Archaeologists announced the discovery of a Byzantine-era settlement at Dakhla Oasis in Egypt's Western Desert, dating to the 4th century AD.

The site, located in the New Valley governorate, is listed on UNESCO's Tentative List and represents one of the clearest views of life in remote Egyptian oases during the Byzantine period, when the region was part of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Excavations uncovered homes with vaulted roofs, bread ovens, kitchens, stone mills, and a basilica church positioned along a main north-south street. The settlement's layout included broad north-south avenues intersected by east-west roads that formed public squares, and two watchtowers and a fortified building guarded the perimeter. Approximately 200 pottery fragments, known as ostraca, bear inscriptions in Coptic and Greek that record commercial transactions, letters and other daily activities. Additional finds included domestic pottery, oil and perfume bottles, oil lamps, and stone grinding implements.

In a separate excavation near Marina el-Alamein, about 60 miles west of Alexandria, archaeologists uncovered 18 ancient tombs, an 8-foot granite sarcophagus containing human remains, a damaged plaster sphinx, and gold foil placed in the mouths of the interred, a practice known as the "golden tongue." Bronze coins bearing Byzantine emperors and gold coins minted under Emperor Constantius II (AD 337-361) were also recovered.

Mahmoud Massoud, Director General of Dakhla Antiquities and head of the excavation, said the settlement contained all the architectural elements of a fully functioning community. Diaa Zahran, head of the Islamic, Coptic and Jewish Antiquities Sector, noted that the ostraca provide an exceptional documentary record of the city's inhabitants.

The discovery joins another recent find at the site, highlighting the rarity of well-preserved Byzantine settlements in the desert. The Dakhla Oasis location remains on UNESCO's Tentative List, pending further evaluation for possible World Heritage status.