A team of Egyptian archaeologists in the 6th century. Ave. We discovered the remains of the structure three years ago during excavations at the archaeological site of the ancient city of But, now called Tell Al-Faraeen, in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate.
“Everything we found just blew away our expectations,” says Hossam Ghonim, director general of the Antiquities Department of Kafr El-Sheikh and head of the Egyptian Archaeological Mission.
The team discovered the ruins of an L-shaped mud brick building with an area of more than 850 square meters. The entrance to the east, marked by traditional pylons, leads to the place where the sun’s light illuminated the spot of a sky watcher called “smn pe”, who was usually a saint, where he observed the Sun and the stars, H. Ghonim says.
The structure still has a carving of a ‘smn pe’ looking at the rising Sun. This figure symbolizes the ancient Egyptians’ connection with the cosmos, according to the scientist.
At first, the team thought they had found an ordinary temple. But as the excavation progressed, they discovered artifacts and symbols such as Chen, Cenet and Benu, which relate to time and astronomy, Ghonim says. But it was the discovery of the massive Sundial — along with several inscriptions, artifacts and a building layout — that led researchers to make a new announcement that the structure was an observatory.
“On the north side of the hall, we found a tilted stone sundial – a sun shadow clock, which used the changing angles of the sun’s shadow to determine the time of sunrise, noon and sunset – a simple but effective method,” says H. Ghonim, noting that at first archaeologists thought that the clock is the gate of the temple. The research team also found an ancient Egyptian time-measuring device called a merkhet, also from the 6th century. before our era.
These findings are revealing astronomical methods used by the ancient Egyptianswhich they used to determine the dates of solar calendars and religious and official ceremonies such as the coronation of kings and the agricultural year.
Tarps and pylons
Inside the hall, archaeologists found a carved stone depicting astronomical images of sunrise and sunset during the three seasons.
“The ancient Egyptians imagined the Earth and the sky as two blankets,” explains H. Ghonim. “On the ‘Themet Hrt’, the sky mat, they represented the sky, and the ‘Themet Ghrt’, or Earth mat, symbolized their calendar, marking events such as the Nile flood and the harvest.”
These finds, like other inscriptions, contribute to the Egyptians’ deep understanding of seasonal changes and fluctuations in the length of the day.
Archaeologists also found a “triad of pylons” near the entrance to the hall, an unusual location, as typical ancient Egyptian monuments had pylons at the back of the hall. Such an unusual arrangement of the pylons suggests that it is not a temple as previously thought. “We theorized that these pylons could symbolize the ancient Egyptians’ triple division of time into seasons, months and weeks,” says H. Ghonim.
Unlike traditional monuments, which usually have a single pylon, the observatory had two pylons facing each other, framing the circle of the observatory and symbolizing the akhet (horizon) where the Sun rises. In front of this akheta stood a limestone observation tower, which was probably once paired with another tower and used to observe the constellations, according to the scientist.
A statue of the god Horus was also discovered during the excavations. The image of Horus, together with the Eye of Horus, “represents the systems of the Universe and is associated with the Sun, the Moon, the god Horus and the goddess Ouadjet, the most important gods of Buth,” according to the statement.
In ancient times, Buto was the city of Ouajet, the goddess who is depicted as a winged serpent who protects the king. The observatory’s analysis provides more evidence that Ouadzet was very important to But, says H. Ghonim.
Inside the observatory, archaeologists found a gray granite statue of the pharaoh Psamtik I of the 26th dynasty and a bronze figure of the god Osiris, associated with the underworld and resurrection, with a snake that references the goddess Ouadjet. These artifacts and various ceramics used in religious rituals date back to the 6th century. Ave. me emphasizes the double role of the observatory – scientific research and spiritual practice, summarizes H. Ghonim.
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2024-09-02 13:40:38