Egyptian archaeologists said Tuesday they had discovered an 1,800-year-old “complete residential city from the Roman-era” in the heart of the southern city of Luxor.

The city, dating to the second and third centuries, is the “oldest and most important city found on the eastern bank of Luxor,” according to Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Archaeologists discovered “a number of residential buildings”, as well as “two pigeon towers” — a structure used to house pigeons or doves — and a “number of metal workshops,” Waziri said in a statement.

Inside the workshops, researchers found a collection of pots, tools and “bronze and copper Roman coins.”

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It is a rare archaeological find in Egypt, where excavations –- including on Luxor’s west bank, where the famous Valley of the Queens and Valley of the Kings lie — are most commonly of temples and tombs.

Read more: AFP