More than 3,000 years ago, a long sword emblazoned with the insignia of Ancient Egypt’s Ramses II — the most powerful pharaoh of the era — was set down in a mud hut somewhere in the Nile Delta.

Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed the 3,200-year-old remains of a military barracks containing a wealth of artifacts, including a sword with hieroglyphs depicting the name of Ramesses II.