Archaeologists unearth statues

2006-03-23 09:09

Cairo - Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed two 5 000-year-old wooden statues, complete with gold wrapping paper, believed to be the oldest such artefacts ever found, the team said on Wednesday.

The statues, which depict two nude men with precious stones around their eyes, were found by a Polish team in the northern Nile Delta region of Daqahliya, said a statement by chief archaeologist Krzysztof Cialowicz.

The effigies are believed to date from Egypt's predynastic era (3700-3200 BC), before Egypt started to unify under the pharaohs.

Cialowicz said his team had also found remnants of gold-coated paper that experts said was used to wrap the wooden statues, believed to be the oldest such artefacts discovered to date.

Besides the statues, one around 75cm tall and the other around 40cm, the team has found warehouses and tombs in the same Tel al-Farkha area, said the statement issued by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Cialowicz's team has been excavating the area since 1998 and has found around 60 other statues, mostly of hippopotami and other animals.

- SAPA