15:52
Thursday 03 November 2022
Alexandria – Mohamed El Badri:
The Dominican-Egyptian archaeological mission of the University of San Domingo, led by Dr. Kathleen Martins, managed to discover a tunnel dug into the rock at a depth of about 13 meters below the earth’s surface, during the archaeological excavation of the mission in the area of the Temple of Taposiris Magna, west of Alexandria.
The length of the tunnel is 1350 meters; Its height is about 2 meters and two alabaster heads have been found near the temple, one of which is for a person from the Ptolemaic period, and the other could be a statue of the Sphinx.
Dr Kathleen Martins, head of the mission, explained that initial studies indicate that the architectural design of the uncovered tunnel is very similar to the Yubilinus tunnel project in Greece, but is longer, describing it as an engineering miracle.
He added that during the excavations and the archaeological survey of the tunnel, a part of the tunnel was discovered submerged by the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and numerous ceramic pots and pottery vessels were found under the muddy sediments, as well as a rectangular block of limestone. .
He pointed out that, by completing the excavations, a lot of archaeological evidence has shown that there is part of the foundations of the temple of Taposiris Magna submerged by water, which the mission is currently working to unearth, as according to scientific sources, the Egyptian coast has been hit by at least 23 earthquakes between the years 320 and 1303 AD, which led to the collapse of part of the temple of Taposiris Magna and its sinking under the waves.
Taposiris, is a city founded by the pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus between 280 and 270 BC, in the extreme west of Alexandria between Lake Mariout and the northern coast of Egypt, a remote area at the present time, and the name means ” the tomb of Osiris “, which Plutarch calls an Egyptian temple in the city.
Interestingly, during the previous excavation seasons, the mission was able to find many important artifacts inside the temple, including coins with the images and names of Queen Cleopatra and Alexander the Great, and a number of statues without head and statues of the goddess Isis, as well as inscriptions and busts of various shapes and sizes.
A network of tunnels extending from Lake King Mariout to the Mediterranean Sea, 16 burials in rock-cut tombs commonly used in Greek and Roman times, as well as a series of mummies highlighting the characteristics of the mummification process during the Greek period and period Roman.
