A joint Egyptian-U.S. 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 metres (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, he said.

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 metres.

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.

An Astounding Excavation Uncovered a Medieval Village Under an Ancient Abbey

• In December of 2023, French archeologists completed the first complete excavation of a Christian abbey in European history.

• Now, a new statement from the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) reveals some of the amazing details located beneath the 800 year old abbey, which met its demise in the aftermath of the French Revolution.

• With the excavation now complete, experts will now analyze the millennia worth of artifacts that were uncovered.

During the intense and bloody French Revolution (1789-1799), Catholic churches and abbeys didn’t fare very well. In 1789, the National Constituent Assembly decided to seize all Catholic property and sell it off in an effort to fund the fledgling Revolutionary currency. The Beaumont Abbey, which had existed outside the city of Tours, France for nearly 800 years, was swept up in this nationwide land grab, its 46 nuns were expelled, and the abbey itself was eventually demolished.

But unknown at the time of its demolition, a treasure trove of medieval history rested underneath the abbey. The area contained some 1,000 burial sites—the graveyard of the centuries-old abbey—and remnants of the medieval town of Belmons, which the Beaumont Abbey effectively replaced.

Luckily for those enamored by the fascinating history of Medieval Europe, the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap), led by archeologist Philippe Blanchard, finally began excavating the site in September of 2022—more than 230 years after its abandonment. After more than a year of work, Blanchard’s team finished the first complete abbey excavation in European history, uncovering treasures related to nearly a millennia of artifacts.

“We have excavated as many elements of this abbey as possible,” Blanchard said in a statement, “the entire church, the entire cloister, all the peripheral buildings, all the facilities, the abbey dwellings, the refectory, the kitchen, the sinks, the parlor, the cellar, the dovecote, the ovens, cisterns, pipes, washhouse, latrines, icebox, dumps, and more than 1,000 burials from different time periods.”

The Beaumont Abbey was originally just a small building with a flat apse—a kind of semi-dome roof. However, around the 11th or 12th century, the building doubled in size. And a couple of centuries after that, a new ambulatory (aisles along the nave) further increased the church’s occupancy, according to LiveScience. Blanchard also notes that, while these are the major changes to the structure, the abbey was in near constant flux, with rooms or other features being added or remodeled constantly.

Among the extensive burial sites, the team discovered one grave containing up to nine people—likely dug during the height of a plague epidemic in 1563. Elaborate tombs scattered among these sites suggests that high-ranking officials associated with the abbey were also buried on site. One particularly odd burial ritual included the remains of infants buried near older structure of the church. The archeologists theorize that these are the remains of unbaptized children, who were buried near the church so that any water running off the church itself (which was considered sacred) could bless their untimely graves.

While the collection of artifacts includes some common items often found in holy Christian places (i.e. rosaries and crucifixes), some unexpected finds include an 18th century Chinese porcelain tea set—a sign of the abbey’s financial good fortunes during the Ancien régime.

Although the excavation phase is complete, the story of the Beaumont Abbey is far from over. Now, Blanchard and his team will analyze their findings in the lab and uncover all the secrets that have been buried underneath one of France’s largest abbeys for centuries.

Gold treasure trove uncovered in 1,200-year-old elite burial in Panama. Take a look

Several feet underground lay a skeleton surrounded by pottery and adorned with gold. The rich burial in Panama went unnoticed for more than a thousand years.

Not anymore.

Archaeologists uncovered the treasure-filled grave during excavations at El Caño Archaeological Park, Panama’s Ministry of Culture said in a March 1 news release.

The pre-Hispanic burial contained an elite lord from the local Coclé culture and dated between 750 A.D. and 800 A.D., archaeologists said.

Uncover more archaeological finds

What are we learning about the past? Here are three of our most eye-catching archaeology stories from the past week.

→ Emerald green artifact 'ignored' for 80 years was 'rare' 500-year-old find

→ 2,400-year-old underground discovery stumped experts for decades — until now

→ Stone sarcophagi went unopened for 600 years — until now. See what was found inside

The high-status man died “between 30 and 40 years of age,” the El Caño Foundation said in a March 1 Facebook post.

Inside the 1,200-year-old grave, archaeologists unearthed a treasure trove of gold artifacts, including several breastplates, two belts made of gold beads, bracelets, figure-shaped earrings, crocodile-shaped earrings, gold-covered sperm whale teeth earrings, bells and gold plates.

Photos show some of these still-shiny gold finds.

Archaeologists also found bracelets and skirts made of dog teeth, bone flutes and lots of pottery pieces.

The burial also contained the remains of several other people who were sacrificed to accompany the deceased lord into the afterlife, the ministry said. Archaeologists don’t know how many sacrificial victims are in the tomb but estimated it was between eight and 32 people.

Excavations and analyses are ongoing, archaeologists said.

El Caño Archaeological Park was used as a necropolis, or cemetery, from 700 A.D. until 1000 A.D., when the site was abandoned.

Another elite burial was uncovered at the park in 2011, according to the tourism website Visit Panama. The elite figure, identified as a chieftain, was buried with gold artifacts and 25 other people.

El Caño Archaeological Park is in Coclé province and about 80 miles southwest of Panama City.

700-year-old church — teeming with rare religious artifacts — discovered. See finds

While exploring an ancient Catholic church in France, archaeologists discovered a trove of 230 tombs.

Further analysis revealed that the tombs were holding much more than just ancient remains: Inside, archaeologists found collections of rare jewelry and religious devotional objects, according to a March 4 news release from the Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (INRAP).

Uncover more archaeological finds

What are we learning about the past? Here are three of our most eye-catching archaeology stories from the past week.

→ Emerald green artifact 'ignored' for 80 years was 'rare' 500-year-old find

→ 2,400-year-old underground discovery stumped experts for decades — until now

→ Stone sarcophagi went unopened for 600 years — until now. See what was found inside

The church in Morlaix was a Jacobin convent, established in 1238, officials said. Its church was consecrated in 1250 and was restored and expanded after a fire in 1344. The Dominican Order — one of the four orders of the Roman Catholic Church — was known as the Jacobin Order in France.

Researchers said the western half of the church was well-preserved, especially its floor and burials.

Two hundred and thirty tombs belonging to men, women and children of all ages were unearthed at the site, archaeologists said. Of those burials, 85% were single tombs and 15% were joint tombs in masonry vaults.

Because the joint tombs held more than one individual — one of the vaults had the remains of 17 people — experts said the number of remains is greater than the number of tombs.

Tombs were found in various parts of the church. Many of the vaults were found in an extension of the church that was built in the 15th century, but there were also burials in the church’s nave as well as its south and west wings.

One of the large vaults likely belonged to a 16th century governor in the town, officials said. Another of the burials included remains in clothes instead of the typical Catholic shroud, indicating that the person likely died of an infectious disease.

In the vaults and individual tombs, experts identified rare jewelry and religious artifacts.

Among their finds were copper pins used to hold shrouds in place, rings and bracelets, researchers said. There was also an abundance of objects of religious devotion, such as rosaries and crucifixes.

Rosaries were made of various types of beads, such as wood, bone, stone and glass, archaeologists said. Crucifixes were made of wood, copper and terracotta.

Experts also found a rare skull-shaped object made of bone. It’s unlike any other discovery, they said.

These religious artifacts were either found with the deceased — in their hand or on their torso — or they were placed on the coffin.

Archaeologists also identified preserved wooden coffins, wooden crosses and scraps of silk scapulars, which are necklace-like devotional objects.

Research at the site will continue as experts work to learn more about the building and conduct more in-depth analyses of the bone remains at the site, officials said.

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