Excavation
work in Minya has uncovered an ancient settlement that might be a monks’
complex, the antiquities ministry have said.
Ayman
Ashmawi, the head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Department at the
ministry, said that the settlement in the area besides the Al-Nassara
necropolis in Al-Bahnasa includes a collection of rock-hewn tombs and a
residential area, dating from the 5th century AD.
Gamal
El-Semestawi, director-general of Antiquities of Middle Egypt, explains that
the rock-hewn tombs are composed of a collection of burial chambers that are
50x70 metres in total.
The
residential area is 100x130 metres in size and include the remains of houses,
among them the remains of a mud-brick house of a monk.
"This
fact suggests that the archaeological site beside Al-Nassara necropolis was a
monks’ complex," El-Semestawi told Ahram Online.
He added
that the antiquities' ministry archaeological mission has also found a collection
of monks' cells and a water well.
Excavations
started in the area in 2008 when the mission uncovered the remains of a
fifth-century church built of mud-brick, as well as a shrine; a prayer hall and
a number of chambers with walls covered with plaster and decorated with
coloured decorative elements and hymns written in the Coptic language.
Regretfully,
said El-Semestawi, these remains were subjected to destruction during the lack
of security in the aftermath of the 2011 revolution.
Gamal
Mohamed, director of Maghagha antiquities, said that in 2013 the excavation
work resumed and the mission discovered the remains of a monk’s chamber, a
prayer hall, a kitchen and a grain store with walls decorated with red crosses.
The lower
part of a monk's tomb stone was unearthed as well as a collection of metal
coins and clay pots. The coins and pots are now under restoration and study.
The town
of Al-Bahnasa is located on the West Bank of the Nile, near Beni Mazzar.
During
the Hellenistic era Al-Bahnasa was called "Oxirenkhos" and in the
Islamic period it was known as Al-Bahnasa referring to the daughter of the
town's ruler at that time.
Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/275588/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Possible-ancient-monks-complex-discovered-in-Minya.aspx
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