The monuments were unearthed after a local resident reported finding an inscribed stone block
Egyptian archaeologists have uncovered the remains of two royal statues, at least one depicting Pharaoh Ramses II, during excavations in the Nile Delta, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on Wednesday.
The discovery was made in the village of Behbeit el-Hagar in Gharbia Governorate after a local resident, Khaled el-Shahat Khalil, found an inscribed stone block on his property and alerted the authorities. Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy later visited the site and rewarded the man and his wife with a pilgrimage to Mecca for reporting the find.
According to Hisham el-Leithy, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, the first find is a 1.6-meter-high head of Ramses II wearing the double crown symbolizing the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. Part of the statue’s back pillar was also recovered, bearing an inscription of one of the pharaoh’s royal titles. Archaeologists estimate that the complete monument, including its base, may have stood around 8.5 meters tall.
The second discovery includes a 2.4-meter section of another royal statue, also believed to depict Ramses II. The figure is missing its legs and base, but its head remains well preserved, with facial features resembling those of the first statue. Excavators also uncovered a 1.3-meter block of pink granite bearing hieroglyphic inscriptions with two of the pharaoh’s titles, including “King of Upper and Lower Egypt” and “Son of Ra.”
The ministry said archaeologists are continuing to study the artifacts, and their exact age has yet to be determined. However, the discovery sets clear links to Ramses II, who ruled Egypt from 1279 to 1213 BC. It’s not the first finding of the kind. In February 2024, archaeologists uncovered the upper section of a statue of the pharaoh in Minya Governorate, nearly a century after its lower half was discovered in 1930. The restored statue, standing about 6.7 meters tall, was re-erected in 2026.
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Other recent finds in Egypt include three New Kingdom tombs uncovered at Saqqara in July and a Roman-era tomb discovered in the Dakhla Oasis in September, containing pottery, funerary inscriptions and a coin depicting Emperor Constantine.
