Foot of Ancient Egyptian Statue Found at Tel-Hazor

Yisrael Price

YERUSHALAYIM – A fragment of the lower part of an ancient Egyptian statue made of limestone, has been discovered in the course of excavations at Tel-Hazor, north of the Kinneret.

Diggers found only the lower part of the statue, a foot measuring 17.7 x 15.7 inches, suggesting a male figure, seated on a square base on which a few lines in the Egyptian hieroglyphic script are inscribed.

The archaeologists extrapolated from the fragment that the complete statue would equal the size of a fully-grown man. At present only a preliminary reading of the inscriptions has been attempted, and the title and name of the Egyptian official who originally owned the statue, are not yet entirely clear.

According to Prof. Amnon Ben-Tor of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University, who has been conducting excavations at Tel-Hazor for over 27 years, Hazor is the most important site from the Biblical period.

In the course of close to 30 years of excavation, fragments of 18 different Egyptian statues, both royal and private, dedicated to Egyptian kings and officials, including two sphinxes, were discovered at Hazor.