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Ancient city by the sea rises amid Egypt's resorts From Yahoo. It is interesting that they actually set aside some land for archaeology instead of letting developers at it. The most interesting part of the article is at the end where they say there is evidence that British troops may have sheltered in some of the tombs during WWII. The site is apparently not far from the El Alamein battlefield. I think it would be interesting to visit the site; it is likely much more well preserved than cities that were not buried in sand. The ruins I saw in Greece last year were almost un recognizable because of the ravages of time.
I just came across that article on Yahoo. I must have missed the part about the soldiers going to the tombs in WWII. Otherwise, it said that Chinese workers came across the site in 1986 when building roads for the resort area. It makes you wonder how many other sites like this are hidden along the Mediterranean coast.
I am sure there are plenty of sites along the Mediterranean coast that have been lost since antiquitity. The coast has moved as well the desert has advanced since ancient times. The coastal areas in ancient times were very fertile, Egypt was too for that matter. Don't forget, Egypt was Rome's breadbasket just like the MidWest is to America. I don't think that level of agriculture is sustainable in the Middle East anymore, desrtification has spread too far. There are no famous Lebanese cedars anymore, and it was Lebanese cedar that the Phoenicians built their ships out of.
