Huge archaeological building uncovered in Mit Rahina

CAIRO – 25 September 2018: The Egyptian archaeological mission in Mit Rahina discovered a huge archaeological building in Demerdash basin area located 400 km north of Mit Rahina Museum.



Head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri announced this discovery, pointing out that the mission had implemented a comprehensive excavation plan for the site during 2018 until it succeeded to uncover this huge building (17 m x 14.5 m).




"The discovered building was built of brick blocks supported by huge blocks of limestone, whose foundations, external walls and inner staircase were built with red brick molds," Waziri explained.

Head of the Central Department of Cairo and Giza antiquities, Adel Okasha, said that another building affiliated to the huge building was uncovered. The second building contains a large Romanian bathroom and a room that might have been used for performing religious rites, which refers to the possibility of the existence of domiciles.




Inside this room the mission discovered offerings pots holder made of limestone decorated on one side with the head of the God, Bes. The room also contains basins for disinfection and small columns of limestone.

The huge building has an eastern entrance of limestone blocks with another entrance to the right leading to a hall with a width of 170 cm and a length of 8 m.

At the end of the northern side, there is an entrance with a width of 70 cm leading to a room (3.80x3 m), with another similar room in the southern side used to practice religious rituals.





To the north of the building and inside the eastern wall, a limestone entrance with a width of 112 cm, and a height of 106 cm was discovered. Another entrance, leading to a staircase built on two axes from the west to the east and from the south to the north, was uncovered to the right side of the former entrance.

Furthermore, a room attached to the outer wall of the building used for servants was discovered in the northeastern corner of the building; the room contains a baking oven tile similar to that used in modern Egyptian villages.

It is worth mentioning that a sphinx statue made of sandstone was discovered in Aswan by the Egyptian archaeological mission working on the project of reducing the groundwater level in the Temple of KomOmbo on September 16.

Head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities MostafaWaziri announced that the discovered sphinx most probably dates back to the Ptolemaic era andthat it was found in the south-eastern side of KomOmboTemple in the area between the outer wall of the temple and the archaeological hill.

This is the same site where the two sandstone reliefs of King Ptolemy V were discovered in August.