5000+ year-old Neolithic village discovered in the Nile Delta

The Egyptian-French mission at the Tell el-Samara site in the Dakahlia governorate in the middle of the Nile Delta has recently uncovered one of the oldest villages ever discovered in the Nile Delta.

Dr. Aiman Ashmawi said that the joint mission between IFAO and the Ministry of Antiquities excavated the remains of a Neolithic settlement, which occupation lasted til the 2nd dynasty at the lower level of the El-Samara site. 

He also added that the importance of this discovery that Neolithic period’s findings are not matched or known in delta except for the site of Sais. 

Dr. Frederic Guyot, head of the mission said “The mission has discovered several storage magazines which contained a large number of animal bones and botanical remains as well as pottery and stone tools which confirms the existence of settled societies in in Delta’s wetland since 5th millennium B.C.”

Dr. Guyot also said “The information collected since 2015 from the site give us a unique opportunity to know more about the life style of the prehistoric communities once lived in Delta thousands of years before the unification of the two lands and the beginning of the Egyptian recorded history.”

Dr. Nadia Khedr (Director of Lower Egypt Antiquities) said “Continuing the excavation next season as well as the analysis of the organic materials discovered will give us the chance to gain a better knowledge of the prehistoric societies in Lower Egypt and more on the origin of agriculture in Egypt.” 

 You can check the mission's 2016 season's full report HERE

#Egypt #Archaeology #Egyptology #IFAO #Neolithic