2,600-year-old Egyptian complex found beneath Nile mud, from space

2,600-year-old Egyptian complex found beneath Nile mud, from space

2,600-year-old Egyptian complex found beneath Nile mud, from space

Researchers have uncovered a massive 2,600-year-old mudbrick complex beneath the ancient Egyptian city of Buto, in the northwestern Nile Delta, using satellite radar and underground electrical scans instead of digging. Radar from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 satellite revealed an oval anomaly about 128 by 62 metres beneath a mound known as Kom C, and electrical surveys mapped a large rectangular mudbrick structure about 20 by 25 metres, three to six metres below the surface. The structure dates to Egypt's 26th Dynasty, or Saite period, roughly 688 to 525 BC, and beneath it lies a thick layer of clean sand that researchers believe was deliberately laid as a foundation to spread weight, drain water and protect the bricks from the Delta's unstable clay. Buto, now Tell el-Fara'in, was a major religious centre and home of the cobra goddess Wadjet, and the building's exact purpose, possibly a tomb, priests' dwelling or sanctuary, is not yet known. The findings were published in the journal Acta Geophysica.

Researchers have uncovered a massive 2,600-year-old mudbrick complex beneath the ancient Egyptian city of Buto, in the northwestern Nile Delta, using satellite radar and underground electrical scans instead of digging. Radar from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 satellite revealed an oval anomaly about 128 by 62 metres beneath a mound known as Kom C, and electrical surveys mapped a large rectangular mudbrick structure about 20 by 25 metres, three to six metres below the surface. The structure dates to Egypt's 26th Dynasty, or Saite period, roughly 688 to 525 BC, and beneath it lies a thick layer of clean sand that researchers believe was deliberately laid as a foundation to spread weight, drain water and protect the bricks from the Delta's unstable clay. Buto, now Tell el-Fara'in, was a major religious centre and home of the cobra goddess Wadjet, and the building's exact purpose, possibly a tomb, priests' dwelling or sanctuary, is not yet known. The findings were published in the journal Acta Geophysica.

Researchers have uncovered a massive 2,600-year-old mudbrick complex beneath the ancient Egyptian city of Buto, in the northwestern Nile Delta, using satellite radar and underground electrical scans instead of digging. Radar from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 satellite revealed an oval anomaly about 128 by 62 metres beneath a mound known as Kom C, and electrical surveys mapped a large rectangular mudbrick structure about 20 by 25 metres, three to six metres below the surface. The structure dates to Egypt's 26th Dynasty, or Saite period, roughly 688 to 525 BC, and beneath it lies a thick layer of clean sand that researchers believe was deliberately laid as a foundation to spread weight, drain water and protect the bricks from the Delta's unstable clay. Buto, now Tell el-Fara'in, was a major religious centre and home of the cobra goddess Wadjet, and the building's exact purpose, possibly a tomb, priests' dwelling or sanctuary, is not yet known. The findings were published in the journal Acta Geophysica.