large alabaster statue depicting queen Tiye, the grandmother of king Tutankhamun was discovered on the west bank of Luxor along the Nile River. The statue is believed to be 3400 years old.

Queen Tiye (1398-1338 BC) was the wife of King Amenhotep III and grandmother of King Tutankhamun. The statue was found accidentally while archaeologists were lifting up the lower part of a statue of king Amenhotep III that was buried in the sand by the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III which was erected between 1390 and 1353 BC. The temple complex was built close to the Nile and repeated flooding caused a lot of destruction inside its walls. The fact that the statue was carved in alabaster makes it special because all the statues of Queen Tiye discovered previously at the site had been carved in quartzite. Earlier in march this year a black granite statue of pharaoh Amenhotep III seating on a throne was found in Luxor.

(after Ahram Online, Egypt Ministry of Antiquities & Live Science)