A new head for an ancient statue
A cast of a quartzite head of Amenhotep III
(King of Egypt, 1390-1352 BC), has been joined to the body of a
colossal statue of the ruler, which was recently found at Kom
el-Hettan, Egypt.
The fibreglass cast was made at the British
Museum and hand-painted to match the colouring of the original
statue. Excavations at the site near modern Luxor are part of the
Colossi of Memnon and Amenhotep III Temple Conservation Project
(directed by Hourig Sourouzian).
Since 2000, the project has been working in
the funerary temple of Amenhotep III, located behind the famous
Colossi of Memnon. Long thought to h
ave been thoroughly destroyed,
it is now clear that significant parts of the temple survive, in
particular some of the monumental statuary from its courts and
gateways.
Recently, fragments of monumental sculpture
that can be joined to pieces removed from the site in the early
nineteenth century have been found, as well as more than 62 statues
of the goddess Sekhmet, perhaps part of a group of 730
set up in this temple. A programme to lower the water table in
the area, to ensure the remains are preserved, is also
underway.
This project is one of a series of
collaborations between the British Museum and the Supreme
Council of Antiquities in Egypt, including fieldwork and training initiatives.
Images courtesy Supreme Council of
Antiquities, Egypt