A well-preserved Byzantine-era residential city within the western desert is one in all two major archaeological finds announced by Egypt on Saturday.
The recent discoveries on the Dakhla Oasis and on the Marina el-Alamein archaeological site, near Alexandria, are the newest findings which the Egyptian government hopes will boost the country’s vital tourism sector, partially driven by antiquities sightseeing.
Together with the strategic Suez Canal, tourism is a significant source of foreign currency within the cash-strapped country.
The Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said that the primary discovery reveals details of every day life, urban development and economic activities within the Dakhla Oasis within the fourth century, when Egypt was a part of the Byzantine empire.
The unearthed quarters included north-south thoroughfares intersected by east-west streets, forming open squares and public spaces, said Hisham el-Leithy, secretary general of the supreme council of antiquities.
A basilica church, dating back to the mid-fourth century, stands on the settlement’s head, overlooking its principal streets, together with stays of two watchtowers to safeguard the outskirts, said Mahmoud Massoud, who chairs the archaeological mission.
The oasis, situated in Egypt’s western province of Recent Valley within the western desert, is on UNESCO’s Tentative List, a step away from being added to the agency’s World Heritage List.
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A heavily fortified structure with thick defensive partitions, and plenty of houses consisting of reception halls and vaulted roofs were present in the world, Massoud said.
Amongst them were the home of Tisous, identified as a church deacon and dating to the second half of the fourth century, which archaeologists imagine served as a house church before the development of town’s basilica.
Archaeologists also uncovered bread ovens, kitchens and stone grinding tools that had been apparently used to provide food. Also found were well-preserved bronze coins bearing portraits of Byzantine emperors, Latin inscriptions and Christian symbols, alongside a gaggle of gold coins dating to the reign of Roman emperor Constantius II, who ruled between 337 and 361, the ministry statement said.
Diaa Zahran, head of the Islamic, Coptic and Jewish Antiquities department, said they found a group of about 200 pottery fragments which might have been used as writing material. The fragments, often known as octraca, have inscriptions detailing business transactions, correspondence and other details of every day life, Zahran said.
Individually, archaeologists have found 18 ancient tombs within the Marina el-Alamein archaeological site, which is around 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
The findings included 11 rock-cut tombs, with a median depth of 8 meters, and 7 surface limestone-built tombs, the ministry said. That has brought the overall tombs present in the location to 48, ministry said.
In the location, archaeologists found pottery vessels, amphorae, lamps, plates, altars and limestone basins, it said.
Mission chief Eman Abdel-Khaliq said they found a 2.5-meter-long granite sarcophagus, with skeleton stays that were currently being studied. Near the sarcophagus, they found the stays of a plaster sphinx statue, she said
Abdel-Khaliq said additionally they found 4 gold pieces placed contained in the mouths of a number of the deceased — often known as “the golden tongue,” which had been a practice related to funerary beliefs of that era.
Marina el-Alamein is an archaeological site near town of Alamein in Egypt’s Northern Coast. Unearthed in 1986, archaeologists imagine that the location was the traditional Greco-Roman port city of Leukaspis on the Mediterranean, which was inbuilt the second denture and thrived until the fourth century, the ministry said.
Egypt’s tourism has began to get better after years of years of political turmoil and violence following the 2011 rebellion, in addition to the coronavirus pandemic.
A record 19 million tourists visited Egypt last yr, a 21% increase from 2024, in response to official figures. The primary 4 months of 2026 saw 6.1 million tourists, compared with 5.7 million in the course of the same period in 2025, the figures showed.
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