This Week In History News, Mar. 5 – 11

Published March 10, 2023

Ancient sphinx unearthed in Egypt, Celtic figure with oversized phallus found in England, new moai statue uncovered on Easter Island.

1,500-Year-Old Sphinx With A Smiling Face And A Cobra Headdress Unearthed At Egypt’s Temple Of Dendera

Small Sphinx Found At Dendera

Ministry of Tourism and AntiquitiesWhile excavating a newly-uncovered structure at the Dendera temple complex, researchers descended into its water collection basin where they were shocked to find a fully intact sphinx from the Roman era.

Archaeologists digging at the Egyptian Temple of Dendera just uncovered a 1,500-year-old sphinx. This statue is still in such good condition that archaeologists were able to not only see the smile adorning its face but also the carefully sculpted dimples on either side of its mouth. Furthermore, experts believe that the sphinx depicts the Roman Emperor Claudius, who also ruled Egypt from 41 C.E. to 54 C.E.

Learn the full story behind this shocking discovery here.

English Metal Detectorists Stumble Across A 2,000-Year-Old Figurine With An Oversized Phallus

Celtic Statue With Large Phallus

NoonansPhallic symbols like the one found on this ancient Celtic figurine were fairly common in the ancient world.

While combing through a field in Haconby, Lincolnshire in 2022, Paul Shepheard suddenly got a signal from his metal detector. His wife, Joanne, had just found a Medieval penny, so Paul eagerly dug into the dirt — and unearthed a 2,000-year-old figurine with an oversized phallus.

Dig deeper in this report.

New Easter Island Moai Statue Discovered At The Bottom Of A Dry Lake Bed

New Moai Statue

Sergio Pitamitz/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesMoai were created by the Rapa Nui people, the native ancestral inhabitants of Easter Island.

Moai statues are among the most famous and iconic sculptures in the world, with hundreds of these stone behemoths adorning the landscape of Rapa Nui, more commonly known as Easter Island. But although the moai are protected as part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, a swath of environmental factors threaten to damage them.

Among these environmental threats are coastal erosion, rising sea levels, and fires brought on by human-caused climate change. In fact, in October 2022, a fire burned roughly 250 acres of land across Easter Island and caused significant damage to the moai near the Rano Raraku volcano.

However, researchers investigating the area where the fire occurred recently came upon a remarkable find: a previously undiscovered moai lying on its side in a dried-up volcanic crater lake.

Read on here.

author
All That's Interesting
author
A New York-based publisher established in 2010, All That's Interesting brings together subject-level experts in history, true crime, and science to share stories that illuminate our world.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.