Egyptian archaeologists have discovered parts of some ancient buildings dating back to the Byzantine era in the city of Al-Qusia, Assiut governorate. Mostafa Waziri, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, stressed the importance of this discovery, referring to the Coptic text engraved on one of the walls of those buildings, which was written in black ink in eight horizontal lines. Adel Okasha, head of the Central Department of Antiquities of Middle Egypt, said that the buildings that were discovered in the upper cemetery of the region are pans consisting of a courtyard and a number of rooms attached to them, storage places and a fireplace. In the lower cemetery, parts of wooden coffins, skeletons, and some funerary furniture were found in a poor state of preservation, pointing out that one of these burials belonged to a woman whose coffin was found in a poor state of preservation. Only a mask, two palms, and parts of the chest remain from it, in addition to a number of pottery vessels of different shapes and sizes, and a set of blue and black faience beads and two copper mirrors. It should be noted that the cemetery includes a group of rock tombs carved entirely in the rock dating back to the Old and Middle Kingdoms. A few days earlier, the joint archaeological mission between the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the Italian National Research Council – Institute for Ancient Mediterranean Studies (CNR) – operating at the Tell Al-Maskhouta site in Ismailia governorate, succeeded in uncovering a large group of pots and amphorae dating back to the late and Greco-Roman eras. The Supreme Council of Antiquities' Secretary General, Mostafa Waziri, emphasised the significance of this discovery because it reveals a wealth of information on the importance of this area as a trade hub in the past. He continued by saying that during the Roman era, this area served as a hub for international trade and communications, much like Egypt had done. This was made possible by the significant infrastructure represented at the time by the Sesostris Canal, which connected the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. Andrea Angelina, head of the mission, stated that the mission also succeeded in uncovering a huge slope that rises to the top of the huge wall that was discovered during excavations in 2017, which represents the northern side of the city's great wall. To the east, as well as the corridor that was used to collect fees and customs on the trade route, secure trade convoys, and repel any aggression coming from the east.
