Egyptologists Find War Goddess, Nubian King And Ship Remains

[Bianca]

                                 Egyptologists find war goddess, nubian king and ship remains






Feb 1, 2006
Archaeology News
 

Egyptologists find war goddess and Nubian king

Egyptologists have discovered two 3,400-year-old statues of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet and
a rare statue depicting a king with Nubian features, an archaeological conservation director said on Monday.

War goddess Sekhmet embodied the cruel powers of the sun, and was also responsible for both curing and causing illness. The excavation team believe the statues were excavated from elsewhere, then hidden at a temple in Luxor either for later sale or to protect them from robbers.

One of the Sekhmet statues, made of granite and about 150 cm (five-feet) high, was holding a symbol representing life and a scroll of papyrus.

"It's extremely beautiful. Only the feet are missing and the base," said Hourig Sourouzian, the German-Armenian director of the international conservation team which found the statues.

The team, working under the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo, found the statues at the temple of 18th-dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep III in Luxor while working on a project to protect the temple from Nile water.

They found only the black diorite bust of the other Sekhmet statue. The bust, about one metre (three feet) high, suggested the statue was of monumental proportions, Sourouzian said.

They also discovered the red granite head of a statue of a king they believe to be a ruler from the Kushite period, which lasted from 747 to 656 BC. Kush was south of ancient Egypt in Nubia, now mostly part of Sudan.

"As soon as we cleaned it we realised it's a Kushite king with southern features, with full cheeks and very bulging lips ... Statues of Kushite kings are extremely rare, especially here in Egypt," Sourouzian said.

None of the statues belonged in the area where they were buried, she said, leading her to believe they were deliberately moved and hidden for later retrieval.

"These were possibly deposited in the first half of the 20th or maybe the 19th century, when agents of collectors were sent here to send back statues," she said, adding that archaeologists may have buried them to keep them from robbers.

[Bianca]

                                            Archeologists Find Ancient Ship Remains






An American-Italian team of archaeologists has found the remains of 4,000-year-old ships that used to carry cargo between Pharaonic Egypt and the mysterious, exotic land of Punt, the Supreme Council of Antiquities has announced.

The ships' remains were found during a five-year excavation of five caves south of the Red Sea port of Safaga, about 300 miles southeast of Cairo, the chairman of the supreme council, Zahi Hawass, said in a statement late Thursday.

The archaeologists, who came from Boston and East Naples universities, found Pharaonic seals from the era of Sankhkare Mentuhotep III, one of seven rulers of the 11th dynasty, which lasted from about 2133 B.C. to 1991 B.C.. They also found wooden boxes, covered with gypsum, bearing the inscription "Wonders of the land of Punt."

For the ancient Egyptians, Punt was a source of prized goods such as incense, ivory, ebony, gum and the hides of giraffes and panthers that were worn by temple priests. But the precise location of Punt remains a mystery. Historians have variously placed it in Sudan, Eritrea or Somalia.

Hawass said the remains showed the ancient Egyptians were "excellent ship builders" and that they had a fleet capable of sailing to remote lands.

"All the pieces found are in good shape and they will be moved for restoration and display," Hawass added in the statement.

Other artifacts included 80 coils of rope and pieces of pottery that date to the reign of Mentuhotep III.