"A red granite colossus of the ancient Egyptian deity of wisdom,
Thoth, was unearthed at the northwestern side of King
Amenhotep III's funerary temple on the west bank of Luxor.
Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni announced the find today, explaining
that the statue is 3.5 meters tall and 140 cm wide, and was discovered
during routine excavations carried out by an Egyptian archaeological
team led by Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme
Council of Antiquities (SCA).
Hawass said that evidence at the site where the colossus was found
suggests that more colossi could be found here, as a similar statue
5 meters in height was discovered there last year.
Afifi Rohayem, the assistant of the mission's director, said that the
site could contain an avenue of Thoth statues that once outlined the
original path leading to the temple.
Traces of these colossi were first uncovered at the site during the
execution of a development project aimed at controlling the
subterranean water level on Luxor's west bank. As part of the
process Dr. Hawass assigned a special excavation mission to
explore the site. "
Thoth, was unearthed at the northwestern side of King
Amenhotep III's funerary temple on the west bank of Luxor.
Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni announced the find today, explaining
that the statue is 3.5 meters tall and 140 cm wide, and was discovered
during routine excavations carried out by an Egyptian archaeological
team led by Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme
Council of Antiquities (SCA).
Hawass said that evidence at the site where the colossus was found
suggests that more colossi could be found here, as a similar statue
5 meters in height was discovered there last year.
Afifi Rohayem, the assistant of the mission's director, said that the
site could contain an avenue of Thoth statues that once outlined the
original path leading to the temple.
Traces of these colossi were first uncovered at the site during the
execution of a development project aimed at controlling the
subterranean water level on Luxor's west bank. As part of the
process Dr. Hawass assigned a special excavation mission to
explore the site. "
3 comments:
I'm a bit confused. Isn't this the temple being excavated by Hourig Sourouzian? Does Zahi have another dig at the site? Perhaps I've confused sites. Any clarification would be most helpful.
Best wishes.
No you are right it is Hourigs site however because of the ground water problem they are digging a trench from Medinet Habu to Seti I to lay a pipe. this will then suck water which will be pumped into a canal. The pumping station is being built at the Ramasseum.
In the course of the excavation of this trench they are finding things and when they do the SCA is doing the excavation. The trench is at the west most end of Hourigs dig, parallel with the ticket office.
Hourig has closed for the season, back in mid April but this work is carrying on. Egyptians don't have a season for work, so they are out there now and yesterday it was 42 c. amazing
We had an up close and personal look at this statue last Tuesday as part of our regular monitoring of the work. It is being conserved on site as it has a number of serious cracks which would make it unsafe to move at the moment.
Regarding Hourig, I have been told that she is not being informed about any of the discoveries being made by the Egyptian team. One would have thought professional courtesy would require the SCA to brief her on these finds.
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