A British-Egyptian archaeological mission from Cambridge University discovered a gypsum head, on Saturday, from a statue of King Akhenaten (around 1300 BC) during excavation work in Tel El-Amarna in Minya governorate. The head – which is 9cm tall, 13.5 cm long and 8 cm wide – was unearthed during an excavation dig in the first hall of the Great Atun Temple in Tel El-Amarna, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri said in a statement released by Egypt’s ministry of Antiquities. Waziri says the discovery is important because it sheds more light on the city that was Egypt’s capital during the reign of King Akhenaten, the 10th pharaoh of the 18th dynasty whose reign was among the most ‎controversial in ancient Egyptian history. Tel El-Amarna, which lies around 12 kilometers to the southwest of Minya city, holds the ruins of the city constructed by King Akhenaten and ‎his wife Queen Nefertiti and meant to be the home of the cult of the sun god ‎Aten. ‎ ‎The ruins of this great city include magnificent temples, palaces and tombs.

Source: Egypt Independent October 01, 2017 12:22 UTC