A joint team of British and Egyptian archaeologists has uncovered the long-lost city of Imet in Egypt’s eastern Nile Delta, revealing one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in recent decades. The excavation, led by the University of Manchester in collaboration with Sadat City University in Cairo, provides a remarkable window into everyday life, domestic rituals, and religious practices during Egypt’s Late Period, around the 4th century BCE.
The discovery was made at Tell el-Fara’in, also known as Tell Nabasha, a previously explored site whose full urban extent had remained elusive until now. Using high-resolution satellite imagery and advanced ground surveys, the team has revealed streets, homes, granaries, and ceremonial routes that have lain undisturbed for more than two millennia.
A Frozen Moment in Time: Fish Stew and Sun-Baked Bread
Perhaps the most evocative find was a ceramic cooking pot, still positioned on a hearth, filled with the 2,500-year-old remnants of tilapia stew. Nearby, sun-drying platters where bread was once leavened were discovered undisturbed, offering a vivid snapshot of a domestic kitchen frozen in time.
“When you take it out of the ground and you are the first person to touch it in 2,500 years, it gives you a bit of a jolt,” said Dr. Nicky Nielsen, the project’s lead archaeologist from the University of Manchester. “This discovery opens new doors to our understanding of daily life, spirituality, and urban planning in the Delta.”
These household artefacts shed light on the routines of ordinary Egyptians—people whose voices are rarely preserved in grand tombs or monumental inscriptions.
Urban Sophistication and Sacred Symbolism
Beyond domestic relics, the team uncovered multi-storey homes, grain storage facilities, and a ceremonial road associated with the cobra goddess Wadjet, a protective deity deeply tied to kingship and Lower Egypt.
Religious artefacts discovered during the dig underline the spiritual vibrancy of the city. Among them was a shabti figurine made of green faience ceramic, dated to the 26th Dynasty (~2,300 years ago). These figurines were typically buried with high-ranking individuals to serve as labor substitutes in the afterlife, in accordance with ancient Egyptian funerary beliefs.
“They were a way of getting out of labor in the afterlife,” Nielsen explained. “You inscribed the figure with a spell and hoped it would do the agricultural work for you.”
The excavations also unearthed a protective amulet depicting the child-god Harpocrates standing on crocodiles, crowned by the head of Bes, a dwarf god associated with protection from illness. Another striking find was a bronze sistrum—a ceremonial rattle used in temple rituals—adorned with the double heads of Hathor, goddess of music, joy, and fertility.
Rewriting the Map of the Late Period
While Tell el-Fara’in was first investigated in the 1800s, earlier archaeologists concentrated primarily on the site’s temple complex and burial grounds. The newly revealed residential and urban structures of Imet suggest a level of civic sophistication previously underappreciated in Delta cities of the Late Period.
“Imet is emerging as a key site for rethinking the archaeology of Late Period Egypt,” said Nielsen. “It’s helping us piece together how people lived, worshipped, and structured their cities in a time of both continuity and change.”
Cultural Renaissance from the Delta
The findings highlight the Delta’s historical role not only as an agricultural heartland, but also as a center of urban vitality and religious diversity in ancient Egypt’s twilight centuries. Unlike the more documented cities of Upper Egypt, such as Thebes or Abydos, Imet presents a compelling case for the political and cultural relevance of Delta cities during a period of growing foreign influence and internal reinvention.
As fieldwork continues, the excavation team hopes to uncover more of Imet’s city grid and connect the everyday artefacts with broader historical developments during the Persian occupation and the prelude to Alexander the Great’s arrival in Egypt.
In the meantime, the fish stew, sun-baked bread platters, and joyful rattle of the sistrum paint a hauntingly intimate portrait of a once-bustling community—rediscovered, remarkably intact, in the shifting sands of the Nile Delta.
