Fifth-Century Monks’ Complex Uncovered in Egypt

CAIRO, EGYPT—An excavation in Minya has turned up an ancient settlement that may have been a monks’ complex, according to a report from Ahram Online. The complex features a residential area measuring 320 by 425 feet that includes a mud-brick house once inhabited by a monk. Also discovered was a collection of burial chambers measuring 165 by 230 feet in all, as well as the lower part of a monk’s tombstone and a collection of metal coins and clay pots. Previous discoveries at the site have included the remains of a fifth-century mud-brick church, a shrine, a prayer hall, and chambers with walls on which Coptic hymns were written. For more, go to “Egypt’s Final Redoubt in Canaan.”