CAIRO.- A team of Swedish archaeologists has discovered a rare 2,500-year-old wall relief depicting two pharaonic deities south of Cairo, Egyptian officials said on Tuesday.

The discovery, one of several finds by a team from Sweden's Lund University, was made near Aswan, 850 kilometres (528 miles) from the Egyptian capital.

The wall relief is one of the "few available sculptures combining the two deities -- God Amen-Re and God Thot," Ali al-Asfar, head of Upper Egypt's antiquities, told AFP.

Thot, the ancient god of wisdom, is depicted with the body of a man and face of an ibis sacred bird.

The wall relief was found in a quarry north of Aswan used to supply stone to build the famed Karnak and Luxor temples in the city of Luxor.

The other finds include a sphinx-shaped statue and another relief showing two obelisks being transported which experts say could date to the time of 18th dynasty Queen Hatshepsut.