Fragment of Egyptian goddess found at 2,700-year-old site in Spain
Fragments such as the one discovered were used to be laid on flat surfaces to construct depictions of deities.
An artifact discovered at the 2,700-year-old site of Cerro de San Vicente in Spain is believed to be used to depict an ancient Egyptian goddess, Hathor.
It was unearthed this summer by archeologists at the University of Salamanca, Spain, and belongs to a group of objects including amulets and painted ceramics with Egyptian and Mediterranean roots. The piece is suspected to depict the lower part of her hair.
According to researchers, it is most likely the larger image of Hathor, known as the goddess of love and fertility and the daughter of the Egyptian sun god, Ra, and the mother of Horus, a falcon-headed goddess in Egyptian mythology.
The purpose of fragments such as this was to be laid on flat surfaces to construct depictions of deities.
A shark tooth, necklace beads, and a clay fragment were found in a three-roomed building on the site, while a separate piece depicting Hathor was found in 2021 at the same site, which archaeologists have been excavating for three decades near the Tormes River.
Researchers suspect that the inhabitants of the ancient community intentionally destroyed the location or residence where the objects were found between 650 and 575 BC for unknown purposes, additionally believing the possibility that a foreign official transferred the artifacts as gifts or for trade to the residence, which may also have been a location where business was conducted.
Archaeological successes have been abundant this year in Egypt. An Egyptian sarcophagus that has laid peacefully for thousands of years has been discovered, emerging from beneath the sands in Cairo. Archaeologists are describing the event as a "dream discovery".
Discovered by Ola El Aguizy, an emeritus professor of the faculty of archaeology at Cairo University, there is now more information to look into regarding those who ruled Egypt after Tutankhamun.
Additionally, Egyptologist Zahi Hawass believes he is near proving that the mummy first discovered in the 1800s is the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten and mother of Tutankhamun or King Tut - Queen Nefertiti, who lived between circa 1,370 and 1,330 BC, and is believed by many Egyptologists to have ruled Egypt for a short time after the death of her husband, and if proven true, that would mean that she would have taken the throne roughly 1,300 years before Cleopatra.