A tip from Egyptian farmer Khaled el-Shahat led to the discovery of two statues of Pharaoh Ramses II in Behbeit El Hagar, about 110 kilometres north of Cairo in the Nile Delta. While working his land, el-Shahat found a piece of pink granite bearing hieroglyphics and alerted the authorities, who then carried out an excavation.

The excavation uncovered a head wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, along with a foot, from a statue whose complete image was estimated to have been 8.5 metres high. The back of the fragment bears Ramses II’s official title. A second statue, about 2.5 metres long and depicting the pharaoh wearing a striped headscarf, was also found, together with the granite fragment that led to the discovery.