Looters Discover 3,000-Year-Old Thutmose III Temple

Seven suspected looters have discovered an ancient temple erected during the reign of Thutmose III, the Telegraph reports.

The men found the temple in groundwater, after digging to a depth of nine metres in the town of Badrashin, 40 kilometers south of the capital Cairo. The group was detained, but was released shortly after as the area is not yet recognized as a heritage site. The excavation was unauthorized and it remains unclear why they were digging in the area.

The suspected looters were not able to seize any of the contents of the temple, which is believed to be 3,400 years old. A team of experts has now taken over the excavation, and is currently in the process of analyzing and assessing the temple and the items found within it.

Seven tablets, several column bases, and a statue made of pink granite have been unearthed so far, according to antiquities minister Mahmoud al-Damaty.

Archeologists believe that the hieroglyphics inscribed in the walls of the temple might shed new light on the reign of Thutmose III, one of Ancient Egypt’s most powerful pharaohs, who ruled between 1479 and 1425 BC. Thutmose III created the largest empire Egypt had ever seen, conquering new territories from Niya, in North Syria, to the Fourth Cataract of the Nile, in Nubia.

“Modern Egypt is literally stacked on top of old Egypt, so there’s a lot to find,” the British archaeologist Nigel Hetherington told the Telegraph.