The joint Egyptian-Austrian archaeological mission working at Kom Ombo Temple in Aswan has discovered an ancient administrative centre dating back to the first transitional period.
Mostafa Waziri, the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, explained that during the excavation work in the north-eastern side of the Ptolemaic temple in Kom Ombo, the mission discovered more than 20 conical silos, which are likely to be an administrative facility that was used to store and distribute grains during the first transitional era (From the year 2180 until 2050 BCE).
Waziri described the discovery as important and unique in the region as it indicates the importance of the city of Kom Ombo during the first transitional period and that it had distinguished agricultural and commercial activity that is indicative of it once housing large numbers of residents.
Abdel Moneim Saeed, the Director-General of Aswan Antiquities, said that the architectural elements of the silos, including vaults, stairs, and storage rooms, are in a good state of preservation, noting that the walls are up to two metres high and that there are some silos that are more than two metres long.
Irene Foster, the Head of the Mission from the Austrian side, added that the mission was also able — while working in the archaeological hill surrounding the Ptolemaic temple — to discover the remains of the foundations of a fort that was likely built during the British occupation of Egypt during the 19th century and was used as a control and defence point to monitor the course of the river during the Mahdist Revolution in Sudan that took place between 1881 and 1885 CE.
