AKIPRESS.COM - A team of archaeologists has found one of Egypt’s oldest settlements, which dates back to the time before the pharaohs, Metro reports.

The country’s ministry of antiquities confirmed the village was uncovered in the Nile delta at a site called Tell el Samara, around 140km (87 miles) north of Cairo.

They say it probably dates back to the Neolithic era, which ran from about 5,000BC. That’s 2,500 years before construction started on the great pyramids at Giza.

Experts believe that the Neolithic farming in the delta relied on the rainfall and the nurtrient-rich soil. In time, this gave way to irrigation-based farming along the Nile – a huge technological leap forward.

Organic materials have been recovered from the site and are being analysed to help us understand how historic societies lived and worked.

Constructed more than 4,500 years ago, the pyramid is believed to have been built as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu, also known as Cheops.

It is one of three pyramids at the Giza complex on the outskirts of Cairo and is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that remains standing.