A French-Egyptian team discovered a number of rock carvings submerged in the Nile near Aswan that describe pharaohs who reigned several millennia ago.
According to a statement from the Egyptian Ministry of tourism and Antiquities on Facebook, a French-Egyptian archaeological team came across the rock carvings during a dive in Aswan. They had long known that something of historical importance lurked beneath the Nile in that area. When the Aswan Dam was built during the 1960s, the construction submerged a number of archaeological treasures, despite the best efforts of UNESCO to save as many of the artifacts as possible.
As the statement notes, this is the first time that the rock carvings have been seen since the 1960s, and thus they have “never been studied before.” The rock carvings hold “new historical information about the reign of King Tatmas IV and King Amenhotab III” and depict “a number of paintings, carvings, and miniatures of the pharaohs Amenhoteb III, Tatmas IV, Psamtik II and Apries,” according to the press release.
Though the Egyptian government did not release many further details about the rock carvings, it did explain that the archaeological team carefully documented them using the latest technology. “During its work the mission has used all the modern techniques of diving, archaeological scanning, photography, underwater video and photogrammetry as well as archaeological drawing, in order to identify and document the remaining rock carvings,” the statement explained.
Main Image: Courtesy Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities