14 DAY TRIAL // Last week, researchers announced the recovery of 3 rather odd statuettes depicting baboons from an archaeological site near the temple of the god Ptah in Karnak, an ancient building complex in the city of Luxor in Egypt.
The statuettes, together with several other statues, figurines and precious objects, were recovered from a pit. The archaeologists who worked on exploring this site detail that this pit has until now yielded a total of 38 artifacts.
The artifacts are all religious objects
In a report detailing their work, the researchers who excavated the pit explain that the 38 artifacts were found neatly arranged around the base of a statue of the ancient Egyptian god Ptah. Consequently, it's safe to assume that they are all religious objects.
The pit inside which archaeologists found the artifacts was first discovered in December 2014. Apart from the baboon statuettes, it has so far produced 14 religious objects depicting the god Osiris, a couple of statuettes of the goddess Mut, the head of a cat statuette, and several ancient ornaments.
A sphinx statue and a stone sculpture that archaeologists believe shows the god Imhotep, together with inscription-bearing column fragments, were also found inside the pit during the initial stages of the excavation work, Science Daily informs.
Specialists estimate that the 38 artifacts all date back to around the 8th or maybe the 7th century BC. Their discovery sparked the interest of the archaeological community not just because it is not often that so many objects are found inside just one pit but also because the artifacts are very well preserved.
“This discovery is exceptional in Egypt in terms of both size and quality,” explain the French-Egyptian Center for the Study of the Temples of Karnak archaeologists who excavated the pit in the paper presenting the outcome of this research project.
A better understanding of Ancient Egypt
Having been pulled from the ground, the artifacts were entrusted to a team of specialists who are now doing their best to restore them. Historians hope that, once restored to their former glory, the religious objects will help them shed new light on the culture of Ancient Egypt.
It is understood that the temple near which these cult objects were found was built sometime during the reign of the pharaoh Thutmose III, i.e. 1479 to 1424. The temple sits near another religious complex erected to honor another ancient Egyptian divinity, the god Amun-Re.
