Ram-Headed Sphinx Discovered in Egypt

LUND, SWEDEN—Live Science reports that a 3,300-year-old criosphinx, a sphinx with a ram’s head, was uncovered at Gebel el-Silsila, a quarry site located near Aswan on the banks of the Nile River. Archaeologist Maria Nilsson of Lund University thinks the massive statue, found in a pit of stone debris, may have been ordered by Pharaoh Amenhotep III and later canceled or perhaps abandoned after his death, around 1350 B.C. The team members also discovered a uraeus, a carving of a coiled-up cobra, thought to have rested on the sphinx’s head as a symbol of royalty. A small sphinx, iron shavings from chisels, and sandstone chips were also recovered from the site. To read in-depth about excavations at Egypts City of the Sun, Heliopolis, go to “Egypt's Eternal City.”