New Sphinx found in Egypt
A new Sphinx was uncovered in Luxor, Egypt during upgrades being made to a road.
A mysterious sphinx has been discovered during roadwork in the Egyptian city of Luxor.
Mohamed Abdel Aziz, director general of Luxor Antiquities, announced the find Sunday, according to Egypt Today. The sphinx was found at the site of a road connecting Luxor Temple and the Temple of Karnak, two vast ancient temple complexes on the east side of the Nile.
Archaeologists are now working to carefully lift the mysterious statue, Egypt Today reports. Officials say that, because of its location, the statue cannot be directly extracted from the ground.
ARCHAEOLOGISTS OPEN 'CURSED' ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SARCOPHAGUS
While the famous Great Sphinx of Giza on the outskirts of Cairo is the best known, there are a number of smaller sphinx statues in Luxor.
Ancient Egypt continues to reveal its secrets. Archaeologists recently opened a ‘cursed’ ancient black granite sarcophagus. In a separate project, experts also unearthed a 2,200-year-old gold coin depicting the ancient King Ptolemy III, an ancestor of the famed Cleopatra.
Experts in Southern Egypt recently discovered an extremely rare marble head depicting the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
MYSTERIOUS ANCIENT ARTWORK DEPICTING FEMALE PHARAOH FOUND BY ACCIDENT
Additionally, experts in Australia found the tattered remains of an ancient priestess in a 2,500-year-old Egyptian coffin that was long thought to be empty.
On the other side of the world, a rare ancient artifact depicting the famous female pharaoh Hatshepsut surfaced in the U.K. Stunning new research also claims that King Tutankhamun may have been a boy soldier, challenging the theory he was a weak and sickly youth before his mysterious death at around 18 years of age.
Experts in the U.K. also found the world’s oldest figurative tattoos on two ancient Egyptian mummies recently, one of which is the oldest tattooed female ever discovered.
RARE ROMAN DISCOVERY THRILLS EXPERTS: EMPEROR'S MARBLE HEAD FOUND AT EGYPTIAN TEMPLE SITE
Other recent finds include an ancient cemetery in Egypt with more than 40 mummies and a necklace containing a “message from the afterlife.” An ancient statue of a Nubian king with an inscription written in Egyptian hieroglyphics was also found at a Nile River temple in Sudan.
Scientists also believe that they may have found the secret of the Great Pyramid’s near-perfect alignment. Experts are also confident that they have solved the long-standing mystery of the “screaming mummy.”
In February, archaeologists announced the discovery of a 4,400-year-old tomb near the pyramids. Late last year, archaeologists also revealed that they had uncovered the graves of four children at an ancient site in Egypt.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers