“A
temple from the reign of King Ptolemy IV (221 – 204 B.C.) was discovered during sewer construction in the village of
Kom Shaqao in the Sohag Governorate of Upper Egypt. The Egyptian Ministry of
Antiquities announced on its Facebook page that crews drilling down to install
new sewage pipes for the village stumbled on the remains of an ancient wall on
Sunday, September 29th. Drilling ceased immediately and archaeologists were
called in to examine the find.
"According
to the head of the Central Department for Antiquities of Egypt, Mohamed Abdel
Badie, the mission then started work in the area south of the wall discovered
during the drainage project.”
…
“Located
about 300 miles south of Cairo, today this area of the Nile Valley is largely
rural and agricultural with high rates of poverty. There has been a recent
uptick in infrastructure investment like road construction (hence the sewage
project), but its archaeological history is still very much underexplored. Even
the capital city of Sohag, one of the oldest cities in Egypt, has very few
visitable archaeological sites. The Sohag National Museum, the first and only
one of its kind in Upper Egypt, just opened last year. The discovery of the
Ptolemaic temple, therefore, is not just archaeologically significant, but also
has important potential as a source of much-needed tourist revenues.”
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