Giant Statue of Ancient Egypt Queen Found

National Geographic

Archaeologists have uncovered a pristinely preserved statue of a powerful Egyptian queen at the sprawling mortuary temple of Amenhotep III on Luxor's West Bank.

A joint European-Egyptian team found the 12-foot-tall (3.6-meter-tall) quartzite figure attached to the broken-off leg of a much larger colossus of Amenhotep III, who ruled from about 1390 to 1350 B.C.

Experts say the newfound statue is of Queen Tiye—Amenhotep III's favorite wife and the most influential woman of his 38-year reign—bolstering theories that female royalty were gaining in prominence and influence during the time period.

The temple complex, which measures 2,300 feet (700 meters) in length, is ancient Egypt's largest. Its most famous attractions are the great Colossi of Memnon—twin 59-foot (21-meter) statues of Amenhotep III that flank the temple's entrance.

But the site was devastated by massive earthquakes in pharonic times and in the first century A.D., so the discovery of an undamaged statue there is extremely rare, experts said.

"The surprise was that she was not crushed," said Hourig Sourouzian, who led the excavation and has been digging at the site since 2000. "The leg [of the larger colossus] was very badly damaged, so the surprise was that the queen lying behind it was intact—she is very beautiful."