Ancient Wooden Sculpture Of Queen Ankhesenpepi II Discovered At Saqqara, Egypt

AncientPages.com - Queen Ankhesenpepi II was the important Egyptian queen of the 6th Dynasty, Old Kingdom, around 2350 BC.

A French-Swiss archaeological team reports have unearthed the head of a wooden statute of Queen Ankhesenpepi II near her pyramid in the Saqqara area in Giza.

The head is of almost-human proportions, and is around 30cm high. The ears are decorated with wooden earrings.

Image credit: Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities

Professor Philippe Collombert, the head of the Geneva University mission, said that the head was found in a disturbed layer to the east of the queen's pyramid near the area where the pyramidion was uncovered early this week.

Mini-Pyramid Discovered In South Saqqara, Egypt

Queen Ankhesenpepi  was born as commoner, but then her elder sister, Ankhenespepi I, married Pharaoh Pepi I. The two had a son named Merenre, Egyptologist Vivienne Callender wrote in report for The Encyclopedia of Ancient History.

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Then, the younger sister, Ankhnespepy II, married the Pharaoh Pepi I. After Pharaoh Pepi I died in about 2350 B.C., the queen acted as a regent for her 6-year-old son, Pepi II, until he came of age, Callender said.

Moreover, Ankhnespepy II married her nephew Merenre, a marriage that scholars consider to be "unique in Egyptian history," Callender wrote. Ankhnespepy II and her nephew had a daughter who was also named Ankhenespepi.

Over the last two weeks, the mission has uncovered the upper part of a granite obelisk that may belong to the queen’s funerary temple, as well as the pyramidion of what may be an undiscovered satellite pyramid.

The head is not in good condition and will be subjected to restoration and documentation.

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