New archaeological discovery in Matariya

CAIRO – 9 May 2018: Mamdouh Eldamaty , former Egyptian Minister of Antiquities, said that the Ain Shams University excavation mission in Al-Matariya neighborhood managed to discover Tuesday new artifacts.

“The digging process uncovered a statue of a royal compartment’s priest was on Tuesday, along with a small artifact not identified yet,” said Eldamaty, the current head of Ain Shams University excavation mission. The statue dates back to the ancient city of Heliopolis. The city was the capital of the Heliopolite Nome of Lower Egypt and a major religious center, now located in Al-Matariya neighborhood, northeastern Cairo.

“ The area witnessed important incidents of the ancient Egyptian history, included King Ramesses II to King Ramesses IX, the discovered Royal celebration compartment dates back to the Ramesses dynasty, the royal compartment was considered as the first of its kind during that Late Dynasty of Egypt,” Eldamaty told Egypt Today.

The neighborhood witnessed a major discovery in March 2017 of statue of 26 dynasty king Psammetich I.

The ancient Royal compartment was discovered earlier on April 30.