Southern-Most Pharaoh Statue Found in Sudan
Archaeologists say they have found a huge granite statue of an Egyptian pharaoh in Sudan, the furthest south that such a statue has been discovered.
They say the massive one ton statue is of Pharaoh Taharqa who came to power in 690 BC and ruled an empire stretching from Sudan to Palestine.
The southern borders of his empire are not known and archeologists say they were surprised to find the statue deep in Sudanese territory in Dangail, about 350 kilometers north of Sudan's capital, Khartoum.
The dig also found two other statues of kings that succeeded Taharqa in Sudan (Senkamanisken and Aspelta).
Archaeologists say the life-size statues appear to have been deliberately broken at the neck and legs. They say they are not sure who did this or why but believe it was done long after Taharqa's rule.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.