Thursday March 28th, 2024
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20 Greco-Roman and Ptolemaic Sites ‘Discovered by Coincidence’ in Alexandria

Right in time for excavation season.

Staff Writer

What started as a simple assessment of empty land ahead of proposed construction projects has turned out to be a potentially spectacular series of discoveries.

Egyptian authorities have reported that some 20 archaeological sites from the Ptolemaic and Greco-Roman eras have been uncovered in central and east Alexandria, in what have been referred to as coincidental finds according to Al Masr Al Youm.

The story goes that Egyptian and foreign missions were dispatched to several sites identified for construction to assess suitability ahead of the issuance of building permits. Various clues and pieces of evidence, however, lead the missions to several undisclosed monuments. Director General of the Alexandria Archaeological Area, Khaled Abul-Hamd, has stated that the findings couldn’t have come at a better time, with the 2019 archaeological excavations season set to begin mid-September. Details of these new findings will be announced by the end of the month.

Main image: Excavation of public garden in Alexandria, courtesy of NatGeo.