A sarcophagus fragment discovered beneath the floor of a religious center belongs to Ramesses II, one of the best-known ancient Egyptian pharaohs, according to a new study.
Archaeologists unearthed the granite artifact in 2009 inside a Coptic building in Abydos, an ancient city in east-central Egypt. The team, led by archaeologists Ayman Damrani and Kevin Cahail, had determined that the sarcophagus had carried two individuals at different times. However, they could identify only the latter — Menkheperre, a "high priest of the 21st dynasty," who lived in roughly 1000 B.C., according to a translated statement from France's National Center for Scientific Research.
