Tel Hazor in northern Israel has long been a treasure trove for archeologists, but a recent discovery of part of a 4,000-year-old Egyptian sphinx has been a most unexpected find. Inexplicably buried far from Egypt, the paws of a sphinx statue, resting on its base, have been unearthed with an inscription in hieroglyphs naming King Mycerinus. The pharaoh ruled in 2500 BC and oversaw the construction of one of the three Giza pyramids, where he was enshrined. "Once in a lifetime you find something like this," says Amnon Ben-Tor, the director of the excavation and a professor at Hebrew University, which sponsors the archeological digging.
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A 4,000-year-old Egyptian sphinx was an unexpected find in an Israel excavation site, Tel Hazor
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Only the paws have been found so far, and the piece bears the name of a pharaoh who ruled in 2500 BC
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The normally quiet part of Israel is enlivened every summer when archeologists and volunteers arrive to dig
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Excavations first began in the 1950s, and numerous artifacts and documents have been unearthed
"This is of extreme importance from many points of view, since it is the only sphinx of this king known in the world -- even in @placeholder.