The God statue Discovered in the First Ancient Egyptian Pyramid

During the restoration work of Djoser (Zoser) step pyramid in Sakkara, a bronze statue of the ancient Egyptian God Osiris was found.

The team working at the site discovered the statue during the restoration and preservation work of the west side of the pyramid.

Dr. Mostafa Waziry, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that the statue was found inside a small hole (gap) between the large stone blocks of the pyramid’s façade while removing the debris.

The Statue represents God Osiris standing holding a feather in one hand and sceptre in the other hand wearing Atef crown. The statue has traces of gypsum in some parts.

The statue measures 63 cm height (2 feet and 1 inch) and 15 cm width at the widest part.

Mr. Sabry Farag, General Director of Sakkara antiquities, said that the statue dated to late period and it was probably put in this gap by one of the priests to keep it safe and as a symbol of Osiris relation to the resurrection.

Osiris statue is now at the restoration lab in Sakkara’s antiquities storehouse.

#Egypt #Cairo #Sakkara #StepPyramid #Pyramids #AncientEgypt #Osiris #Discovery #History #Saqqara

Exclusive: Important Announcement on the opening date of GEM

Dr. Khalid El Enany, Minister of Antiquities, made an important announcement on the date of opening of the GEM (Grand Egyptian Museum) and about the fire which took place a few days ago.

Live from the construction site.

#Egypt #Egyptology #Archaeology  #GEM

The discovered colossus belongs to Psamtik I

After many speculations of the owner of the colossus, The discovered colossus belongs to Psamtik I of 26th Dynasty.

It was thought it would belong to Ramses II as it was unearthed from the site of the temple of Ramses II in Mataria. 

The Ministry of Antiquities tonight announced the probable identity of the royal colossus discovered last week in Matariya, Cairo (ancient Heliopolis).

Few Hieroglyphic signed and initial studies carried out on fragments of the colossus reveal that it belongs to king Psamtik I (664-610 BC) of 26^th Dynasty.

The torso’s back-pillar has preserved one of the five names of king Psammetich I.  If it belongs to the later, it is the largest statue of the Late Period that was ever discovered in Egypt. This date explains the puzzling features of different ancient stylistic details since the Late Period, which is known for its archaizing art.

The colossal statue is carved in quartzite brought from Al-Gebel Al-Ahmar, Cairo. It originally measured about 9m in height. The two fragments of the statue were discovered on Tuesday 7^th March, under the water table, which made their location and extraction extremely difficult. The fragments were found adjacent to a heavily congested housing area, 2 to 3 meters beneath the water.

The excavation work was carried out by the Egyptian-German Mission, working in the Temple of Matariya since 2012. Both fragments were moved and successfully saved by a team of restorers from the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir as well as Matariya Antiquities Inspectorate and skilled workmen from Qift.

Both parts and a collection of recently discovered artifacts in Matariya were transported to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir for restoration and temporary exhibition until its final location at the GEM, scheduled to be partially opened by Mid-2018. The transportation to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir was carried out today in collaboration with the Transportation Department of Egypt’s Armed Forces.

The artifact that is on show with the fragments of the royal colossus includes is a relief of King Ramses II. It features King Ramses II with an extended right arm, performing the ritual of anointing the representation of the cult-statue of a goddess. The goddess can be identified by other blocks from this area as Mut, “For most of the horns of the gods.” This relief was found in the remains of a second temple of King Ramses II.

The temple of Matariya is well known as one of the most important sites of pharaonic religion, since it was considered to be the place of the world`s creation by the sun-god. For about 2400 years, most kings erected their monuments in the temple.

Because of the vicinity to modern Cairo, the site was heavily destroyed in antiquity, from the Late Roman times onwards to the Mameluke era. The blocks of the temple were used to build various monuments in Cairo such as Bab el-Nasr and others.

It is therefore, especially noted that in this site there are still important monuments that can be found even today. 

The Team of the marvelous work include Dr. Mahmoud Afiffi (Head of Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Sector), Dr. DietrischRaue (Head of the German mission), Dr. Ayman Ashmawi (Head of the Egyptian mission), Mr.EissaZidan (Director General of First Aid Conservation in GEM) and Dr. Moamen Othman (Head of Conservation Department at the Egyptian Museum)

The latest on the newly discovered colossus in Cairo. 

HERE

#Egypt #Archaeology #Egyptology

Exclusive footage: Minutes before the Royal Parade starts

 Dr. Dietrich Raue, co-director of Egyptian German mission, speaks to Luxor Times a few minutes before the Royal Parade starts. 

The journey from Souq el-Khamis site in Matariya to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir to transfer the torso of the royal colossus which has been discovered lately as well as the statue of Seti II, two parts of a pillar with inscriptions on them and Seti II coloured cornice.

The colossus parts will be on display at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir for 6 months then transferred to the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Giza for the partial opening in the first quarter of 2018. 

More on the discovery, you can click HERE

Video of the salvation of the torso of the colossus which weighs 8.5 tons.

Photos from the site the minutes before the journey to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir begins

#Egypt #Cairo #Egyptology #Archaeology #RoyalParade    

Zahi Hawass fires back at criticism of colossus' salvation

 M By Sara Ahmed

Since the discovery of the colossal statue of Ramses II in Mataria by a German mission on Thursday, photos circulating online and on social media raised controversy regarding the using of a backhoe loader to extract the artefacts from the earth.

Some reactions have went as far as accusing the means of transportation to cause damage to the statue and others have accused the mission as well as the Ministry of Antiquities of neglect.

Zahi Hawass Fires Back at Criticism of Ramses II Statue ‘Crane’ Neglect

Accordingly, archaeologist and former Minister of Antiquities, Dr. Zahi Hawass issued the statement about the discovery and its transportation process. The statement reads:

‘‘Souq Al- Khamis is a very important archaeological site where I personally begun excavation work and in which we found the remains of the temples of King Akhenaten and King Thutmose III and Ramses II.

The Mataria area suffers from ​​a very big problem which is that all the houses and modern buildings are built over the remains of temples and ancient tombs. Additionally, most of the artefacts there, whether statues or temples, are found below the ground water ranging from two to four meters deep. It is difficult to transfer the artefacts from below the groundwater to the ground surface. In the past, I had discovered two tombs, one of which was located below the ground water as well.

I would like to confirm that out of all the artefacts and statues that were found in Mataria, none has ever been found complete. These statuses were destroyed and broken during the Coptic era; this was a time where the Copts considered them as pagan buildings and temples. In accordance to that, they had them closed off, destroyed all of the statues and temples as well as re-used the blocks in buildings churches, houses and private buildings. Accordingly, there has never been the discovery of a complete statue in Mataria.

I have also contacted the German archeologist Dietrich Raue, director of the German excavation in Mataria in order to the extent of the discovery. He sent me a video-statement which showed the excavation work and he sent me photographs of all the taken steps during the transportation of the artifacts.

I would also like to clarify that the process of transporting any statue of a large size, such as the discovered statue in Mataria, was assisted by heads of workers from the city of Qeft. They are trained to the highest level for transporting heavy statues such as through the example having done this work in Saqqara with the El Kereti family. The workers transported various statues and sarcophagi, some of which weighing 20 tons. As to what occurred during the Coptic Era, the discovered statue in Mataria was broken to various pieces. 

In regards to the immensity of the statue, I confirm that it belonged to Ramses II and not to any other king seeing as the temple belonging to this king was found at the same location.

The mission found two pieces of the statue: the first piece is a part of the crown and the second piece is a large part of the body of the statue, which weighs 7 tons. It became clear that the crown represents a large part of the head and it is largely comprised of the crown, a wonderful and complete right ear and part of the right eye. The mission used a hoeback loader to extract it from the earth and this was a 100% rightful act since the hoeback loader is used in all archeological areas.

The head of mission, Dietrich Raue, assured me that the process of lifting the part of the head had done in extreme professionalism and the statue didn’t suffer from a single scratch but that the damage done to the face had occurred in the Coptic era. And so, this small piece was moved easily but the rest of the statue, which represents a part of the statue, is located at the site now. It will be transferred next Monday also using a crane because there is no substitute since it is below the ground water. The piece will be supported by a wooden panel as had been done with part of the head.

If it isn’t transported in this way, then it will never be transported. This is the method used in all countries of the world in order to move any archeological artefacts of this size, located two meters deep below the underground water. Therefore, I assure that what was done by the mission was an integrated scientific work in saving the discovered statue and that is no any other way for the mission but to use these machines that preserved the statue.

I am very happy with the transportation of this statue and its discovery because it has generated great publicity before the whole world.

Dr. Zahi Hawass’’

Egypt has had the good fortune of having witnessed two major Egyptological discoveries in this last week alone, one of which was done by Dr. Hourig Sourouzian in Luxor and the other being of this colossal albeit fragmented statue of king Ramses II near the ruins of Ramses II’s temple in the ancient city of Heliopolis with Seti II statue which not many media outlets even mentioned.

#Egypt #Cairo #Archaeology #Egyptology #Mataria

Ramesses II colossus discovered in old Heliopolis

The Egyptian-German mission working at Matariya, old Heliopolis, unearthed two Ramesside statues during the ongoing Spring season at Suq el-Khamis temple.

The mission of University of Leipzig in cooperation with Ministry of Antiquities is co-directed by Dr.Aiman Ashmawi and Dr.Dietrich Raue.

The statues are; one of the upper part of a limestone statue of Seti II measures about 80 cm high. 

Seti II cartouche 

 

Seti II upper statue part with inscriptions on the back reads "Mri.(f?)   Di.f snb n (hr).f  mr.f" Also the cartouche of Seti II appears on the shoulder.

The second statue is quartzite probably for Ramesses II. The statue parts were discovered so far doesn't have any inscriptions to indicate who does it belong to but it was discovered in the front of Ramesses II temple gate. The unearthed statue blocs show that it measures approx. 8 meters height including the base.

The discovered statues were submerged a meter deep in underground water.   

This morning, Dr. Khalid El=Enany attended the lifting of the parts of the colossus of Ramses II.

Dr. Khalid El-Enany, Minister of Antiquities, told Luxor Times that the one the statue is completely lifted, it will be moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) to be included in the museum which is expected to open partially during 2018.

The minister also said that there will be a temporary exhibition at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir very soon to show the antiquities which were discovered recently at the site of Suq el-Khamis.

#Egypt #Cairo #Archaeology #Egyptology #GEM

The heretic King's head moved to GEM for 2017 opening

Today, GEM (Grand Egyptian Museum) receives a group of 850 objects from the Egyptian museum in Cairo in preparation for the partial opening of the GEM by the end of 2017.

The collection includes objects dated to the Middle and New Kingdom as well as a number of objects of King Tutankhamon's collection.

Dr. Essa Zidan said that some objects need restoration work which could take months due to their current condition.

The objects transferred include a sandstone head of statue of Akhnaten in a good preservation state and two granite statues of Amenhotep II and Thotmosis III.

#Egypt #Cairo #EgyptianMuseum #GEM #Antiquities #Egyptology #Archaeology #AncientEgypt #ThisisEgypt

Evidence of ancient Egyptian temple discovered in Heliopolis

The Egyptian-German mission working in Heliopolis (modern Mataria) successfully discovered new evidences suggest the existence of Nectanebo I of 30th Dynasty in the area of the sun temple.

Dr. Mahmoud Affifi, head of the ancient Egypt department, said "A number of carved stone blocks, sandstone and limestone columns as well as parts of basalt walls bearing inscriptions refer to royal projects in the area dedicated to goddess Hathor."

Dr. Ayman Ashmawy, head of the Egyptian part of the team, said "The eastern gate of the temple was discovered showing many inscriptions and ritual scenes and bronze statues of Bastet as well as large stone blocks maybe referring to a location of a temple dated back to the reign of Ramses II"

Dr. Dietrich Raue, head of the mission said "The mission worked this season in the second area of the southern east side of the temple where workshops dated to the 4th century B.C and later layers of Ptolemaic period which corresponds with the previous discoveries that showed a heavy activities of 30th dynasty kings on this area of the sun temple "Oun" in Heliopolis." 

The mission started unearthing parts of chapel, first lower parts then upper parts, limestone blocks of Nectanebo I, now the discoveries continues of the previously unknown temple in this location. 

#Egypt #Cairo #Heliopolis #Egyptology #Archaeology #AncientEgypt #LuxorTimes

For more information on the history of the mission's work on this site, please visit the links below.

http://luxortimesmagazine.blogspot.com.eg/2015/04/royal-chapel-discovered-in-heliopolis.html?m=1

http://luxortimesmagazine.blogspot.com.eg/2015/10/royal-chapel-discovered-in-old.html?m=1