Egypt announced two major archaeological finds: a well-preserved fourth-century Byzantine residential city at Dakhla Oasis and 18 ancient tombs at Marina el-Alamein, west of Alexandria.
At Dakhla, archaeologists mapped a planned street grid, a mid-fourth-century basilica, watchtowers, houses, ovens and grinding tools, plus bronze and gold coins and about 200 inscribed pottery fragments detailing trade and daily life.
At Marina el-Alamein, the team found 11 rock-cut tombs and seven limestone tombs, raising the site's total to 48, along with a 2.5-meter granite sarcophagus, skeleton remains, a plaster sphinx and four 'golden tongue' burial pieces.
The discoveries support Egypt's push to draw foreign currency through antiquities tourism, a key sector alongside the Suez Canal in the cash-strapped country.
Tourism has been recovering steadily: Egypt hosted a record 19 million visitors in 2025, up 21% from 2024, and logged 6.1 million arrivals in the first four months of 2026.
As Egypt unearths more treasures for tourism, is it risking the very heritage it seeks to promote?
With a goal of 30 million tourists, can remote desert finds truly compete with the pyramids for visitor attention?
What secrets do golden tongues and ancient receipts reveal about daily life in Roman and Byzantine Egypt?
Archaeological Breakthrough at Sheikh Al-Arab Hammam (2025): How a Lost City and Necropolis Are Transforming Egypt’s Tourism and Local Economy
Overview
In late 2025 and early 2026, a joint Egyptian–French archaeological mission, with key involvement from Ain Shams University, uncovered a remarkable site near Al-Arki village in Qena Governorate, Upper Egypt. Located at Farshut, about 566 km south of Cairo, the discovery revealed an 18th-century mudbrick residential city linked to the Sheikh Al-Arab Hammam citadel, as well as a Byzantine-era Coptic necropolis. This multi-layered site provides rare insights into historical settlement patterns and daily life, highlighting the region’s continuous occupation and the evolving relationship between its military, civilian, and religious communities.