3,500-Year-Old Egyptian Settlement with Royal Wine Production Found Beneath Greek Ruins

“An amphora stamped with the name Meritaten dated back to the 18th Dynasty, since Meritaten is known to be the eldest daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti.”

Archaeologists digging beneath Hellenistic ruins at Kom el-Nugus, 27 kilometers from Alexandria, found a New Kingdom settlement from the 18th Dynasty (1550-1292 BC). A grape crusher and amphora stamped with the name of Nefertiti’s daughter suggest the site was a royal wine estate. Experts had believed the region was uninhabited until Greeks arrived around 332 BC. The discovery pushes Egyptian settlement in northern Egypt back by over a thousand years.