During the excavation of a temple in the ancient capital of Lower Egypt, an apparently record-breaking ancient astronomical “observatory” complete with sundial was recently discovered.
The mud-brick temple building was found in a larger complex now known as the Temple of Buto, but named in the 6th century BCE after Wadjet, from which it came. (Buto is a later Greek name for the ancient Egyptian Wadjet, according to the Wiley Online Library, and “Wadjet” has several spelling variations in English.)
The building covers 850 square meters and is, according to researchers, the first and largest observatory of the 6th century BC. According to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, it was used to “observe and record astronomical observations and the movement of the sun and the stars” (translation from Arabic by Google).
The temple astronomers of that time carried out their work in an unstable period, namely during the transition to the late phase of Egyptian pharaonic power, in which many foreign rulers ascended to the throne. The newly discovered observatory is part of a larger excavation in what is now Tell el-Faraeen, about 80 kilometers east of Alexandria.
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The researchers assume that as the archaeological work progresses, they will learn more about how the ancient Egyptians practiced astronomy and gradually analyzed the tools that were uncovered.
A notable newly discovered tool was a “slanting stone sundial” that measured time based on the movement of the sun. The temple building itself was oriented to the east, the direction from which the sun rises.
Inside the building, the team found construction features that also indicated an orientation toward the sun. For example, three stone blocks on the floor were used to “measure the position of the sun.”
Another set of five flat limestone blocks mounted on long slabs (16 feet or 4.8 meters) featured slanting lines “used to measure the inclination of the sun and shadow and to monitor the movement of the sun during the daylight hours,” the ministry wrote.
In addition, a possible stone observatory tower, a stone platform in a large hall with inscriptions of sunrises and sunsets, and various inscriptions “with information on time and astronomy” were found, the statement said.
The hall was also decorated with images of deities associated with the sky. For example, according to Britannica, Horus (as a falcon) typically has a right eye symbolizing either the sun or the “morning star” Venus, while his left eye symbolizes the moon or the “evening star” (also Venus, in its setting phase).
Horus is the son of Wadjet, the patron goddess of Lower Egypt, after whom the temple is named, according to Britannica. Sometimes Wadjet and the deity Nekhbet, who represents Upper Egypt, are depicted as an ensemble on the jeweled pharaoh’s crown or diadem to symbolize how the pharaoh united Upper and Lower Egypt.
Wadjet/Buto is well attested in history, including mentions in works by Herodotus. Herodotus was a fifth-century chronicler who is now known as one of the first historians. (Herodotus has complex origins, as he was born in Anatolia under the Persian Empire but then probably lived in Athens and became a citizen of Thurii, an Athenian colony in what is now Italy.)
Smaller finds on the temple site include a bead necklace known as a menat, tablets with offerings, amphora lids and pottery believed to have been used for both temple rituals and daily necessities. The current phase of excavations in the area in and around the Buto complex dates back to at least 2018, according to news reports.
