In an archaeological excavation everything can change in a second. At the most unexpected moment we can locate a new structure or find a new object. Today, E1 gave us a good surprise.

Marisa’s “death” has allowed Sergio and Raúl to excavate the chamber more quickly. As a result, they have been able to locate the entrance to what looks like a shaft or perhaps a descending corridor. This is very promising for all of us and, as always, it had to happen at the end of the campaign.

At the tomb of Henenu things are also getting interesting. Today, David, Iria, Nisha and Carmen have continued with the excavation of their respective grids, but now in the middle area of the courtyard. The area that Carmen is excavating also looks very interesting, not so much for the finds that are being documented, but for the shape that the rock is taking in that area.

Today, at Ipi’s tomb, the excavation has finished. Mohamed has concluded that it is indeed very likely that the shaft was divided into two compartments, a small entrance and then the main chamber, separated by an adobe wall. Bea has finished taking all the necessary samples from the entrance of the subsidiary chamber to send them to the laboratory next year.

Meanwhile, Manuel and Enrique have continued with the analysis of human bones, being able to calculate the height, sex and age of many of the individuals.

Lily left last night, so the conservation team is now down one member. Reed, Rawda and Ella have continued to work with Ipi’s cartonnage until breakfast. After that, Ella has finished all the projects she had started in Henenu, mainly concerning the treatment of cartonnage and shabtis. Reed and Rawda returned to Dagi to begin packing the most fragile and important of the wall painting fragments into boxes for safe storage.

We were originally going to return to Marsam at the usual time today. However, the news on E1 has made us stay until four o’clock again and make the most of our time at the site. It is true that we are exhausted, but if it is for this reason we don’t mind staying as long as it takes!

Today some fronts have started to close on the site, while others are just opening up. The work in Ipi’s complex may be nearing its end, but at E1 things are just getting interesting.

At the tomb of Henenu, work continues in the upper courtyard. Today three complete squares have been excavated, reaching down to the bedrock. Several significant cartonnages have been found. David, Iria and Carmen are beginning to better understand the structure of this part of the courtyard.

Mohamed has finished excavating the shaft of the subsidiary chamber. Although Winlock had already excavated it, the documentation he produced on it is quite scarce. First of all, the profile he drew is totally different from the one we have found, and secondly, the large amount of mud bricks we have found leads us to think that the shaft may have been divided into two compartments.

Bea has been inside the tomb, taking samples of the botanical remains obtained from the entrance of this chamber. Next year we will request radiocarbon analysis for all these samples, which will help us to better date the complex.

Elsa has been working with some very special textiles that we found in the embalming cachette. This year we found very similar textiles in the courtyard, which Elsa found interesting. Meanwhile, Enrique and Manuel have been working with the mummified head of a person, inside which there was a plug of textile and resin.

Today a very important event took place in E1: we said goodbye to Marisa. The big rock that occupied a very important part of the chamber and slowed down the excavation has disappeared forever. Antar, together with several other workers, had to use a drill to turn Marisa into small fragments that could be easily thrown outside the tomb.

The conservation team has been working in the morning, as usual, in all the complexes. At Ipi’s tomb they are organising the box of special find  s, sorting them according to their state of conservation. After breakfast they went to Dagi where they are still working on a restoration plan for the wall paintings.

Today we also stayed at the site until four o’clock in the afternoon. If it were a normal day, the team would probably have taken a well-deserved rest. However, we are at the end of the season and the work is just piling up: writing reports, drawing up plans, maps, lists…. It is very likely that we will get very little rest for the rest of the week, but we can always do that when we return home.