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TODAY'S BIG TOPIC:

THE NEW SECRETS OF LUXOR

Monday, April 12, 2021

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF ZAHI HAWASS

By Debra Adams Simmons, HISTORY Executive Editor

Almost 100 years after the discovery of King Tut’s tomb, a 3,400-year-old “lost golden city” has been unearthed that offers new details about ancient Egyptian civilization.

Archaeologists searching for Tut’s mortuary temple have unearthed a stunningly well-preserved royal metropolis (detail above). The lost city, called the “Rise of Aten” by archaeologists is believed to have been built by King Amenhotep III and inherited by his son. But the pharaoh Akhenaten abandoned his name, his religion, and his capital in Thebes (modern Luxor).

He built the short-lived city of Akhetaten (royal site name: Amarna), where he ruled alongside his wife, Nefertiti, and worshipped the sun. After his death, his young son Tutankhamun became ruler of Egypt—and turned his back on his father’s controversial legacy. The discovery may provide new clues about why Akhenaten walked away from the royal family.

Archaeologists were looking for Tut’s mortuary temple when the royal industrial city was unearthed. To the north is Amenhotep III’s 14th-century B.C. mortuary temple, and to the south is Medinet Habu, a mortuary temple built almost two centuries later for Ramses III.

“Archaeologists had hoped the space between might be the site of the mortuary structure where Tutankhamun’s subjects would have placed the food and funerary items they offered him when he died around 1325 B.C. Instead, they uncovered something very different: zigzagging mudbrick walls up to nine feet high and piles of ancient artifacts from the era of Amenhotep III, “ Erin Blakemore writes for National Geographic.

Structures are packed with everyday items, many of which relate to the artistic and industrial production that supported the pharaoh’s capital city. There are homes where workers might have lived, a bakery and kitchen, items related to metal and glass production, buildings that appear related to administration, and even a cemetery filled with rock-cut tombs, according to a statement from the archaeological mission, led by Zahi Hawass, an Egyptian archaeologist and former secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. (Pictured above, decorative and ritual items such as small amulets.)

Because the city was initially discovered just months ago, archaeologists have only scratched the surface of the sprawling site, and understanding where this discovery ranks in Egyptological importance is hard to say at this time. The level of preservation found so far, however, has impressed researchers.

“It’s extraordinarily beautiful,” says Salima Ikram, an archaeologist and Nat Geo Explorer who leads the American University in Cairo’s Egyptology unit. She recalls walking through the well-preserved streets, surrounded by tall walls where, she says, she expected an ancient Egyptian to come around the corner at any moment.

“I don’t think you can oversell it,” she says. “It is mind-blowing.”

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TODAY IN A MINUTE

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERTSON S. HENRY, REUTERS

Caribbean volcano: Experts are warning of new eruptions on St. Vincent following the blast Friday from La Soufrière, its first in more than four decades, the BBC reports. Thousands of people have been displaced on the island, and ash from the volcano spread to St. Lucia and Barbados. “Many volcanic eruptions continue over weeks or even months, and they have different phases of activity associated with them,” volcanologist Jenni Barclay tells Nat Geo, explaining how this volcano has been more explosive—and deadly—than most.

Who owns the U.S. National Parks? The people do, would be the reflexive response 149 years after the first such park, Yellowstone, was designated. But what people? A new cover story in The Atlantic argues that the lands should be returned to Native American tribes. “All of them were founded on land that was once ours, and many were created only after we were removed, forcibly, sometimes by an invading army and other times following a treaty we’d signed under duress,” writes David Treuer, author of The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America From 1890 to the Present. “The national parks are the closest thing America has to sacred lands, and like the frontier of old, they can help forge our democracy anew.

Time of observance: This week marks the onset of Ramadan, the most sacred month in Islam. It’s an annual time of observance and sacrifice that includes praying and reciting the Quran, making actions intentional and selfless, and abstaining from gossiping, lying, and fighting. Fasting from sunrise to sunset is required for most Muslims, Eslah Attar writes for Nat Geo.

The mystery of the Celts: We often associate things Celtic with Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. But the Celts historically lived in a wide area ranging eastward to Turkey. The Iron Age Celts used their metalworking skills to build extensive trade networks with ancient Greece and Rome, Nat Geo’s History magazine reports. Subscribers can read more here.

Student advocates: Since the killing of George Floyd last year, educators say students have demanded more Black history lessons in the classroom. Lawmakers and several states have already passed or crafted legislation pushing for more inclusive instruction, the Associated Press reports.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY KAREN KASMAUSKI, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

Time for a cut: Gripping the sides of the chair, peering cautiously forward, a young customer submits to a haircut. This image by photographer Karen Kasmauski was part of a 1985 Nat Geo story on the Hampton Roads area. See a selection of our classic images below.

SEE VINTAGE PHOTOS

THE BIG TAKEAWAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY DANITA DELIMONT, ALAMY

Wasting the best: Are huge commercial haulers inadvertently catching—and wasting—a valuable fish that Native Americans in Alaska treasure? Factory trawlers scooping up cheap pollock are also taking much of the prized halibut (pictured above) that the local fishermen depend upon. "A lot of people had to fold,” says Jeff Kauffman, whose boat is one of 15 in a tiny fleet from St. Paul, an island in the Bering Sea. The issue before Alaska officials is “a question of justice and the right to harvest the marine resources that exist essentially in their front yards,” Miranda Weiss writes.

CATCH THE STORY

IN A FEW WORDS

QUOTE

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.

Mahatma Gandhi

lawyer, politician, social activist

Related: How Gandhi changed political protest

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LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN PLUMBE, JR., ALBERT H. SMALL SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA/ALAMY

Reclaiming history: A new tool seeks to uncover the lost ancestry of many African Americans, many of whom have been stopped by the “1870 wall.” Before that year, the U.S. Census rarely noted names of enslaved and formerly-enslaved people—a new (and free) database, Enslaved.org, is pooling resources to render a more complete picture. Rachel Jones, reporting for Nat Geo, used the site the find more details of her family’s history. “It’s inarguably one of the most ambitious attempts in history to deepen the understanding of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the people involved,” she writes. (Pictured above, tinsmith and blacksmith Isaac Granger Jefferson of Virginia, who had been held by his family’s enslaver, Thomas Jefferson)

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard and Monica Williams, and Jen Tse has selected the photos. Have an idea or a link? We'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for reading, and happy trails.

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