Farmer Khaled al-Shahat was working on his land in Egypt’s Nile Delta when he stumbled upon something unexpected in the dirt—a pink stone that appeared to be covered in hieroglyphic inscriptions. Realizing he might have found something special, he got in touch with the authorities, who sent a team of archaeologists to investigate. Now, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has revealed the full extent of Shahat’s chance discovery.
In addition to the inscribed stone, they say they have unearthed the remains of two massive statues of pharaoh Ramses II from Shahat’s property. The king is depicted wearing a double crown, a royal headpiece that symbolized his power over both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. In addition to the head, they also found the remains of the upper section of the statue’s back pillar, which is inscribed with Ramses II’s formal royal title, “Hor Ka Nakht Mery Maat,” per CBS News.
Based on the size of the head, officials think the full statue, including the base, may have stood nearly 28 feet tall. They also found part of a second Ramses II statue measuring nearly eight feet tall. The base and legs are missing, but officials did find the head clad in a nemes, a striped headcloth commonly worn by pharaohs.
The face of the second statue is similar to the first, officials say. The inscribed pink granite block that Shahat initially discovered is more than four feet long. Located about three feet from the second statue, the stone bears traces of hieroglyphic inscriptions that include two titles of Ramses II: “Nesw-Bity,” which means king of Upper and Lower Egypt, and “Sa-Ra,” or son of Ra, the sun god.
Archaeologists are continuing to excavate the site while studying the artifacts they have already unearthed. They hope to better understand the relationship between the statues, as well as their connection to the area. Some estimates suggest Ramses II may have had more than 100 offspring.
The artifacts were discovered in Behbeit El-Hagar, a village in the Nile Delta about 80 miles north of Cairo that is best known as home to the remains of an ancient temple dedicated to the goddess Isis. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the temple was likely built on the site of an earlier temple from the twenty-sixth dynasty, which ran from 664 B.C.E. to 525 B.C.E. The temple dedicated to Isis, who was worshipped as a traditional Egyptian wife, mother, healer and protector of the dead, was constructed primarily under Nectanebo II, who reigned from 360 B.C.E. to 343 B.C.E.
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