Did I ever mention that when I was a kid, I wanted to be an archeologist? This stuff is so fascinating to me:
CAIRO — 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.
Egypt’s Delta is densely populated and heavily farmed, making extensive excavation difficult, unlike in southern Egypt with its more famous desert tombs and temples.
Very good! I want more stuff from the library at Alexandria too! I also just read in the local paper that they’re using ground penetrating radar to find unmarked Revolutionary War graves at Morristown NJ.
I’ve been interested in Ancient Egypt since I was a child. I read every book my library had on Egypt and the Ancient Middle East multiple times. Once I was allowed to go to museums by myself I regularly went to the Egyptian Wing of the Met and the Brooklyn Museum and I repeated my reading habits at Manhattan Library branches. We are still learning so much about the civilization, it’s incredible.