Experts Find Statue of 4,000-Year-Old Dwarf Who Was Pharaoh Companion
Experts have uncovered the bones and statue of a dwarf named Pr-N-Ankh who is said to have been the companion of an Egyptian pharaoh 4,000 years ago.
The basalt statue, brought out of a sealed vault Thursday, is about 12 inches high and shows him holding a long stick resembling an oar and an instrument resembling a spatula, indicating that he was a high official.
Zahi Hawass, director general of the Giza Pyramids area outside Cairo, directed the dig. He calls the statue “wonderful, unique.”
Only one previous statue of a dwarf has been found in Giza, a scribe named Seneb, discovered in the early 1900s. The tombs were near each other and Hawass says the diggers may now have located a burial ground of dwarfs in Giza.
Little is known about dwarfs in ancient Egypt. Hawass said some were jesters who entertained royalty, others held official posts like Seneb the scribe.
Hieroglyphic inscriptions said Pr-N-Ankh was “a close associate of the king in the great palace.”
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