March 27, 2023
The Egyptian-German archaeological mission working in the Matariya area have had another successful season with new archaeological material being unearthed. The mission was working in the area around the Heliopolis Open Air Museum at the site, in the western, northern, and southern sides.
The team uncovered limestone pavement slabs and mudbrick structures dating to the second half of the 1st millennium BCE. The team also found statue fragments and bases belonging to important ancient Egyptian kings such as Horemheb, Ramses II, Ramses IX, and Psamtik II. Additionally, the team also found a red granite fragment that could have been the upper part of an obelisk.
Heliopolis was a major city and cult center in ancient Egypt, having been occupied from the Predynastic Period. The ancient temple of the city was known as the Great House and is believed to have been the biggest temple in ancient Egypt when it was still functional. The site and the temple are today mostly destroyed, and the ongoing excavation and study of the site sheds new light into the history of such an important historical place.
