CAIRO: Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed four small statues of the Sphinx, the mythological figure of a lion with a human head, the Higher Council of Antiquities said on Friday.

The headless sandstone statues were found on a road linking the ancient temples of Luxor and Karnak in southern Egypt, antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass said in a statement.

They were unearthed in an area once occupied by a police station that was demolished as part of a project to rescue artifacts, Hawass said.

The statues date from the reign of King Nekhtnebef who founded the 30thPharaonic dynasty (363-380 BC), Hawass added.

The same team of archaeologists also found a sandstone block engraved with the name of Queen Cleopatra. –AFP