An astronomical observatory dating back more than 2,500 years has been discovered in Egypt

An Egyptian archaeological mission affiliated with the Supreme Council of Antiquities has just made a major discovery at the site of Tell el-Faraeen in the north of the country and near ancient Alexandria: a large astronomical observatory from the 6th century BC

The building was built of adobe bricks and was used for track and record astronomical observationsas well as the movement of the Sun and stars, in the temple of Buto (one of the names by which the cobra goddess Wadjet, protector of Lower Egypt, was known). During the excavations inside the observatory, archaeologists made very interesting discoveries.

The most notable is a stone clock known as a tilted shadow clockwhich is considered one of the most important time-measuring instruments of antiquity. It consists of a straight and regular row of limestone slabs 4.80 meters long, topped by five flat blocks also of limestone, three of which are vertical and two others horizontal. It is believed that they had lines that were used to measure shadows and thus track the movement of the Sun during the daylight hours.

It was also found inside the observatory statue of a priest and three others in gray granite representing the gods Osiris, Ptah and Bes; in addition to astronomical gauges, it offers tables, amphora lids, remains of stone paintings with inscriptions, and ceramics of various shapes and sizes that were used in religious rituals and daily life.

The mission also found five adobe rooms that were probably used to store some construction tools, in addition to four small adobe rooms and a small stone room that would have been an observatory tower, as well as a large room whose three walls were covered with yellow mortar decorated with some scenes and remains of drawing in blue.