London: A team of archaeologists has found a massive one ton statue of the Egyptian pharaoh Taharqa, deep in Sudan.
Taharqa was a pharaoh of the 25th dynasty of Egypt and came to power in 690 BC, controlling an empire stretching from Sudan to the Levant.
According to a report in the Independent, in addition to Taharqa’s statue, those of two of his successors - Senkamanisken and Aspelta – were found alongside.
These two rulers controlled territory in Sudan, but not Egypt.
Dr. Julie Anderson of the British Museum, who is the co-director for the Dangeil excavations, confirmed that no statue of a pharaoh has ever been found further south of Egypt than this one.
“That’s one reason it’s so exciting and very interesting,” she said.
The discovery was such a surprise that one colleague of Anderson’s didn’t believe it at first saying that the statues “can’t possibly be (at) Dangeil.”
Dr Anderson describes the statue of Taharqa as truly monumental.
“It’s a symbol of royal power,” an indicator that Dangeil was an “important royal city,” she said.
It’s made of granite and weighs more than one ton. It stood about 2.6 meters (8.5 feet) when it had its head.
In ancient times, it was smashed into several pieces on purpose. This was also done to the two other statues.
It’s not known who did this or why. It happened “a long time after Taharqa,” said Anderson.
The largest piece of Taharqa’s statue is the torso and base. This part of the statue is so heavy that the archaeological team had to use 18 men to move it onto a truck.
ANI
First Published: Thursday, January 14, 2010, 09:00