Fifth and Sixth dynasties of the Old Kingdom (2686-2181 B.C.), officials said in Saqqara, which lies some 19 miles south of Cairo.

Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, who led the team that made the discovery in Saqqara’s Gisr Al-Mudir area, said “12 beautifully carved statues” were also found as well as two deep burial shafts, one of which includes what he described as possibly the “most complete mummy found in Egypt to date.”

“The most important tomb belongs to Khnumdjedef, an inspector of the officials, a supervisor of the nobles, and a priest in the pyramid complex of Unas, the last king of the fifth dynasty. The tomb is decorated with scenes of daily life,” Hawass said.

“The second largest tomb belonged to Meri, who held many important titles, such as keeper of the secrets and assistant of the great leader of the palace.”

Another tomb featured a handful of statues of unidentified individuals, including two couples.

Hawass said the main highlight was the uncovering of a 15-meter-deep burial shaft where a “large rectangular limestone sarcophagus” was found at its bottom.

The mummy of a man called Hekashepes was found inside, he revealed. It is covered with gold leaf.

“This mummy may be the oldest and most complete mummy found in Egypt to date,” Hawass added.

Wooden and stone statues were also uncovered in another 10-meter-deep shaft, as was a stone sarcophagus that included a mummy of a man called Fetek, according to the inscriptions found on the coffin.

Egypt hopes a string of discoveries will help revive its ailing tourism industry, a key source of hard currency.

Extensive excavation efforts in Saqqara in recent years have led to several high-profile archaeological discoveries, including the unearthing of a 4,400-year-old tomb of royal priest Wahtye in 2018 and the discovery of hundreds of mummified animals and statues a year later.

Egyptian Tomb Carving May Be Earliest Depiction Of Circumcision… Or Something Far More Painful

We humans have been messing with our willies for thousands of years, and while penis science has come a long way in that time, getting the snip in Ancient Egypt was apparently a rather crude affair.

Thought to represent the earliest ever depiction of a circumcision, a scene carved into a 4,300-year-old-tomb shows a male figure having his sphinx sculpted, although some scholars say the engraving may actually portray a considerably more excruciating procedure.

Located in Giza, the tomb of Ankhmahor belongs to a political advisor to King Teti of the Sixth Dynasty and has been dated to 2340 BCE.

Though there is no evidence to suggest that Ankhmahor was himself a physician, his crypt has been nicknamed the “doctor tomb” because of the various medical scenes carved on its walls.

The most famous of these is the circumcision scene, which has been the subject of multiple interpretations since its discovery by Victor Loret in 1897. Sliced into two sections, the scene shows two stages of an operation, though exactly what is going on is still up for debate.

On the left, a man is apparently being physically restrained by another man, while a third character chisels away at his artifact and says (in hieroglyphs) “hold him still. Don’t let him faint.”

On the right, however, the fella having his old geezer chopped is left unrestrained and tells the operator to “sever, indeed, thoroughly.” To this ballsy command, the guy holding the knife promises to “proceed gently”.

According to a recent analysis of the carving, the scene might portray two separate techniques for performing a circumcision.

The unfortunate chap on the left, the author says, could be having a trim without any painkillers, which might explain why he needs to be restrained and prevented from passing out.

Meanwhile, the surprisingly relaxed guy on the right may have received some sort of analgesic and is therefore in less discomfort.

“We do not have information about the nature of the material that was used to avoid struggling of the person who had the circumcision,” writes the author, who concludes that “it is possible that the ancient Egyptians had knowledge about local anesthetics.”

A separate interpretation holds that the right-hand side of the scene shows a young man acting tough while preparing to be circumcised, while the left-hand side depicts the same person on the verge of fainting during the procedure a few moments later.

Yet another reading of the scene proposes that the person on the left is actually having his penis rubbed with a stone. It has been suggested that the rock in question may be the so-called Stone of Memphis, which is made of carbonate of lime and has a painkilling effect when mixed with acid. Thus, it may be that the man on the left is actually the one receiving a local anesthetic.

Finally, and most disturbingly, the left-hand part of the scene might not be a circumcision at all, and could instead show a surgical treatment for a horrible condition called paraphimosis. This occurs when an infected foreskin swells up and retracts to below the head of the penis, cutting off blood flow and potentially leading to gangrene. 

This would certainly explain the extreme pain experienced by the patient on the left, while the circumcision depicted on the right could be seen as an instruction for preventing paraphimosis.

Quite the epitaph, you have to say.