March
16
/ 2026
An Egyptian-German archaeological mission has unearthed a staggering 13,000 inscribed pottery fragments, known as ostraca, at the ancient site of Athribis in Sohag, Upper Egypt, including over 130 texts related to ancient astrology. This latest discovery brings the total number of ostraca found at the site to approximately 43,000, making it the largest collection of its kind ever recovered from a single location in Egypt, and offering an unprecedented window into the daily life, administration, and celestial beliefs of its ancient inhabitants, reports Ahram Online. The joint team from Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities and Germany's University of Tübingen has been excavating at Athribis since 2005. The sheer volume of material, with over 42,000 fragments uncovered in just the last
