25 April - 1 May 2002
Issue No.583
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 25 April - 1 May 2002 Issue No.583 |
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Legs, heads and a good season
Egypt is being overwhelmed with discoveries. Nevine El-Aref checks out what has been an extremely fruitful and exciting archaeological season in both Luxor and Cairo
Last week the German-Egyptian team under the directorship of Hourig Sourouzian, which is restoring and conserving Kom Al-Hettan in Luxor, the site of the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III, came upon three massive segments of statues dating from the 18th dynasty. One was the right side of a red quartzite colossus of Amenhotep III seated on a throne, the second the head of an unknown queen wearing a wig embellished with the uraeus, the cobra symbol of kingship, and the third a pair of well-shaped legs. The discoveries were made just two weeks after the official opening of the mortuary temple of Merenptah and its museum (See Al-Ahram Weekly No 582).
"The statue of Amenhotep III was found as a shapeless mass of quartzite with several cracks in his legs," Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said. "Behind the protective sand another surprise was revealed: the beautifully sculpted head of the queen, and a miscellaneous pair of legs." The head of the queen is a fine piece, with the distinctive eyebrows, eyes and lips characteristic of the 18th dynasty.
The objects have attracted considerable attention and raised some comment. The legs, for example, are shapely, like those of a female, but without any indication of a linen shift. They could be the legs of a queen which, for an unknown reason, were left unfinished. Or, as the position of the legs and feet suggest, they could be Graeco-Roman rather than Pharaonic. However, Zahi Hawass, general secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), commented: "The temple of Amenhotep was a very large one, and excavations already carried out show there were numerous statues to adorn it. The newly- discovered legs could belong to any one of them, or even be the legs of a prince, not a queen at all. And as for the head, that, too, could be of a young prince."
Kom Al-Hettan has enormous potential and was listed in 1998 by the World Monuments Watch as one of the world's 100 most endangered monuments. The German-Egyptian team, which has been working there since the 1970s, has unearthed countless objects and architectural elements. These have been cleaned and restored, and placed on concrete pedestals in what is rapidly developing into an open-air museum. Others, as we can see from the above discoveries, are still coming to light. "We hope to recover more parts of the statue or statues, in which case they will be reconstructed," Hosni said.
In Cairo, contractors were in the process of restoring the mediaeval wall at Bab Al- Nasr when they came upon two headless sphinxes which had been used as a lintel for a hidden doorway which appears to have been used by Napoleon's soldiers after they had closed all the gates round Cairo. "The hieroglyphic texts on the sphinxes, which are well-sculpted and in very good condition, indicate that they date to the reign of Ramses II, 1250BC," said Ahmed Hani chairman of Aswan contractor organisation.
Contractors restoring parts of the mediaeval city continually chance upon historical monuments and artefacts, and the sphinxes will be removed and placed in an open-air museum currently being prepared adjacent to the site where all the artefacts found will be put on display. So far these include Islamic coins, weapons, pottery, miscellaneous objects and some impressive statues.
The discovery of a huge suspended headless sphinx in the heart of medieval Cairo is an unusual sight (above). At Kom El-Hettan, the Theban necropolis has been so thoroughly excavated, that it is thrilling to come across large and well preserved statues such as these unearthed last week
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