2,500-Year-Old Bronze Statue Found at Saqqara

CAIRO, EGYPT—Mostafa Waziri of the Supreme Council of Antiquities announced the discovery of several statues, including a 14-inch-tall bronze figure of the god Nefertum, lying beside intact, painted wooden coffins in a deep burial shaft in the Saqqara necropolis, according to an Ahram Online report. The statue of Nefertum, the god of the lotus blossom and perfume, is inlaid with red agate, turquoise, and lapis lazuli, and engraved with the name “Badi Amun.” Three shafts at the site have recently yielded dozens of sealed coffins dated to the 26th Dynasty, from 688 to 525 B.C. To read about a wooden statue head uncovered at Saqqara, go to "Queen of the Old Kingdom."