Ptolemic granite statue unearthed in northern Egypt

Cairo - A headless granite statue, believed to be of King Ptolemy IV, has been unearthed in northern Egypt by archeologists who were searching for Cleopatra's tomb, the ministry of Culture said Tuesday.

Behind the Taposiris Magna temple, built by Ptolemy IV, a huge Greco-Roman cemetery was unearthed.

All the heads of the bodies were laid to point towards the temple, indicating the burial of someone important inside, antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said.

Egyptian archaeologists, aided by Kathleen Martinez from the Dominican Republic, began their search for the tombs of the famous Egyptian queen and her Roman lover and political ally Mark Anthony five years ago.

Hawass said that the temple, located some 50 kilometers west of the coastal city of Alexandria, might be the final resting place of Cleopatra and Anthony after evidence showed they were not buried in the royal cemetery, now sunk beneath the Mediterranean Sea.

Last year, archeologists found a mask thought to belong to Mark Antony, a bust of Cleopatra and 24 coins that had her name and picture engraved on them.

The Ptolemaic era began when Ptolemy I declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt in 305 BC and ended in 30 BC, when Cleopatra and Anthony were defeated by Roman Emperor Octavian in the Battle of Actium and supposedly committed suicide.