I think that this is really one of the most exciting finds in Egyptology
of recent times, because it raises so many more questions.
This site is very much of an Egyptian Pompeii
without any signs of the destruction.
So it's very peculiar and that one of the reasons
why it has sparked so much controversy.
This 'lost city', as it's being called, or actually
the 'golden city', is located in Luxor on the West Bank,
not far from the Colossi of Memnon.
The city seems to be part of a large complex that was built by Amenhotep III,
who is basically Tutankhamun's grandfather.
This is a huge complex where we used to think that it was primarily
for the celebration of his 30 years of rule.
But it seems that it had more than one incarnation
and people lived there for a bit longer than we had thought.
It's very early days right now.
From ancient Egypt, we have a huge number of tombs and temples.
But because we don't have that many settlements
- either because they weren't dug or because people are still living on them,
we really have a paucity of evidence.
So finding this part of a city is just, you know, an Egyptologist dream
and the state of preservation is phenomenal.
The city seems to have been abandoned, and this is also a question
that we have been debating quite hotly amongst ourselves.
It's not like the site has been damaged or things have been smashed,
so it's not like there was an invading army or anything like that.
There are corners where pots are neatly stacked up and you can have the,
you know, this is the wine amphora, this holds the lentils,
this holds the something else. So it's really quite fabulous.
And then, of course, the pottery there is surprising
because some of it's very high-end.
The walls are preserved very high.
So you really... as you walk through this village, town,
or whatever you want to call it, you expect some ancient Egyptian
to just come around the corner and greet you.
It's really stepping into the past.
In an ideal world, I think archaeologists would really like
to find a bunch of texts that tell us exactly what happened, or even account
papyri or something that will give us a greater understanding
either of the historical period or about more general aspects
of how ancient Egypt functioned as an economy or as an administration.
I think that this is really one of the most exciting finds in Egyptology
of recent time because it raises so many more questions while answering others.
And I think that it's also very good because it stimulates interest
in settlement archaeology all over again
and not so much amongst the Egyptologists who have it,
but amongst the general public and hopefully amongst funding bodies,
because that's often where it all falls apart.
But when people see the kind of information
you can tease out of these things,
that may be more and more people will be willing to support such work.