CAIRO, EGYPT—A large section from the upper part of a colossal statue of Ramesses II, who ruled from 1279 to 1213 B.C. during the 19th Dynasty, has been uncovered by a joint Egyptian-American archaeological team working near the city of Minya in Upper Egypt, according to a Reuters report. Egyptian archaeologist Bassem Jihad said that the carved piece of limestone, which measures about 12.5 feet tall, shows Ramesses wearing a double crown and a headdress topped with a royal cobra. A text written in hieroglyphics on the upper area of the back of the statue glorifies the king, he added. The lower section of the statue was discovered by German archaeologist Gunther Roeder in 1930. Originally, the entire statue would have stood more than 20 feet tall. Mustafa Waziri of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities said that the researchers will create a model of what the statue would have looked like in antiquity. To read about mummified animal heads unearthed around the temple of Ramesses II in Abydos, go to "Ram Heads for Ramesses."
