Great Temple of The Aten - Excavation & Exploration

Excavation & Exploration

Flinders Petrie was the first person to work in the temple, and his assistant, Howard Carter excavated in the sanctuary area. However, it was John Pendlebury who actually fully mapped this area during his excavations in 1935. The EES Amarna Survey project returned to re–dig the site and corrected some mistakes in the mapping.

Project leader Sarah Parcak of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, "Based on the coins and pottery we found, it appears to be a massive regional center that traded with Greece, Turkey and Libya."

This is part of a larger project aiming to map as much of ancient Egypt's archaeological sites, or "tells," as possible before they are destroyed or covered by modern development.

Although Akhenaten had several temples dedicated to the Aten, the Great Temple of the Aten was the largest and most significant. During Akhenaten’s reign, the new city of Akhetaten was completely built up and the regular worship of the Aten was established. Shortly after Akhenaten’s death though, this all fell apart as successive kings destroyed the Temple and the city in an effort to return to the traditional religion of Egypt. Nonetheless, enough remains preserved of the Great Temple of the Aten to be able to get a sense of what it looked like and how worship of the Aten must have played out for inhabitants of the city of Akhetaten.