Buried for nearly 3,600 years, a rare statue of Egypt's King Neferhotep I has been brought to light in the ruins of Thebes by a team of French archaeologists.
Officials said on Saturday that the statue was unusual in that the king is depicted holding hands with a double of himself, although the second part of the carving remains under the sand and its form has been determined by the use of imaging equipment.
Archeologists unearthed the 1.8 metre (six foot) tall statue, as they were carrying out repairs around Karnak Temple in the southern city of Luxor, Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass told reporters.
Francois Larche, one of the team that found the limestone statue of the king, whose name means "beautiful and good", said it was lying about 1.6 metres below ground near an obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut, the only woman to have reigned as a pharoah in Egypt, ruling from 1504-1484 BC.
Karnak, now in the heart of Luxor, was built on the ruins of Thebes, the capital of ancient Egypt. The huge temple dedicated to the god Amon lies in the heart of a vast complex of religious buildings in the city, 700 kilometres (435 miles) south of Cairo.
The statue shows the king wearing a funeral mask and royal head cloth or nemes, said Larche. The forehead bears an emblem of a cobra, which ancient Egyptians used as a symbol on the crown of the pharaohs. They believed that the cobra would spit fire at approaching enemies.
Larche said this was only the second time such a statue had been found in Egypt. A similar one was dug up during the excavations of the hidden treasures of Karnak from 1898 to 1904.
But it is not clear when or if the statue will be completely unearthed. It is blocked by the remnants of an ancient structure, possibly a gate.
"In order to pull it out, a structure on top of the statue has to be dismantled and then restored," said Larche, adding that permission from the Egyptian antiquities authorities was needed before the team could go ahead with plans to raise the statue.
"It's up to the Higher Council of Egyptian Antiquities to decide on the fate of the statue of Neferhotep I and whether it will be brought to light or left buried where it was found."Neferhotep was the 22nd king of the 13th Dynasty. The son of a temple priest in Abydos, he ruled Egypt from 1696-1686 BC.
Experts believe his father's position helped him to ascend the throne, as there was no royal blood in his family.
Neferhotep was one of the few pharaohs whose name did not invoke the sun god, Re. It is written on a number of stones, including a document on his reign found in Aswan.
埃及出土3600年历史的法老塑像(图)日前，一只法国考古队在埃及南方古城卢克索出土了一尊约有3600年历史的古埃及法老耐夫侯特普一世的石灰岩塑像。
据法新社6月4日报道，埃及最高文物委员会主席哈瓦斯当日表示，这尊塑像非同寻常，其造型为两个耐夫侯特普一世手牵手的样子；尽管耐夫侯特普一世塑像的第2部分还未出土，但通过仪器探测已经确定了它的外形。
考古队在维修位于卢克索的卡尔纳克神庙附近地区时发现了这尊高达1.8米的耐夫侯特普一世塑像。据考古队成员拉奇介绍说，这尊塑像被埋藏在古埃及女法老哈奇苏特的方尖碑附近地区1.6米深处。塑像上，耐夫侯特普一世的前额处有一个眼镜蛇图案。古埃及认为，眼镜蛇可以在袭击敌人时喷射火焰，因此它是古埃及法老王冠的标志物。
但何时出土塑像的第2部分还不得而知。拉奇说，塑像的剩余部分被一座据推测是一扇门的建筑物挡在了地下，“为了把它拖出来，顶部的建筑物必须先被拆除然而再复原”，因此是否将塑像第2部分挖掘出来还要由埃及最高文物委员会来决定。
报道说，这是第2次在埃及发掘出耐夫侯特普一世塑像。1898年至1904年，考古队在挖掘埋藏在卡尔纳克神庙附近地区的宝藏时，也出土过一尊纳弗尔霍太普一世塑像。
耐夫侯特普一世是古埃及第13王朝(公元前1783年至公元前1640年)第22位国王，其统治时期为公元前1696年至公元前1686年。这位国王的父亲是一座神庙的大祭司。在古代埃及，神庙大祭司代表国王行使宗教职责，享有很大的权力。因此，考古学家认为，耐夫侯特普一世的父亲帮助了没有王室血统的耐夫侯特普一世继承了王位。耐夫侯特普意为”美丽和善良”。报道说，耐夫侯特普一世是埃及少有的几个在名字里没有涉及到太阳神的。 |