statue egypt saqqara archaeology grave robbers 1234754881

Archaeologists working at the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure in Saqqara, Egypt, discovered an unusual limestone statue left behind by grave robbers. Unearthed in 2021 but detailed only recently by Zahi Hawass and Sarah Abdoh in the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, the statue depicts a nobleman, his wife, and their young daughter. The daughter is carved in bas-relief rather than fully in the round, a stylistic departure from typical Old Kingdom family statuary.