Secrets Beneath Sands: 3,000-Year-Old Sacred Island Discovered Under Egypt’s Karnak Temple

Secrets Beneath Sands: 3,000-Year-Old Sacred Island Discovered Under Egypt’s Karnak Temple (Image: Canva)

In a revelation, archaeologists have discovered that the Karnak Temple complex at Luxor, which is one of the most popular sites in Egypt, was constructed on an island created by the Nile River over 3,000 years ago. The discovery provides new knowledge of the way the sacred spaces of ancient Egyptians were chosen and formed.

Through geological and archaeological studies, scientists were able to recreate the ancient topography under the temple. Their analysis showed that the area used to be inhabited by flowing river canals and floodplains prior to the construction of the temple. With time, as the river Nile changed its direction, a raised piece of land slowly manifested itself - creating a natural island where the temple was built.

This raised ground made a stable foundation significant meaning. The Egyptian mythology theory tends to explain the creation story as an uprising of a primordial mound coming out of the chaotic waters, and this is where life began. The erection of a temple on the land that literally came out of the river was probably a physical manifestation of such a sacred myth.

The study also showed that the eastern and western streams of the Nile affected the topography of the area. The eastern channel, which was initially bigger than thought, was a factor in the determination of the boundaries of the islands. The floodwaters subsided and brought about fertile land and conducive conditions of construction in the Old Kingdom era in Egypt.

With the passing of centuries, human activity developed together with the island. The initial occupiers of the area made the land stable through the sanding and the construction of retaining walls, which enabled the extensions of the Karnak complex by the successive dynasties. The temple later developed to be one of the largest religious hubs in ancient Egypt in honour of the god Amun-Ra.

This finding alters the historical perspective of historians on the location of temples in ancient Egypt. It implies that the issue of sacred geography was not guided solely by religious ideologies but also by the natural alterations in the flow of the Nile. Archaeologists are confident that there are other underwater temples with other underground islands awaiting discovery under the sand and history.

Exploring the ancient island under the Karnak, the scientists have linked the mythology, engineering and nature in one of the most unbelievable examples of how nature influenced the spiritual architecture of Egypt.