Sphinx

Egyptian authorities were unveiling on Nov. 25 a renovated ancient promenade in the city of Luxor dating back 3,000 years, the latest government project undertaken to highlight the country's archaeological treasures.

A pair of carved Egyptian sphinx statues have sold at U.K. auctioneers for $265,000, around 500 times the guide price.

The meter-long stone statues were found in a garden near Clare, in south Suffolk and valued at between $400-680 at Mander Auctioneers in Sudbury.

Lead archeologist Katerina Peristeri, on a two-day visit to Cyprus, cast the spotlight on more secrets at Amphipolis that have yet to be revealed. The head of excavations in Nicosia since Thursday was a guest of the University of Cyprus. Her speech titled, “Macedonian tomb complex at Casta hill, Amphipolis: Excavations 2012-2014.”

Egypt will soon open to tourists the courtyard in front of the Sphinx, the colossal monument which has been under restoration for nearly four years, officials said on Nov. 10.
      
Carved from a single ridge of stone, the Sphinx is one of the most visited monuments in the world, and has been regularly restored following from air pollution and underground water damage.

 Authorities release footage from excavation site

Indications that a huge tomb being excavated in Ancient Amphipolis, northern Greece, could have a gateway leading to a fourth chamber have not been confirmed by the dig, the Culture Ministry's general secretary Lina Mendoni said on Tuesday.

A large marble door and the head of a sphinx found inside the ancient tomb at Amphipolis were moved to a nearby museum on Friday.

The door, which is in two pieces, and the marble sphinx head will be cleaned up and preserved.

The removal of the door from the tomb frees up space for the archaeologists to work in.

Archaeologists digging at a tomb dating to the era of Alexander the Great in ancient Amphipolis in northern Greece have found the missing head of one of the two sphinxes guarding the entrance of the grave.

According to a statement yesterday by the Culture Ministry, the head, which was found inside the tomb’s third chamber, belongs to the statue on the eastern side of the entrance.

Archaeologists have unearthed two sculpted female figures, known as Caryatids, as they slowly make their way into an ancient tomb recently discovered in Greece’s northeast, the country’s culture ministry said on Sunday.

State archaeologists on Wednesday continued their painstaking work at the site of Ancient Amphipolis, in central Macedonia, removing large stones from the entrance to a huge tomb there and revealing two headless sphinxes believed to have been placed there to guard the massive burial site.