News from Ancient Thebes
UNVEILING the restored anthropoid sarcophagus of Ramses VI, inaugurating the mortuary temple of Seti I and unearthing the first giant statue of a hippopotamus ever found are the latest events from the Theban necropolis, Nevine El-Aref reports from Luxor.
During an inspection tour to check on recent restoration underway at the Theban necropolis, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni re-opened the tomb of the XXth-dynasty Pharaoh Ramses VI (1141- 1133BC) following the restoration of his inner anthropoid sarcophagus.
Robert K Vincent, director of the Egyptian Antiquities Development Project at the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), said 10 American, Canadian and Egyptian experts had spent two years reconstructing the sarcophagus of rare, hard greenish stone from 250 fragments found scattered in the tomb.
Vincent said this was the first time that a royal sarcophagus of the New Kingdom had been reconstructed and exhibited inside the tomb for which it was designed.
"It gives the visitor the opportunity to see the last surviving remains of the many splendid artefacts that once accompanied the king in his tomb," he said.
While admiring the reconstruction of Ramses VI's sarcophagus and its lid, the Secretary- General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Zahi Hawass requested the return of the same Pharaoh's carved face, which is in the British Museum. When the tomb was cleared in 1888 archaeologists found that both the sarcophagi used as the final resting place for Ramses VI were broken into pieces except for the head from the Pharaoh's figure on the lid.
This, the only well-preserved object, was removed from the tomb on the orders of the British consul. The new face with wide-set eyes and full lips is a replica cast from the original.
"I really hope that the British Museum, one day, will be able to return back the original face. I do believe that the value of it is inside the original tomb and not in the British Museum," Hawass told Al-Ahram Weekly. He said that if they returned the face, they could have the cast in return.
The tomb of Ramses VI is one of the largest in the Valley of the Kings. It contains a series of halls and descending corridors stretching in a straight line for about 100 metres, culminating in a burial chamber 45 metres deep.
The Pharaoh's mummy was buried inside two stone sarcophagi fitted one inside the other and placed within a pit cut into the sunken floor of the burial chamber. The tomb wall was completely decorated with painted scenes and inscriptions from ancient religious texts.
Michael Jones of the Egyptian Antiquities Project at ARCE said that although many pieces were missing, enough had been preserved for the stone box to be partly reconstructed up to its original height, and to give idea of its size and decoration. Where the missing areas are large, the pieces are held together with stainless-steel dowels and some gaps are filled in with mortar for strength.
No attempt has been made to reconstruct the missing pieces; only the original material is displayed. The limestone base on which the sarcophagus box was re-assembled was shaped to represent the size and outline of the red granite outer sarcophagus.
The whole project was funded by a grant from the United States Agency for International Development. The second stop of the itinerary was the Colossi of Memnon, where fallen quartzite statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his wife Queen Tiye have been revealed. Both statues rest on their sides, partly buried in Nile silt and a pool of water near the temple of Memnon on Luxor's west bank.
"It is the most beautiful and magnificent statue a person has seen," Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said. He continued that the artist had expressed Tiye's personality while carving the statue. "It is huge which reflects that she was a strong and mighty woman," he said.
At the same area, the European excavation mission at Amenhotep III's mortuary temple conservation project at Kom Al-Hittan has stumbled upon the large, headless statue of a hippopotamus made of alabaster. This was uncovered in the northern portico of the Hypostyle Court of Amenhotep III's temple, which was built sometime between 1410 and 1372 BC. Hourig Sourouzian, head of the European mission, reports that the newly discovered statue was previously seen during excavations carried out during the 1970s, but that it had not been recovered and no record of its location had been made; neither had it been drawn or photographed.
The height of the statue is 1.30ms, the width 73cms and the length 1.18ms. This is the first time that such a large statue of a hippopotamus has been found; previously discovered images are restricted to wall scenes and small models. Four statues of the lioness goddess Sekhmet have been also found in the area.
All the newly discovered statues will be the focus of major restoration. The project is funded by the Association of the Colossi of Memnon; the 30-plus members of the working team hail from 12 different countries, including Egypt, Germany, Austria, Armenia, Belgium, France, Japan, Luxembourg, Poland, Russia, Spain, and the Czech Republic.
The culture minister has also inaugurated the mortuary temple of Seti I in Qurna following its restoration by Rainer Stadelmann, former head of the German Archaeological Institute.
On site, Hosni announced that all governmental authorities were cooperating in order to remove all encroachments on Luxor's archaeological sites. At the same time they would provide alternative accommodation for the area's residents. Locations would be discussed with the parliamentary housing committee, whose members have been on an inspection tour around Luxor.
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