Amarna

From ArchaeoWiki

View of the rear portion of the North Palace at Amarna, showing reconstruction efforts undertaken 1995-2005.

Amarna (Arabic: العمارنة al-‘amārnä; also: el-Amarna, ancient Egyptian: Akhetaten) is the name most commonly given in English to the extensive archaeological Middle Egyptian site that represents the well-preserved remnants of the short-lived capital city founded by the Eighteenth Dynasty Pharaoh Akhenaten, and occupied but briefly by his successors, before its general abandonment.

Situated on the east bank of the Nile River in the modern Egyptian province of Minya, some 58 km (38 miles) south of al-Minya, 312 km (194 miles) south of the Egyptian capital Cairo and 402 km (250 miles) north of Luxor, the site of Amarna encompasses several modern villages, chief of which are el-Till to the north and el-Hagg Qandil to the south.

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Excavation

The site of Amarna has been the focus of several excavations since the late nineteenth century, the most recent of which (starting in 1977) is the current EES-sponsored expedition under the direction of Barry Kemp.

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External links

the Amarna Project - home page of the Amarna Project, part of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge, England and operated under the auspices of the Egypt Exploration Society