ZAWYET SULTAN

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Welcome to the Zawyet Sultan Project

Zawyet Sultan is a village located on the east bank of the Nile, no more than eight kilometres from the modern city of el-Minya. Located just south of the village proper, the Zawyet Sultan archaeological site finds its home.

Although there have been times at which the Zawyet Sultan archaeological site was likely not occupied, most notably during the Middle Kingdom and at some point during Medieval times, a long, mostly unbroken chain of occupation reaches back from the present all the way to the pre-dynastic period. At the site there are remains of the ancient town of Hebenu, quarries, tombs and a New Kingdom temple.

The most prominent monument that remains at the site today is the small Early Old Kingdom pyramid that you see directly as you enter the site. Reconstructions of the monument range from a step pyramid, to a benben building, to a mastaba.

Additionally, you can find rock tombs of the Old and New Kingdoms further up the mountain that show funerary inscriptions and scenes of daily life.

The Zawyet Sultan Project has been working at the site since 2015, starting with a survey that expanded into several seasons of excavation. During this time, we have worked on a number of projects to understand the history of Zawyet Sultan, which can be found on the our work page (currently under construction).

Having recently been granted an ERC grant, our current project SUBALTERNEGY focusses on those that history likes to forget; the lower classes of the local community that lived and died at Hebenu.

Parts of our website are currently still under construction.
If you would like to get more information you can contact us.

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