A team of archaeologists just found large-scale inscriptions dedicated to pharaohs including Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III during an underwater survey of the Nile River in Aswan.
The discovery was announced on Facebook by Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. According to the post, the mission was a joint Egyptian-French venture with the former’s Supreme Council of Antiquities and the latter by the University of Paul Valéry Montpellier.
The carvings were found in a part of Aswan that was flooded when the Aswan High Dam was constructed in the 1960s. Though many archaeological finds and monuments were saved before the dam’s construction—including the Temple of Dendur that now sits in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art—some clearly did not make it out. However, they have remained preserved under the surface of the Nile.
Thutmose IV was an 18th dynasty king who ruled in the early 14th century BCE. Amenhotep III ruled shortly afterward, from 1390 BCE until 1353 BCE. (As an aside, Amenhotep III may have been the original recipient of the dagger made of meteoritic iron that eventually found its way into the tomb of Tutankhamun.) The pharaonic depictions also include mentions of the pharaoh Psamtik II and Apries.
According to Hesham El-Leithy, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities’ sector devoted to antiquities preservation, the recent survey also involved photogrammetry and archaeology drawings of the work.
In the same release, Islam Selim, head of the Underwater Antiquities department of the council, stated that the team is now working on constructing 3D models of the inscriptions. The ultimate goal is to scientifically publish the inscriptions.
Until then, you can revel in the images. The only thing cooler than archaeological discovery is underwater archaeological discovery, I always say. (I said that once.)
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