Colossal head discovered in Egypt that could be Queen Nefertari

AFP | 3/28/02

[kattracks]

CAIRO, March 28 (AFP) - Egyptian and German archeologists have discovered the head of a colossal statue which could be an image of Nefertari, the queen of Pharaoh Ramses II, a senior antiquities official said Thursday.

The head, discovered in the Nile Delta region of Tel Basta, could also belong to her daughter Princess Merit-Amon, the official said.

"The head, in granite, stands 3.5 meters (about 11 feet) high and is 3 meters (about 10 feet) wide, and weighs more than 11 tons," the director of antiquities for the Delta, Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud, told AFP.

"These measurements mean that the statue measured more than 16 meters (about 52 feet) in height, which would make it the largest discovered in the Delta region," added Maqsoud, comparing it to the famous colossi of Ramses II in the temple of Abu Simbel in Egypt's far south which stands 23 meters (about 75 feet) in height.

Ramses II was the most famous pharaoh of the 19th dynasty and numerous monuments glorifying himself and his favorite wife, Nefertari, were erected during his 63-year reign from 1298 to 1235 BC.

"The statue is of a queen wearing a long wig and whose head is surmounted by a crown carrying in front the heads of goddesses Nekhbet and Maat," said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council for Antiquities.

"The statue still carries traces of blue on the wig and red in the face," he said.

Hawass said the statue was probably broken up during the Roman period and the stone used in construction work.

[Neets]

Dese is more like it...

[RightWhale]

The Sphinx spent much of its time since the Pharoahs buried up to the neck in sand, sand filling the hollow the body was carved out of. Most of the apparent water damage is on the body, which probably means the damage or erosion happened before the end of the Pharoahs. How much before would depend on whether the body was exposed to weathering for an appreciable amount of time. If there was a wetter time perhaps there wouldn't be as much blowing sand, and the body would have stayed clear for extended times. I suspect the body of the lion was carved a really long time ago, perhaps it was the first actual major work done at the site, long before the pyramids.

How long before, who knows, but I suppose the Sphinx could have already been ancient when the big pyramids were erected; and as a special extra effect, the pyramids themselves caused the end of the wet age and the end of water erosion on the Sphinx. Don't ask me how that would work, I don't have a clue. But perhaps Great Pyramid = ecological disaster.

[altair]

Yes, as a matter of fact. I think she was in Ireland this week.

[brat]

LOL Giant Head BUMP! Can't wait for the pics.

[John Locke]

Hillary, Princess of the Nile -

[SunkenCiv]

Some Trash from the Past.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[kitchen]

I MET a traveller from an antique land
Who said:—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

P. B. Shelley

[Jaded]

It's ginormous!

[ken21]

i'm tired. maybe i'm missing something--did they put it back together?

[SunkenCiv]

Dunno. Related topic:

Colossal find (Ramses II statue at Akhmim)
Al-Ahram Weekly | 12 - 18 August 2004, issue #703 | staff writer
Posted on 03/22/2005 11:28:52 PM PST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1368580/posts

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic was posted 3/28/2002. Thanks kattracks. One of *those* topics.

join or quit view topics view or post blog bookmark post new topic subscribe

[SunkenCiv]