The upper part of a large statue of Ramses II was found during excavations in Egypt. It is likely that this part is a match for the lower fragment of the statue, which together could reach up to 7 meters in height.
The discovery was reported by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
Part of the statue was discovered during a joint Egyptian-American archaeological mission. At that time, a group led by Dr. Bassem Jihad and Dr. Jovona Trnka was excavating south of the Egyptian city of Minya.
Bassem Jihad, the leader of the Egyptian mission team, noted that the limestone block is about 3.8 meters high. The block depicts Ramses with a double crown and headdress, sitting down. The figure is crowned with a royal cobra.
He also added that the upper part of the back column contains hieroglyphic inscriptions "that glorify the king, one of the most powerful pharaohs of ancient Egypt."
It is known that Ramses the Great ruled from 1279 to 1213 BC and was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt.
Dr. Mustafa Waziri, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, emphasized the importance of this discovery "because archaeological research conducted on the discovered upper part of the statue proved that it is a match for the lower part." The lower part was found by archaeologist G. Roeder in 1930. Therefore, the size of the statue when combined with its lower section would reach about 7 metres.
Waziri also indicated that he mission has begun cleaning and preparing the block ahead of modelling what the statue would look like when the two sections are combined.
Earlier, archaeologists discovered an ancient Roman necropolis with unique artifacts.