New Data on the Ancient Cultural Landscape at the Mouth of Wadi Ghayda (Middle Egypt)

In 2024, the second season of the Egyptian-Russian archaeological mission to Gebel el-Nour, an ancient site situated at the mouth of Wadi Ghayada, 120 km to the south of Cairo, commenced. The article summarizes the main preliminary results of these archaeological investigations and discusses their role in reconstructing the cultural landscape of the mouth of Wadi Ghayada in the Greek-Roman period. Research in the temple area revealed remains of two monumental stone gates and a vestibule built directly in front of the entrance to the pronaos of the temple. Among other finds, remains of two colossi were discovered. One of the statues may have initially depicted a Ptolemaic queen associated with Isis, and the other is a rare example of a male deity, possibly Horus, in a cloak or chlamys. Excavations in the necropolis made it possible to clarify its area and zoning, as well as the actual diversity of burial structures. In 2024, the mission focused its main efforts on studying two hypogea – GN 5010 and GN 6010. The finds (ceramic coffins, vessels, lamps, masks, offering tables, a headrest, and a fragment of a stele or false door with a Greek inscription) testify to the complex syncretic culture characteristic of the local population in the 2nd–3rd centuries AD. Geophysical and topographic surveys have revealed dozens of potential objects for future investigation, as well as a previously unknown ground cemetery. The study of road infrastructure and agricultural areas was conducted primarily using satellite imagery, early cartographic materials, and written sources.