Egypt's ancient history at 'City of the Dead' dug through for highway project

Conservationists in Egypt are racing to save ancient objects buried in the parts of Cairo amid rapid advancement of a highway project.

As part of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's modernisation drive, authorities are digging their way through a 7 km-long UNESCO World Heritage site for a highway project. The site is often referred to as the 'City Of Dead'.

The roads reportedly tear through a network of mausoleums dating back as far as the seventh century to link congested central Cairo with Egypt's 'New Administrative Capital'.

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In the rush to preserve signs of ancient history in the rubble, teams of amateur historians and volunteers have found artefacts dating back more than a thousand years.

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Among the recent discoveries is an ancient Kufi Arabic engraving half encased in concrete and buried among toppled stonework. The tombstone has an inscription dating back to 836AD. It was later donated to the Ministry of Tourism and local museums.

"I'm not sure how many monuments like this have been destroyed. Every day we go, we find burials that have been removed," Mostafa El Sadek, one of the group members, was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.

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The original mausoleum was demolished in the past to build a new one, and its tombstone was used as a brick. The newer mausoleum had just been demolished when Dr El Sadek found it.

"It is known that there is an older grave under this grave, and when the bulldozer digs, these things appear," cemetery guard Amin Murad said.

Egypt's ancient historical artifacts: Aren't they protected?

The government does not demolish antiquities registered under the Egyptian Antiquities Law, but reports citing experts say that most of the City of the Dead's antiquities are unregistered.

Egypt’s heritage is acclaimed to be second to none in the world due to vast records of their existence left by the ancient residents and rulers of the land. But modern-day Egypt is spending heavily on megaprojects such as highways, monorails and big infrastructure projects. The New Administrative Capital (NAC) is the $58 billion administrative capital east of Cairo.

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