埃及發現逾7000年前古城遺址 內含15個大墓葬

Egypt has unearthed a city more than 7,000 years old and a cemetery dating back to its first dynasty in the southern province of Sohag, the antiquities ministry has said.

埃及文物部門日前對外宣稱，他們出土了一座具有7000多年曆史的古城，以及一個可以追溯到南部索哈省第一王朝的公墓。

The find could be a boon for Egypt's ailing tourism industry, which has suffered a series of setbacks since the uprising that toppled the autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011, but remains a vital source of foreign currency.

對埃及境況不佳的旅遊業而言，這一發現堪稱福利。自2011年推翻了獨裁者胡斯尼·穆巴拉克的起義之後，該國旅遊業就飽受一系列挫折，但旅遊業仍是該國外匯的重要來源。

The city is likely to have housed high-ranking officials and grave discovery may yield new insights into Abydos, one of the oldest cities in ancient Egypt, the ministry said in a statement.

文物部門在一份聲明中指出，該城市可能居住着高級官員和墳墓的建造者。它的發現將對古埃及最古老的城市之一的阿比多斯帶來新的見解。

The discovery was made 400 metres away from the temple of Seti I, a New Kingdom period memorial across the Nile from present day Luxor.

這一發現距離一世神廟400米遠，一世神廟是新王國時期橫穿尼羅河（現在的盧克索）的紀念物。

Archaeologists have so far uncovered huts, pottery remains, iron tools and 15 huge graves.

迄今爲止，考古學家已經發現了小屋、陶器遺蹟、鐵製工具和15個巨大的墳墓。

"The size of the graves discovered in the cemetery is larger in some instances than royal graves in Abydos dating back to the first dynasty, which proves the importance of the people buried there and their high social standing," the ministry said.

文物部門稱："該公墓中發現的墓穴，體積比要阿比多斯皇家墓穴的還要大，後者可以追溯到第一王朝時期，這證明了埋葬在這裏的人的重要性以及他們較高的社會地位。"