SHARQIYA GOVERNORATE, EGYPT—Ahram Online reports that the upper half of a massive statue has been unearthed at the Tell El-Faraoun site in the eastern Delta area of northern Egypt. Hisham El-Leithy of the Supreme Council of Antiquities said that the monument is thought to depict Ramesses II (reigned ca. 1279–1213 B.C.) and had been reused in antiquity. “The find provides valuable evidence of how statues were relocated and repurposed during the New Kingdom, particularly in regional centers connected to major royal capitals,” he explained. The surviving seven-foot section of the statue is estimated to weigh between five and six tons. It was likely part of a group of three statues that originally stood in a temple in the capital city of Per-Ramesses, El-Leithy added. The statue has been transferred to a storage area where it will be restored. To read about coded messages on an obelisk erected by Ramesses in Luxor, go to "Crypto Power."
