Emily Chan
At a temple site, the remains of an ancient Egyptian astronomical observatory were uncovered.
The discovery was made by the Egyptian archaeological mission of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) at the Temple of Buto in Tell el-Fara’in, which is located in northern Egypt. Buto was the Greek name for Wadjet, a local ancient Egyptian goddess.
During excavations at the site, the remains of a structure were identified as an astronomical building in the southwest corner of the temple area, per the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The observatory is believed to date back to the sixth century B.C. It was constructed with mud bricks and was used to track the movement of the sun and the stars.
According to Ayman Ashmawy, the head of the SCA’s Egyptian antiquities division, it is the largest known astronomical observatory from the sixth century B.C. in the country. It takes up a total area of about 9,150 square feet.
The building had an open central hall with columns shaped like the letter “L,” tall mud brick walls that sloped inward, and an entrance that faced the east.
In the observatory, archaeologists found a sloping stone sundial. The instrument, also known as a sloping shadow clock, was one of the most important tools for measuring time back then.
The sundial was made up of a limestone slab nearly 16 feet long, topped with five flat limestone blocks. Three were vertical, and two were horizontal.
An additional instrument was discovered in the observatory—it was a stone block in a circular hall likely used to take measurements of the sun’s inclination and shade.
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