Two discoveries reveal centuries of life, death and belief.
CAIRO | JULY 2026
Egyptian archaeologists have announced two major discoveries that illuminate different chapters of the country’s Greco-Roman and Byzantine past: 18 nearly 2,000-year-old tombs near the Mediterranean coast and the remains of a carefully planned Christian-era city in the Western Desert. The tombs were uncovered at Marina El-Alamein, approximately 100 kilometers west of Alexandria, in an archaeological area associated with the ancient port city of Leukaspis, which prospered between the Hellenistic and Byzantine periods. Several burial chambers retained stones in their original positions, while researchers also located a granite sarcophagus measuring about 2.5 meters with its lid still intact. Human remains, ceramic vessels, amphorae and funerary objects were recovered from the graves, providing new evidence about burial customs, trade connections and the communities that inhabited Egypt’s northern coastline.
Among the most striking objects discovered at Marina El-Alamein were 24 pieces of gold placed inside the mouths of several deceased individuals, a ritual associated with ancient beliefs about communication and survival in the afterlife. Similar objects are sometimes described as “golden tongues” because they may have symbolically enabled the dead to speak before divine authorities, although specialists must continue examining the context before establishing the precise purpose of every piece. Archaeologists also found altars, lamps, pottery, sections of limestone tombs and a damaged plaster figure resembling a sphinx, reflecting a funerary environment shaped by Egyptian, Greek and Roman traditions. The latest excavation strengthens the identification of the site with Leukaspis, a commercially active Mediterranean settlement whose position connected maritime exchange, regional agriculture and the cultural networks operating along Egypt’s northern coast.
The second discovery emerged hundreds of kilometers away in the Dakhla Oasis, where an Egyptian archaeological mission uncovered a remarkably preserved Byzantine residential city dating to approximately the fourth century AD. Built largely from mudbrick, the settlement contained an organized grid of streets, public squares, residential quarters, defensive structures and a basilica-style church positioned prominently within the urban landscape. Houses included reception areas and vaulted roofs, while bread ovens, kitchens, grinding stones, tools and storage spaces revealed the domestic activities that sustained residents in the desert. Two watchtowers and fortified elements suggest that security formed part of the city’s design, demonstrating that the oasis was not an isolated collection of dwellings but a structured community capable of managing worship, commerce, food production and collective protection.
Researchers recovered bronze and gold coins, ceramic material and more than 200 inscribed pottery fragments, commonly known as ostraca, which may preserve records of transactions, communications and ordinary daily affairs. One residence was connected with a deacon named Tisous and may have functioned as a domestic place of Christian worship before the construction of the larger basilica, offering potential evidence of how religious practice evolved as the community expanded. These findings allow archaeologists to study people who rarely appear in monumental inscriptions, including merchants, craftspeople, religious officials, laborers and families who adapted urban life to the difficult environmental conditions of the Western Desert. The discovery also broadens understanding of Byzantine Egypt beyond the Nile Valley and major Mediterranean centers, showing that organized Christian communities developed complex economic, architectural and religious systems within remote oasis settlements.
The two excavations reveal complementary dimensions of Egypt’s historical development: the coastal cemetery preserves ideas surrounding death and the afterlife, while the desert city reconstructs the routines of a living urban community. At Marina El-Alamein, sealed chambers, human remains and funerary offerings document how different cultural traditions merged across centuries of Mediterranean contact, while Dakhla preserves streets, homes, churches and workplaces that explain how people organized their everyday existence far from the country’s principal population centers. Egyptian authorities have increasingly presented archaeological discoveries as part of a broader strategy to protect cultural heritage, expand academic research and strengthen tourism by attracting visitors beyond the most famous pyramids, temples and royal tombs. Together, the ancient graves and Byzantine settlement demonstrate that Egypt’s archaeological landscape continues to preserve entire social worlds beneath its coastline and desert sands.
Every excavation opens another doorway into Egypt’s unfinished history.