Archaeologists excavate temple complex in Egypt’s Fayyum region

With archaeologists reporting both structural gains and fresh insights into the site’s long history.

The project, directed by Paola Davoli of the University of Salento, has been underway since 2021 with the support of the Antiquities Endowment Fund.

The settlement itself spread across a broad strip of desert and was at its busiest from the 4th century BC to about the middle of the 3rd century AD. The temple enclosure still dominates the site. Built of mudbrick in the early Roman period, its walls rise high above the surrounding ground.

Within them are shrines, storage rooms, living quarters and halls used for gatherings. The complex was devoted to Soknopaios, a local form of Sobek, alongside Isis Nepherses. Earlier finds—papyri and fragments of sculpture—have already pointed to a community centred on priestly life.

A straight, paved route cuts through the settlement. This processional way once linked the temple to burial grounds beyond and was used during festivals that filled much of the calendar. It also acted as a meeting point, where people gathered during public rites.

Excavation inside the enclosure has identified three main structures. To the south stands a Ptolemaic sanctuary, still over 10 metres high. North of it are the remains of a Roman-period temple, later dismantled for building stone, and a further structure often linked with the worship of Isis. Around them sit mudbrick buildings that have been worn down over time by wind and shifting sands.