Montet, who excavated in 1921-51 , thought that the site was Piramesse , the capital of Sety I and Ramese II , but later findings proved him wrong

We found the foot sitting off by itself, and marvelled at the size. The toenail is almost a foot long. I kept trying to estimate how big the statue would have been, but the pieces were just too big. It must have been enormous! I guessed that it was probably a colossus of Ramesses II, since he was the most prolific pharaoh when it came to statuary, but we didn’t know if I was right. I’ve got a 50-50 chance though — our guides told us that when someone asks “who did this?” if you don’t know, asnwer “Ramesses the Great” and you’re probably right!