HUGE 1,500-TON Unfinished Obelisks of Minya, Egypt - BIGGER than BAALBEK

Hello everybody and welcome to Ancient Architects. Please subscribe now to get the latest ancient history news and independent research from around the world. A few days ago I made a video on two enormous monolithic blocks in Middle Egypt, still located within their respective quarries on the east side of the River Nile, close to the ancient city of Ikoris. Each block is larger than the famous Stone of the Pregnant Woman at Baalbek and estimates say that each weighs between 2,000 and 3,000 tonnes. They are absolutely huge and because they only really came to light in the past 20 years and because they're not on the common tourist route, nobody is talking about them. The researchers who work at the site are the Ikoris Archaeological Project, a team led by Japanese experts in association with Nagoya University Research Centre for Cultural Heritage and Texts. Through years of meticulous work, the ancient quarries of this region have been excavated and by recording hundreds of examples of Greek and Demotic writing, as well as dozens of personal items, statuettes, amulets, engravings and so on, all evidence says that these quarries were worked in the Ptolemaic period, which is between 305 and 30 BC. This really is a logical conclusion, but many people have commented on my previous video and stated that the blocks must be older than the Ptolemaic because these people could not move massive blocks of stone. They simply didn't have the technology. Now as an independent researcher with no professional allegiance, I'm open to all ideas and theories, but they do need to be backed up with good evidence. I'm fine with the concept that this stonework could be older, but to associate these quarries with any other time period of Egyptian history right now is a baseless assumption and would disregard all the work that has been done so far. Firstly, maybe it is true that these Ptolemaics could not move them and that's the actual reason they are still in the quarries 2000 years later. But on the flip side, the blocks are still connected to the bedrock, the quarrying was not finished, which means the workers had not reached that part of the project, they hadn't tried to move them, so that reason seems unlikely. And if they're not Ptolemaic, why did the people of this time put clear workers' marks, numbers and writings all over the underside of one of the two giant monoliths? Why is this the only time period we can trace to this specific quarry? Again, I'm open to all ideas, but to change the narrative, you need to logically explain what we have found in the field and then give a better attribution and explain your reasons why. At this stage I'm willing to accept the Ptolemaic interpretation because that's what the evidence points to, but as always, if anyone can point me to better counter evidence, I'm always happy to listen. After making my previous video on the subject, I kept researching these Ptolemaic quarries and I have to say I'm totally blown away. There are amazing things to discover like these stone columns left at the quarry midway through being worked to shape, which are helping researchers to understand how the Egyptians perfectly cut cylindrical columns by hand. I might do a separate video on this in the future because the findings are really quite fascinating. There are also bizarre cat faces cut in relief on many walls within the quarries, apparently depicting the goddess Paquette who was represented as a cat in Greek and Roman times. There are many interesting curiosities and as I kept searching I found another specific site that really needs more exposure to those interested in ancient architecture, and that is the discovery of two previously unknown unfinished obelisks. When I search YouTube and type in unfinished obelisk, there are a large number of videos covering the most famous example, the one found in the Aswan Granite Quarry. Videos on this subject have 300,000 views, 70,000 views, 65,000 and so on. So many of the most prominent ancient history channels have a video on the unfinished obelisk of Aswan, and people clearly have a strong interest in the subject. So with this in mind, I want to be the first to tell you about two more unfinished obelisks that have gone almost completely unnoticed, and interestingly, each one is located next to an unfinished Colossus statue, the ones I discussed in my last video. The first obelisk was only discovered 6 years ago, still lying on the limestone bedrock and abandoned during the extraction phase. It's only 40 metres away from the nearby unfinished Colossus, and you can see the proximity here on Google Earth. All the coordinates are in the description below. Originally, in the field it was very hard to identify because it was half covered with debris, and also the initial trench made by the Egyptians was a pure rectangle. It didn't look like an obelisk. The block of stone is wider. Furthermore, you wouldn't expect to find an obelisk in this quarry because all the famous examples from ancient Egypt are made from Aswan Granite, not limestone, which does make the site somewhat unusual. It measures 21 metres long, and when complete it would have been about 2.4 metres in width. According to the researchers who analysed it in the field, they noted that in the Ptolemaic period limestone seems to have been the chosen rock type, even for the largest and most important stone structures. It's like the Egyptians were opting for efficiency over excellence, with limestone overtaking granite, maybe simply because it was an easier stone to work. The site was well analysed in 2015 and 2016, and researchers were able to understand the construction process. Firstly, just like the unfinished colossi, the quarry site was carefully selected to fit inside the natural fissures that are clearly visible throughout the site. There are four major fissures near each of the four sides of the obelisk, and it's therefore possible that the fissures dictated the size the obelisk would be. In this case, the Egyptians were working to avoid the natural imperfections in the bedrock, I guess to try and ensure the obelisk would have no zones of weakness. Once the site was selected, trenches were dug by pickaxe to form a rectangular block. One trench measures 51cm wide, whilst the other three are just over a metre, so corresponding to 1 and 2 cubits respectively. Shortly after beginning the trench work, or at the same time, the longitudinal centreline and outlines of the obelisk, including the pyramidion, were marked with chisels. The height of the obelisk shaft was planned to be 36 cubits or 19 metres, with the base being 4.5 cubits or 2.42 metres, therefore having a proportion of 1 to 8. In its unfinished state, the pyramidion looks distorted, and the centreline is also displaced eastwards, meaning there must have been a change in plan, probably more than once. The pyramidion also has a flattened top, indicating an electrum cap was planned for the very tip. Workers in the Ptolemaic period didn't actually get too far with the project, because the surrounding trenches are less than 1 metre in depth. Experts say that only one eighth of the work was done before this project was abandoned. Incredibly, in 2015, the site of the obelisk and associated colossus at New Minya Quarry were not protected archaeological sites, and I have no idea whether or not they are today. Modern construction works have taken place very close by, and therefore they do need to be officially protected by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquity. These sites are potentially at risk, and there would be no official consequence for damage. The researchers noted that obelisks were usually erected in pairs, and so they searched for another. Interestingly, they discovered another rectangular block 32 metres long and located 1.4km south of Ikoris, very close to the second colossus. Whether these two blocks are a pair is unknown, as one block is clearly longer than the other, but it's possible that eventually this block would have been cut down to size. As stated, the first obelisk is next to the first colossus, and the second obelisk is right next to the second colossus, almost as if they were two teams with two simultaneous projects, maybe for the same temple for the same pharaoh. The second obelisk is also partly quarried, with excavated trenches around it. Pottery shards were found when the site was cleared five years ago, but were not helpful to date the site, but organic material has been taken to be radiocarbon dated. It is likely to be Ptolemaic, and that's based on the findings in the quarries as a whole, but there isn't any specific dating for the obelisk at present. This block is 32 metres long, 4.2 metres wide, and laid out to avoid existing fissures in the bedrock, just like the first one. As a comparison, this block is 10 metres longer than the Stone of the Pregnant Woman at Baalbek. More quarrying has been done at this site, and experts estimate that before the site was abandoned, around half of the work was done. The top surface of the obelisk is horizontal, except for the northern part where it begins to incline sharply, which may indicate the Pyramidian. The experts think that it's very possible there are more obelisks and colossi still hiding in the quarry, the outlines of which are perhaps covered with debris and rubble. After looking through the work of the Aquarius Archaeological Project, I'm amazed their findings haven't reached a broader audience, especially when there is so much interest in ancient Egypt, ancient civilisations and ancient technology. This was a working quarry, and many large projects were never even finished. Maybe abandoned because the king died, maybe there was some sort of battle or war, or maybe economic reasons meant the work had to be stopped. Either way, if Egypt is looking for new ways to get tourists into the country, then this is one region that would generate a great deal of interest, and if excavated and protected in the right way, we could learn so much about the processes, methods and techniques associated with the incredible ancient Egyptian stonework. Thank you very much for watching this episode of Ancient Architects. If you enjoyed the video, please subscribe to the channel, please like the video and please leave a comment below. Thank you very much.