Amenhotep III gigantic statue head found in Luxor

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AFP - Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed a colossal statue head of the pharaoh whom DNA tests revealed last week was King Tutankhamun's grandfather, the government said on Sunday.
The red granite head of King Amenhotep III, part of a larger 3,000 year-old statue, was discovered at the site of the pharaoh's funerary temple in Luxor, Egypt's culture ministry said in a statement.
"The newly discovered head is intact and measures 2.5 metres (8.2 foot) high," antiquities chief Zahi Hawass was quoted as saying.
"It is a masterpiece of highly artistic quality and shows a portrait of the king with very fine youthful sculptured features," Hawass said, adding there were still traces of red paint on the head.
The artefact belongs to a large statue of the king standing with his hands crossed over his chest and holding the royal insignia, said Hourig Sourouzian who headed the team of archaeologists that made the find.
In recent years, a large quantity of red granite statue pieces have been uncovered at Amenhotep III's funerary temple at Kom al-Hitan on Luxor's west bank.
Amenhotep III ruled Egypt between 1390 and 1352 BC.
He was almost certainly the grandfather of Tutankhamun, according to the results of DNA tests and computerised tomography (CT) scans on the famed boy king's mummy announced by scientists on February 17.


Source:
http://www.france24.com/en/20100228-...er-found-luxor

Amazing. Soon more coverage

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Yeah I just saw this on the news, interesting find!

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How it was buried

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I read they were looking for the pharaos ceremonial beard, shouldnt have fallen too far away from the statue itself..
Its quite surprising that they make finds like these as I would have thought that Luxor would have been thouroughly examined already. Or perhaps I am underestamating the scale of the temple complex, never been there and cant say I know much about it either..

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I read they were looking for the pharaos ceremonial beard, shouldnt have fallen too far away from the statue itself..

Yep. Being the face reversed on the ground when archaeologist found it, i suppose they need to excavate in a radius of 1 meter. It's for sure in some layer beneath the statue head. And if they dont find it, it means statue was already disfigured at the time by the same ancient Egyptians, as they did with the images of Achenatons etc. etc. or they just have to calculate the trajectory of statue's fall to find the beard too

Its quite surprising that they make finds like these as I would have thought that Luxor would have been thouroughly examined already. Or perhaps I am underestamating the scale of the temple complex, never been there and cant say I know much about it either..

Yep. Zahi Hawass time ago reported that less of 30% of ancient Egypt has been discovered, the remaining part's till beneath the sand. Sometimes discoveries are surprising. I dont know if you remember the case of golden Graeco-Roman mummies, discovered by a donkey's hoof in the middle of the desert in 1996