A sunken city’s treasures are pulled from the depths after 2,000 years

Archaeologists and divers retrieved a trove of ancient treasures Thursday from a 2,000-year-old sunken city off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt.

Cranes carefully lifted these ancient artifacts from the shallow seawater of Abu Qir bay throughout the day, in front of gathered reporters.

The artifacts included a headless statue, a sphinx, and a priest figure. The site may have been an extension of the ancient city of Canopus, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities.

“There’s a lot underwater, but what we’re able to bring up is limited, it’s only specific material according to strict criteria,” said Sherif Fathi, Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities Minister, speaking to the media on Thursday.

Divers transport an artifact to land.Khaled Desouki / AFP via Getty Images

In 2001, Egypt signed UN cultural body UNESCO’s Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage, limiting the retrieval of submerged artifacts.

“The rest will remain part of our sunken heritage,” he said speaking to the media.

“The artifacts that you see date back to successive periods, starting from the Ptolemaic era,” said Mohamed Ismail, Secretary-General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. The Ptolemaic era lasted for nearly 300 years and was followed by Roman rule, which lasted for around 600 years.

Restoration work is underway on the newly uncovered artifacts, which are set to be featured in the Secrets of the Sunken City exhibition at the Alexandria National Museum.

The exhibition, which opened Wednesday, currently showcases 86 rare artifacts that offer a glimpse into life during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods.

After Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted last week that the pyramids were built by aliens, Egypt’s former minister of antiquities and leading Egyptologist confirmed that they were in fact built by Egyptians.