27 partial statues of Sekhmet found in Luxor

This is from the Egyptologists (EFF) mailing list - (no, before you start, Hawass is not there and has not been involved for over 4 years and as far as I can tell he's not on the mailing list)

* MoA Press office 3/12/2017

"A collection of 27 fragmented statues of the lioness goddess
"Sekhmet " has been discovered during excavations work carried
out by an Egyptian- European Archaeological Mission at the
Colossi of Memnon area within King Amenhotep III Temple
Conservation Project on the West Bank of Luxor led by
Dr. Hourig Sourouzian.
Dr. Mostafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council
of Antiquities explains that all the discovered statues were
carved in black granite with the maximum height of about
2 meters, and some represent the goddess "Sekhmet" sitting on
the throne, holding the symbol of life in her left hand, or
standing and holding the papyrus sceptre ahead of her chest.
The head is crowned by a sundisk and and the uraeus adorns
her forehead
News announcement with photos

To translate it better... these are fragments of rather typical black granite statues of Sekhmet. She is seated on her throne, holds an ankh in her left hand and her right arm is stretched in front of her, holding the lotus-topped staff. The significance of finding her in Luxor is that she's one of the city's "triad" - often shown in a group with Ptah and Ramesses III.

Many cities had triads - mother, father, and son. Sekhmet was a common maternal figure and even today is referred to as "Mother Sekhmet." Her other titles reflect her nature over the entire course of history - some of them are: "Ptah's beloved", "Lady of War", "Eye of Re" (i.e., bringer of justice) and "Lady of the Two Lands" (upper and lower Egypt.)

a reply to: Byrd

very cool! thanks for sharing and for the additional background

I wonder if the area was covered by an eruption. It appears that most of them were toppled,possibly by people who trashed it or maybe a quake or earth shake.

It looks like a nice find, I wonder how much more they will find around there. They sure had a lot of good people carving rock in that area of the world, good statue builders. Those things make the ground rocks her look like they were made by a three year old kid.

A friend of mine came from Italy, he said the fields where he grew up were full of stones that people had practiced on. Who knows how old they are. He didn't even pay attention to them when he was there. I wonder how much of the rock artifacts were crushed and thrown into cement for use in things in Italy? They aren't worth much there, they are common, people practiced on rocks that were disgarded after they were done with them. I suppose being a stone carver was easier than hauling huge rocks.

originally posted by: rickymouse
I wonder if the area was covered by an eruption. It appears that most of them were toppled,possibly by people who trashed it or maybe a quake or earth shake.

No, Luxor is not in a tectonically active area.

It looks like a nice find, I wonder how much more they will find around there. They sure had a lot of good people carving rock in that area of the world, good statue builders. Those things make the ground rocks her look like they were made by a three year old kid.

The fact that there are 27 of them (and 6 feet (2 meters) tall) shows that there was something there (either a walkway or a room) that was part of the temple during Amunhotep III's reign. They would have come from a local royal workshop or workshops that did custom work for the most important officials of the are.

We actually have several bits of evidence about how they did statues. A block of stone was delivered to the workshop and the master would use a grid system to indicate where cuts would be made. Apprentices did the rough shaping and more experienced craftsmen (and masters) did the final carving. Apprentices did the polishing.

A friend of mine came from Italy, he said the fields where he grew up were full of stones that people had practiced on. Who knows how old they are. He didn't even pay attention to them when he was there. I wonder how much of the rock artifacts were crushed and thrown into cement for use in things in Italy? They aren't worth much there, they are common, people practiced on rocks that were disgarded after they were done with them. I suppose being a stone carver was easier than hauling huge rocks.

There's plenty of stuff from local (inferior) workshops around. What gets put in the museums is the best; things from the top craftsmen and top workshops... but believe me, back in the collections there's some very amateur-ish looking things from the real ancient Egyptians.

Totally cool!

I know how excited I get when I find old arrowheads and such... Can't imagine how those folks felt. Exciting times.

a reply to: Byrd

You're right Luxor is not a tectonically active area, its a hotel in Las Vegas with a big ass light on top. Used to be a good place to get a beer after work, but its been ages since ive been back. Nice to know they are keeping things authentic

originally posted by: Thorneblood
a reply to: Byrd

You're right Luxor is not a tectonically active area, its a hotel in Las Vegas with a big ass light on top. Used to be a good place to get a beer after work, but its been ages since ive been back. Nice to know they are keeping things authentic

*ahem*

No biscuits for you, sir! Bad joke! Terrible joke! Go sit in the corner and no, you can't take that pipe with you!

a reply to: Byrd

That pipe goes with me everywhere!

And fyi, seems you were wrong about the tectonics of the area

She said the importance and quality of the statues explains why they survived a period of extensive quarrying of the temple remains in the Ramesside Period, after a heavy earthquake had toppled the walls and the columns of the temple in 1200 B.C.

From your link.

So, wanna come into the corner with me.....

originally posted by: Thorneblood
a reply to: Byrd

That pipe goes with me everywhere!

And fyi, seems you were wrong about the tectonics of the area

She said the importance and quality of the statues explains why they survived a period of extensive quarrying of the temple remains in the Ramesside Period, after a heavy earthquake had toppled the walls and the columns of the temple in 1200 B.C.

From your link.

So, wanna come into the corner with me.....

(laugh)

I stand corrected!

Earthquakes are relatively rare, as far as I know. The way I read your statement was that you were asking about volcanic activity (no volcanoes there.)

a reply to: Byrd

Sits by himself in the corner with his pipe.

*Coughs* It's cool.....