CAIRO — Archaeologists unearthed one of the largest statues
found to date of a powerful ancient Egyptian pharaoh. The statue
was found at the Pharaoh’s mortuary temple in the southern city
of Luxor, the country’s antiquities authority announced Tuesday.
The 13 meter (42 foot) tall statue of Amenhotep III was one of a
pair that flanked the northern entrance to the grand funerary
temple on the west bank of the Nile that is currently the focus
of a major excavation. The statue consists of seven large
quartzite blocks and still lacks a head and was actually first
discovered in the 1928 and then rehidden, according to the press
release from the country’s antiquities authority. Archaeologists
expect to find its twin in the next digging season. Excavation
supervisor Abdel-Ghaffar Wagdi said two other statues were also
unearthed, one of the god Thoth with a baboon’s head and a six
foot (1.85 meter) tall one of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet.
Archaeologists working on the temple over the past few years
have issued a