4,400-year-old statue of Egyptian pharaoh found
Belgian archaeologists discover rare sculpture of Pharaoh Sahure, who reigned in the 25th century BCE
Belgian archaeologists uncovered a statue of Pharaoh Sahure in Egypt’s southern governorate of Aswan on Tuesday, the Egyptian website Mada Masr reported.
The statue is reportedly one of very few artifacts believed to date to the rule of Sahure, between 2487 and 2475 BCE.
Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities confirmed the discovery of the lower part of royal statue bearing the name of the second ruler of the Old Kingdom’s Fifth Dynasty.
Together with his team, lead excavator Dirk Huyge of the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels found the statue’s limestone base inscribed with the Pharaoh’s name in the in the Al-Kab site some 580 kilometers south of Cairo.
According to the report, Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities believes the base, measuring 21 centimeters in height, to be the the bottom half of a larger, 70-centimeter statue depicting King Sahure seated on a throne.
Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities called the find “of great significance and importance,” and said the team would continue to excavate the area in hopes of unearthing further artifacts related to the ancient king, the report said.
There are only two known intact statutes of King Sahure — one is displayed at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the other at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
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