Egypt

New subterranean finds at Tel al-Dabaa near ancient Avaris

drhawass.com

Press Release

Cultural Minister Farouk Hosni announced today that the Austrian mission at Tell el-Daba has located the southern suburban quarters of the ancient city of Avaris, the capital of the Hyksos in the Second Intermediate Period (1664-1569 BC). The excavation team found this area using a combination of magnetometry and resistivity surveys.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said that the computer-generated images of the city, which is still buried under the ground, show a very detailed layout of ancient Avaris. Several architectural features including houses, temples, streets, cemeteries and palaces can be seen. The team has also been able to make out the arrangement of neighborhoods and living quarters.

“Using such a special scientific survey to locate such a city is the only way to gain a better understanding of such a large area at one time,” Hawass pointed out.

Dr. Irene Forstner-Müller, Director of the mission said that approximately 2.6 square kilometers have been investigated using a combination of geophysical survey and excavation.

She explained that the aim of the magnetometric and resistivity surveys were to define the borders of ancient Avaris. The team has succeeded in identifying a collection of houses and a possible harbor area. A series of pits of different sizes are also visible but their function has not yet been determined.

dawn.com

Austrian archaeologists have located an underground Egyptian city which they believe to be Avaris, the capital used by the Hyksos who ruled 3,600 years ago, the culture ministry said on Sunday.

The Austrian mission carried out a geophysical survey of the area allowing them to identify parts of Avaris in the Nile Delta near the modern town of Tal al-Dabaa, northeast of Cairo.

“The pictures taken using radar show an underground city complete with streets, houses and tombs which gives a general overview of the urban planning of the city,” antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said in a statement.

“The aim of the geophysical survey was to identify the size of the ancient city and the mission managed to identify a large number of houses and streets and a port inside the city,” said Irene Mueller who heads the Austrian mission.

“The mission also identified one of the Nile river tributaries that passed through the city, as well as two islands,” she was quoted as saying in the statement.

Yahoo! News

An Austrian archaeological team has used radar imaging to determine the extent of the ruins of the one time 3,500-year-old capital of Egypt's foreign occupiers, said the antiquities department Sunday.

Egypt was ruled for a century from 1664-1569 B.C. by the Hyksos, a warrior people from Asia, possibly Semitic in origin, whose summer capital was in the northern Delta area.

Irene Mueller, the head of the Austrian team, said the main purpose of the project is to determine how far the underground city extends.

The radar imaging showed the outlines of streets, houses and temples underneath the green farm fields and modern town of Tel al-Dabaa.

Archaeology chief Zahi Hawass said in the statement that such noninvasive techniques are the best way define the extent of the site.

Earth Times

Austrian archaeologists located a 3,600-year-old underground city, believed to part of the ancient city of Avaris, the capital of the Hyksos, the Ministry of Culture announced Sunday.

The city was located during the Austrian mission's excavations in the Tel al-Dabaa area, north-east of Cairo, using a radar.

The photos taken give an overview of the urban planning of the city, which appears to be complete, with streets, buildings and temples, Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council Of Antiquities, said.

Irene Mueller, head of the Austrian team, said that the geophysics archaeological survey work done by the team helped them identify one of the Nile river tributaries that passed through the city, as well as two islands.

- News: Hammurabi Seal Discovered
drhawass.com With photo. The Austrian Archaeological mission from the Austrian Archaeological Centre in Egypt unearthed a fragment of a cuneiform seal impression dating to the last decades of the Babylonian Kingdom. Culture Minister Farouk Hosni made...

- Field Work
Austrian archaeologists discover Babylonian seal in Egypt Austrian Times Lisa Chapman A seal has been found in Tell el Dab'a in Egypt's eastern Delta. It dates to the period of the Hyksos occupation in the second millennium BC. Irene Forstner-Müller,...

- Discovery Of New Cemetery Outside Temple Of Taposiris Magna
drhawass.com A radar survey of the temple of Taposiris Magna, west of Alexandria, Egypt, was completed last month as part of the search for the tomb of Cleopatra and Mark Antony. The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) expedition excavating the temple...

- Hawass On Manfred Bietak
Al Ahram Weekly (Zahi Hawass) We as Egyptians believe that our monuments belong not only to us, but to everyone, all over the world. At the same time, the discipline of Egyptology was created by foreign scholars, and they solved many mysteries like the...

- River Nile Survey For Submerged Antiquities
Egypt State Information Service Not the first time that this has been announced, but here it is again for newer visitors: Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said that the first survey for sunken treasures at the River Nile will take place within the coming...

Egypt