William sent in the following link – www.yahoo.com/news/archaeologists-unearth-ancient-egyptian-pompeii-16331… … archaeologists unearth ancient Egyptian Pompeii near Luxor. It will shine light on the Amarna era. See also www.sciencealert.com/remains-of-the-3-000-year-old-lost-golden-city-disc… …. the remains of the 3000 years old lost golden city 'The Rise of Aten' which was established by Amenhotep III, the father of Akhnaton and grandfather of Tutankhamun. It is thought the city remained in use throughout the Amarna period and is therefore likely to be chronologically and historically important as the Empire in Asia at this time was at its height. It was primarily the city of Amenhotep III as Akhnaton moved the capital to El Amarna. Never the less it is likely to have a lot of information on why the capital moved location, on the outbreak of plague that had been rife in the later reign of Amenhotep III, and so on. Three palaces have been recognised and what is thought to have been an administrative centre and an industrial complex.
Zahi Hawass was in charge of the archaeological excavation. They began their work, not looking for anything as grand as a whole city, but for the mortuary temple of Tutankhamun. It was thought to be in the vicinity and had eluded archaeologists. They did not find it, apparently, but began to dig up mud bricks galore, everywhere they pushed a spade into the ground. It quickly became apparent they were digging into a town or city as they found streets flanked by houses. Some of them had walls up to ten feet thick. Bricks were inscribed with the cartouche of Amenhotep III, and a brick production centre was unearthed. Various tools for a variety of jobs were found, as well as metal and glass making slag – and some unusual burials.
Meanwhile, at https://phys.org/news/2021-04-early-dispersal-neolithic-domesticated-she… … looks like Tien Shan is back in the News. It seems the Tien Shan and Alay mountains of central Asia were home to a pastoral way of life much earlier than previously allowed. Domesticated livestock, such as sheep and goats, is still the primary way of earning a living from the land, in what later became the route of the Silk Road to China. Pastoralism is now considered to have begun as early as 8000 years ago. They claim this means there was a dispersal of this switch from hunter gathering, from the Neolithic cultures to the south. The coincides with 6000BC, very close to the 6200BC event that caused a dispersal of Neolithic farmers from Anatolia into the Balkans and eastern Europe at the same point in time. One is forced to make a connection. Was the same event responsible for both dispersals, or migrations out of the Fertile Crescent. What exactly caused the mass movement of peoples. We can only guess for the moment.