A Nile Delta farmer’s decision to report an unusual pink stone led to Ramses II statue pieces and official honors for his honesty and responsibility.
Khaled al-Shahat was working his land in Egypt’s Al Gharbia Governorate when he came across a pink rock that did not belong. He called the authorities instead of keeping quiet. That choice opened a dig that produced a colossal head of the pharaoh Ramses II and most of a second royal statue believed to show the same king.
CBS News reported that Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities identified the stone as an ancient pink granite block about 1.3 meters long, roughly 4.26 feet, carved with two of Ramses II’s royal titles.
Archaeologists then turned al-Shahat’s fields into an active excavation site. They recovered a statue head about 1.6 meters high, or 5.25 feet, wearing the double crown that once symbolized the union of Upper and Lower Egypt. From that head alone, officials estimate the complete figure once stood near 28 feet tall.
The granite block carried the titles “Nesw-Bity,” meaning King of Upper and Lower Egypt, and “Sa-Ra,” Son of Ra, the sun god. Ramses II ruled from 1279 B.C. to 1213 B.C. The ministry said diggers also found the upper part of a statue’s back pillar bearing the Horus name Hor Ka Nakht Mery Maat.
Most of a second royal statue, about 2.4 meters long or 7.87 feet, came up as well. It is missing its legs, base, and part of the upper section of the royal nemes headdress. Officials said its head still shows clear facial features that match the first statue and is believed to depict Ramses II. Excavations and studies on the land are continuing.
Al-Shahat described the moment in plain terms.
"I was working on my land on Friday when I came across an unusual stone."
He added that he notified the relevant authorities and that they came to examine it.
"I was surprised and happy when they discovered more antiquities."
He said they told him the find might change the history of the area.
On Wednesday, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy traveled to al-Shahat’s hometown in the Nile Delta. A photo caption tied the recognition to Oct. 14, 2026. Fathy presented certificates of appreciation to the farmer and his wife and awarded them a trip to Saudi Arabia to perform the Umrah pilgrimage.
The ministry framed the gesture as deliberate public recognition rather than a quiet thank-you in Cairo.
"The minister insisted that the citizen be honored in his village, on his own land, and among his family and fellow villagers, in recognition of his honesty, awareness, and sense of responsibility."
That is the point worth noticing. An ordinary landowner found something valuable underfoot, reported it, and let the state take over the site. He did not hide the stone, sell it on the side, or treat national heritage as personal windfall.
In return, the ministry turned his fields into a dig, kept the work going, and put the honor where his neighbors could see it. The double crown on the recovered head reaches back to the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt around 3100 B.C. The statues themselves belong to one of Egypt’s best-known rulers. None of that would have reached daylight if the farmer had stayed silent.
Questions remain. The second statue is still described only as “believed” to show Ramses II. Absolute calendar dates for the Friday discovery and Wednesday visit beyond the relative days and the photo caption are not locked down. Village-level coordinates and the full legal status of the land under excavation are not spelled out. Archaeologists’ individual names are not listed.
What is clear is the sequence: a pink granite block on private farmland, royal titles of Ramses II, a colossal head, a second incomplete royal statue, and a minister standing in a Delta village to thank the man who made the call.
Honesty still pays when institutions bother to notice it. A farmer who did the simple right thing handed Egypt another piece of its own past, and got more than a pat on the head for it.
