Geologists uncover rare 4th-century Christian church in Egypt’s Dakhla Oasis

Geologists have uncovered a fascinating and rare discovery in Egypt: a 1,600-year-old early Christian church at the ancient site of Trimithis.

An international team of archaeologists has uncovered a "remarkable" early Christian church in Egypt, believed to be over 1,600 years old, along with "surprising" human remains. The religious structure was found during ongoing excavations at Trimithis, an ancient city near the western edge of the Dakhla Oasis in Egypt's Western Desert, part of the wider Sahara region, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media. 

While Trimithis (modern-day Amheida) has earlier origins, it became a significant settlement during Egypt's Roman period, which began in 30 B.C. when the region became part of the Roman Empire and lasted until the Muslim conquest in A.D. 641.

The expansive site includes well-preserved structures, including a main temple, a bathhouse, and a richly decorated villa, along with numerous inscriptions and artifacts. The early Christian church, dating back to the mid-fourth century, is one of the most "exciting" discoveries made at the site, according to David Ratzan of New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW).

The church, which contains the oldest known funerary crypts ever excavated in Egypt, was fully excavated in 2023, and is now the focus of a new ISAW monograph. "It belongs to the second generation of purpose-built churches in the mid-4th century, and is among the oldest to be excavated in Egypt," said Ratzan, who also directs the Amheida Excavations.

"While Christians had been gathering in various spaces since the 1st century, by the 3rd century we have clear evidence of dedicated church buildings, rather than gathering in homes or rented rooms," Ratzan said. The church discovered at Trimithis, which follows the "basilica" style, began to appear only in the early fourth century during the reign of Roman Emperor Constantine (A.D. 306-337), who was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity and supported the spread of the religion throughout the empire. 

"While there certainly were churches before Constantine, who ended the imperial persecutions, we have relatively little sense of what they looked like," said David Ratzan in the NYU article. "In any case, churches in this style, based on the Roman basilica—a type of public building used for administration and law—date back only to a generation or two before the church at Trimithis, since only then did Christians feel sufficiently confident to build proudly public spaces of worship."

The church at Trimithis has suffered significant erosion, and only the ground floor, crypts (beneath the eastern end of the church), foundations, and remains of adjacent rooms to the south have survived. "Luckily some of the ceiling of the church, which had collapsed, was preserved on the floor. From this, we were able to determine something of the decorative program of the church," Ratzan said. What has been particularly surprising is the discovery of 17 human remains within the church, including those of women and children—a rare finding considering the patriarchal nature of Roman society in the fourth century.

By Naila Huseynova