Kin Tut's Grandfather, Pharaoh Amenhotep III, Carved In Statue Discovered In Egypt

Exactly eighty-eight years after another historic Egyptian discovery, archaeologists conducting a routine dig Thursday unearthed the top half of a red granite statue of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who ruled nearly 3,400 years ago.

According to the AFP, the statue depicts the pharaoh next to the falcon-headed Egyptian sun god Re-Horakhti. It was discovered at the site of Amenhotep III's funerary temple in Luxor, on the west bank of the Nile. Amenhotep was the grandfather of the famed boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun, better own as "King Tut," a name which has since become synonymous with ancient Egypt.

The statue's discovery today was particularly remarkable, as it fell on the 88th anniversary of another related finding. On Nov. 4, 1922, English archaeologist Howard Carter discovered a set of steps in the Valley of the Kings, which led down to Tutankhamun's tomb. Given its relatively intact state, King Tut's tomb provided the most comprehensive look into ancient Egyptian life and royal burial customs.