Archaeologists May Have Just Revealed a Lost Egyptian City

3 min readHere’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:Excavations at eastern Egypt’s Tell Abu Saifi site may have discovered the lost city of Mesn. Known only from historical records, experts believe Mesn sat somewhere in eastern Egypt.New excavations at the site put prior finds into a more comprehensive light—and and may reveal Mesn’s definite location.Excavations surrounding an ancient temple in eastern Egypt may turn up much more than a single structure—they may reveal the lost city of Mesn. As teams from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities continue to excavate Tell Abu Saifi, new revelations rewrite what we know about the site’s mysterious past.Archaeologists have excavating the site, which is located in East Qantara in Ismailia Governorate, for years. But recently, they made the unique discovery of an inscription-filled lintel that offers clues to the location’s former uses. The new find also solidifies the site’s status as a key stop along the Way of Horus—a key military road that connected Egypt to the eastern Mediterranean and linked sites with many different purposes—according to a translated statement posted to Facebook.The newly discovered sandstone architectural lintel, found broken in two, bears significant inscriptions—one referencing the titles of Pharaoh Ramesses II, and another describing repairs made to a statue of Horus, Lord of the city of Mesn.The direct mention of both Horus and Mesn indicate that the lintel came from a lost city known only in historical documents. Ancient Egyptian texts hint that the city of Mesn lay in the eastern border region during the New Kingdom era, and the lintel discovery adds to a mounting pile of evidence that the Tell Abu Saifi site is in fact that ancient city. But while the head of the archaeological mission said the newest findings support the hypothesis, it’s too early to finalize the theory.This identification debate dates back to 1887 when similar inscriptions were first found at the site, and a 2013 book chapter by Hoffmeier and Moshier argued the earlier stones might have been moved from nearby Tell Hebua (identified as Tjaru) rather than being native to Tell Abu Saifi. But the new find makes it seem less likely that the stones were moved from elsewhere. At the very least, the team said the settlement represents a key stop along the Way of Horus and that it maintained important religious, military, and economic functions spanning the Pharaonic, Babylonian, and Roman eras.The excavations also help provide a better understanding of the original layout of the area, as well as its historical continuity. New discoveries suggest that a mudbrick wall previously believed to be the temple itself was actually an outer wall surrounding it, according to Hisham El-Leithy, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The outer wall had gates and inner rooms, and archaeologists now believe the temple featured storage rooms on the northern side and large service rooms on the south, with the sanctuary located deep inside.While Tell Abu Saifi was once a temple-focused settlement, likely during the Ptolemaic period (from about 300 B.C.E to about 30 B.C.E.), continued excavations show that the Romans reused the site as a military camp. Excavations revealed a schist statue holding a broken shrine-box of an army scribe from Egypt’s 26th Dynasty, a statue without a head or feet, and pieces of falcon statues of basalt and limestone. The statues reflect the military nature of the site across generations.During later Roman occupation, the location became a lime quarry, as illustrated by the discovery of two large round kilns and other evidence that the sacred temple turned into an industrial workhouse for the making of limestone. The team discovered burned limestone within what was once the temple’s Holy of Holies.Archaeologists plan further excavations, hoping to uncover additional history from the Way of Horus and new links between Tell Abu Saifi and the ancient lost city of Mesn.Tim Newcomb is a journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. He covers stadiums, sneakers, gear, infrastructure, and more for a variety of publications, including Popular Mechanics. His favorite interviews have included sit-downs with Roger Federer in Switzerland, Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, and Tinker Hatfield in Portland.