Cairo - A German archaeological mission stumbled on a mystery with the discovery of three partial Pharaonic statues.

On them appears to date to a later period than most previous finds at the site.

Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) announced this week the discovery of two statues of Sakhmet, the lion-headed goddess of war, as well as the head of a member of the royal family, at the temple of Amunhotep III on the west bank of the Nile River in Luxor, 700km south of Cairo.

The finds were made by a dig headed by Hourig Sourzian of the Friends of the Memnon Colossi association, which is affiliated with the Egypt office of the German Archaeological Institute.

'We realised it's a Kushite king with southern features, with full cheeks and very bulging lips'

The Sakhmet statues, which date to the New Kingdom's 18th dynasty (circa 1533 - 1292BC), hail from the same period as most of the finds in the area. The head - believed to date to the 25th dynasty (circa 760 - 656BC), that is characterised by its Nubian features - however, seems somewhat out of place.

The head of excavations in western Luxor, Ali al-Asfhar, said he believed the royal head to be the most important discovery among the three items because of the questions raised by its presence at such a location. Statues of Sakhmet are common having been found at many sites.

The red granite head of a statue of a king is believed to be a ruler from the Kushite period, which lasted from 760 to 656BC. Kush was south of ancient Egypt in Nubia, now mostly part of Sudan.

"As soon as we cleaned it we realised it's a Kushite king with southern features, with full cheeks and very bulging lips... Statues of Kushite kings are extremely rare, especially here in Egypt," said Sourouzian.

The head is largely in good condition, although, part of the right side has been scraped off, said SCA head Zahi Hawass.

'None of the statues belonged in the area where they were buried'

In a statement by the SCA, Sourzian suggested that the head might have ended up at the location having been left there by a 19th century British dig or an illegal excavation by antiquities merchants.

One of the goddess statues is made of granite, the other diorite, while the head is granite.

The lower legs of one of the goddess statues were broken off, while only the upper body of the other was discovered.

War goddess Sekhmet embodied the cruel powers of the sun, and was also responsible for both curing and causing illness.

One of the Sekhmet statues, made of granite and about 150cm high, was holding a symbol representing life and a scroll of papyrus.

"It's extremely beautiful. Only the feet are missing and the base," said Sourouzian, the German-Armenian director of the international conservation team which found the statues.

The excavation team believe the statues were excavated from elsewhere, then hidden at a temple in Luxor either for later sale or to protect them from robbers.

None of the statues belonged in the area where they were buried, Sourouzian said, leading her to believe they were deliberately moved and hidden for later retrieval.

"These were possibly deposited in the first half of the 20th or maybe the 19th century, when agents of collectors were sent here to send back statues," she said, adding that archaeologists may have buried them to keep them from robbers.

Most excavations in Egypt take place during the winter when the weather is more conducive to the long hours required for such work. - Sapa-DPA and Reuters

• This article was originally published on page 9 of The Star on February 01, 2006