Fallen Obelisk of Hatshepsut at Karnak?

Credit goes to Kate Phiz(ackerley) for this post on News from the Valley of the Kings

Kate has found some great photos on Flickr showing a number of "Old Stereo Photos of Egypt" dating back to 19th Century. One of them is shown below:

Flickr Stereo Photos

Thanks to SonomaPicMan for uploading this photo on Flickr.

Looking solely at the photo on the left we see the standing obelisk of Thutmose I, Hatshepsut's earthly father (Amun being her divine father) and on the right we see Hatshepsut's own standing obelisk, which i mentioned in my last post.

Both would have had a "twin obelisk" as obelisks were usually (but not always) erected in pairs.

Between the 2 standing obelisks appears to be the fallen obelisk of Hatshepsut. Only the tip is left (see my previous post) and it seems to have fallen in the correct area (or thereabouts) to be the original (or rather final) resting place of the twin obelisk of Hatshepsut in this area.

It does make me wonder what happened to the rest of the obelisk. Could the pieces have been used for later construction (in the form of rubble, blocks cut from the obelisk, etc)? They must be somewhere.

There would have been 2 sets of twin obelisks erected by Hatshepsut in Karnak. Sadly only one remains in tact and in situ. All four bases can be accounted for. As for the 2 "missing" Hatshepsut obelisks i fear we will never know what happened to them. I hope to find out more.

I suggest that Digital Karnak will be the best place to visit for more information here:

Digital Karnak Obelisks

Thanks to SonomaPicMan for uploading this photo on Flickr.

Stuart