Archaeologists in Egypt Unearth Section of Large Ramses II Statue

A section of a limestone statue of Ramses II unearthed by an Egyptian-US archaeological mission in El Ashmunein, south of the Egyptian city of Minya, Egypt in this handout image released on March 4, 2024. The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities/Handout via REUTERS
A section of a limestone statue of Ramses II unearthed by an Egyptian-US archaeological mission in El Ashmunein, south of the Egyptian city of Minya, Egypt in this handout image released on March 4, 2024. The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities/Handout via REUTERS
TT
20

Archaeologists in Egypt Unearth Section of Large Ramses II Statue

A section of a limestone statue of Ramses II unearthed by an Egyptian-US archaeological mission in El Ashmunein, south of the Egyptian city of Minya, Egypt in this handout image released on March 4, 2024. The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities/Handout via REUTERS
A section of a limestone statue of Ramses II unearthed by an Egyptian-US archaeological mission in El Ashmunein, south of the Egyptian city of Minya, Egypt in this handout image released on March 4, 2024. The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities/Handout via REUTERS

A joint Egyptian-US archaeological mission has uncovered the upper part of a huge statue of King Ramses II during excavations south of the Egyptian city of Minya, Egypt's tourism and antiquities ministry said on Monday.
The limestone block is about 3.8 meters (12.5 feet) high and depicts a seated Ramses wearing a double crown and a headdress topped with a royal cobra, Bassem Jihad, head of the mission's Egyptian team, said in a statement.
The upper part of the statue's back column shows hieroglyphic writings that glorify the king, one of ancient Egypt's most powerful pharaohs, Reuters quoted him as saying.
Also known as Ramses the Great, he was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt and ruled from 1,279 to 1,213 BCE.
The size of the statue when combined with its lower section, which was unearthed decades ago, would reach about 7 meters.
The city of El Ashmunein, on the west bank of the River Nile, was known in ancient Egypt as Khemnu and in the Greco-Roman era was the regional capital of Hermopolis Magna.
Studies have confirmed that the upper part of the statue is a match for the lower section discovered by German archaeologist Gunther Roeder in 1930, said Mustafa Waziri, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.
The mission has begun cleaning and preparing the block ahead of modelling what the statue would look like when the two sections are combined, Waziri said.



UAE Heritage Conference Recommends Documentation of Travel Literature

The conference was held under the theme "Popular Heritage Through the Eyes of Others." WAM
The conference was held under the theme "Popular Heritage Through the Eyes of Others." WAM
TT
20

UAE Heritage Conference Recommends Documentation of Travel Literature

The conference was held under the theme "Popular Heritage Through the Eyes of Others." WAM
The conference was held under the theme "Popular Heritage Through the Eyes of Others." WAM

The "Second Heritage Conference," organized by the Sharjah Institute for Heritage has issued several scientific and cultural recommendations to enhance studies on travel literature and representations of the "other" in popular heritage.

The conference held under the theme "Popular Heritage Through the Eyes of Others" took place at the Arab Heritage Center in the university city of Sharjah, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported Saturday.

Participants urged a reevaluation of the writings of travelers and Orientalists using contemporary scientific criticism methodologies, WAM said.

They advocated for analytical comparisons between groups of travelers from various geographical regions and similar time periods to derive a more realistic portrayal and compare it with available local studies, it added.

According to WAM, the attendees stressed the need to establish practical laboratories for translating Western research and studies on travel literature and forming scientific committees to review untranslated travel accounts, particularly Russian works.

Among the recommendations was the proposal to extend the conference from two to three days and to publish the presented research in a scientific book.

They also suggested creating an online library featuring works of travelers and Orientalists, along with a specialized database for researchers and translators in this field.

The recommendations further called for stimulating critical studies addressing representations of the "other" in popular heritage through various approaches, including anthropology, semiotics, narratives, and post-colonial studies.

Additionally, they highlighted the need to examine the interaction between oral and narrative cultures as described by travelers, questioning the ideological and epistemological backgrounds that shaped their representations and deconstructing the positions of self and other in their writings.

"The recommendations from the Second Heritage Conference embody our vision at the Sharjah Institute for Heritage, which aims to establish awareness of the importance of reading popular heritage from multiple perspectives, especially through the writings of travelers and Orientalists,” said Chairman of the Sharjah Institute for Heritage Dr. Abdulaziz Al Musallam.

“Through this conference, we sought to initiate a critical intellectual dialogue with these records, opening new horizons for understanding the self and the other, and enhancing the presence of our heritage in the global cultural sphere with a scientific spirit and objective approach,” he added.