A remarkably well preserved 1,600-year-old city complete with a church, watchtowers and bustling streets has been unearthed beneath Egypt’s Western Desert.

Archaeologists have announced the discovery of a sprawling Byzantine-era settlement at the Dakhla Oasis.

Here, they unearthed homes with vaulted roofs, bread ovens, kitchens and stone mills that offer a rare glimpse into everyday life during the 4th century.

They also found around 200 inscribed pottery fragments recording commercial transactions, letters and a selection of coins.

The carefully planned settlement features broad north-south streets intersected by east-west roads to create public squares, while two watchtowers and a heavily fortified building protected its outskirts.

At its centre stands a basilica church overlooking one of the city’s main streets.

Experts say the discovery provides one of the clearest pictures yet of life in Egypt's remote oases during the Byzantine Empire.

The city, located in Egypt's western province of New Valley in the Western Desert, is on UNESCO's Tentative List, a step away from being added to the agency's World Heritage List.

Archaeologists have announced the discovery of a sprawling Byzantine-era settlement at the Dakhla Oasis

They unearthed homes with vaulted roofs, bread ovens, kitchens and stone mills that offer a rare glimpse into everyday life during the 4th century

They also found around 200 inscribed pottery fragments recording commercial transactions, letters and a selection of coins

Mahmoud Massoud, Director General of Dakhla Antiquities and head of the excavation mission, said the settlement contained all the architectural components of a fully functioning community.

Excavations also yielded a rich assemblage of artefacts reflecting everyday life and economic activity including domestic pottery, bottles used to store oils and perfumes, oil lamps and stone implements for grinding grain.

‘One of the excavation’s most significant discoveries is a collection of nearly 200 inscribed ostraca (pottery fragments used as writing material) bearing texts in both Coptic and Greek,’ Diaa Zahran, head of the Islamic, Coptic and Jewish Antiquities Sector, said.

The inscriptions record commercial transactions, correspondence and other details of daily life, offering an exceptional documentary record of the city’s inhabitants.

The discovery was one of two major archaeological finds announced by Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

In a separate excavation at Marina el-Alamein, around 60 miles west of Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast, archaeologists uncovered 18 ancient tombs, including a huge 8ft-long granite sarcophagus containing human remains.

They also found a damaged plaster sphinx and several bodies buried with thin gold foils placed inside their mouths.

This funerary practice, known as the ‘golden tongue’, was believed by the ancient Greeks and Romans to help the dead speak in the afterlife.

The team uncovered bronze coins bearing the portraits of Byzantine emperors and gold coins dating to the reign of Roman emperor Constantius II, who ruled between AD337 and AD361

Experts say the discovery provides one of the clearest pictures yet of life in Egypt's remote oases during the Byzantine Empire

In a separate excavation at Marina el-Alamein, around 60 miles west of Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast, archaeologists uncovered 18 ancient tombs

Although Egypt is best known for its pharaohs and pyramids, it also spent more than 250 years as part of the Byzantine Empire.

During this period, from the late fourth to the mid-seventh century AD, Christianity became the dominant religion, towns expanded across the country and Egypt served as one of the empire's richest provinces. 

The newly uncovered settlement dates to this era, offering a rare snapshot of life at a time when Roman traditions, Christian beliefs and Egyptian culture overlapped.

Earlier this year archaeologists uncovered one of the Great Pyramid’s secrets – revealing how the ancient tomb has managed to withstand earthquakes for 4,600 years.

Since it was built, the magnificent structure has experienced significant tremors with magnitudes of up to 6.8. Earthquakes of this size are capable of causing significant damage to buildings within 155 miles (250km) of their epicentre.

However the Great Pyramid, built for Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu, has suffered no major deterioration internally or externally.

Back in May experts finally worked out why – and it's all thanks to remarkable engineering techniques that the ancient Egyptians used.

This included building the structure on hard limestone bedrock, a symmetrical pyramid shape, a rigid overall design and creating pressure–relieving cavities above the King's Chamber.

Egypt under Byzantine rule

The Byzantine period in Egypt began in AD395, when the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves following the death of Emperor Theodosius I. 

Egypt became part of the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire, with Constantinople – modern-day Istanbul – serving as its capital. 

Although the empire was ruled from hundreds of miles away, Egypt remained one of its wealthiest and most strategically important provinces thanks to its fertile farmland and grain exports.

Christianity flourished during the Byzantine era, transforming Egypt's religious and cultural landscape. 

Churches and monasteries were built across the country, while many towns expanded and prospered under imperial rule.

However, the period was also marked by religious disputes between the Byzantine authorities and Egypt's growing Coptic Christian population, particularly over differing beliefs about the nature of Christ.

The Byzantine Empire controlled Egypt for more than two centuries until AD641, when Arab Muslim forces conquered the country. 

Many settlements from the period were later abandoned or buried beneath shifting desert sands, making well-preserved discoveries such as the Dakhla Oasis site exceptionally rare.