Archaeologists have unearthed the site of a pharaonic-era sacred lake in a temple to the Egyptian goddess Mut in the ruins of ancient Tanis, according to the Culture Ministry.

The ministry said the lake, found 12 metres below ground at the San al-Hagar archaeological site in Egypt's eastern Nile Delta, was 15 metres long and 12 metres wide and built out of limestone blocks. It was in a good condition.

It was the second sacred lake found at Tanis, which became the northern capital of ancient Egypt in the 21st Pharaonic dynasty, over 3,000 years ago. The first lake at the site was found in 1928, the ministry said.

The goddess Mut, sometimes depicted as a vulture, was the wife of Amun, god of wind and the breath of life. She was also mother of the moon god Khonsu.