Recent discoveries help to clarify Egyptian past

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El Aref)

Monuments and artefacts uncovered during the past archaeological season in Aswan, Luxor and Alexandria have led to significant breakthroughs in understanding Egypt's ancient history, Nevine El-Aref reports.

Almost 700,000 years ago, early humans began leaving traces of their wanderings in the land that is now Egypt. Much later Egypt, alongside its neighbour Mesopotamia, became the first cradle of human civilisation. Over the course of its history it witnessed the rise and fall of the kingdoms of ancient Egypt, the rise of the Greek and Roman empires, the establishment of the Coptic and Islamic periods and the colonial era first under France, then Great Britain until it finally regained independence.

Although discoveries over the length and breadth of Egypt have helped write the country's ancient history, several pieces of the jigsaw are still missing.

During this archaeological season from January to May, major discoveries carried out in the Hamdulab area on Aswan's west bank, Karnak temples in Luxor and Al-Baron in the Semouha district of Alexandria have helped fit missing pieces into the puzzle.