This was Jose’s last Friday with us before he leaves for Aswan, so we decided to do something different and take off in one of the hot air balloons that fly over Luxor every morning!

Jose, Jaume, David, Reed, Carmen, Iria and Bea woke up even earlier than usual to enjoy the Theban mountains from the sky. However, the wind had other plans.

The balloon crew warned that it was possible that the trip would have to be cancelled if the wind did not slow down. The team waited for two hours but the situation only got worse. The wind was blowing harder and finally, the ride was cancelled.

Faced with this setback, the team looked for an alternative plan. Some of Mohamed’s students, who are beginning their studies in Egyptology, came to visit him. Therefore, what better place to visit than Deir el-Medina?

Carlos and Ella also joined the group and all of them went to one of the most amazing sites in ancient Egypt. They visited the tombs of Sennedjem, Pashedu, Ankher and Nakhtamun where Carlos explained the most important features of the epigraphy and the funerary world of those tombs. Iria explained the history of the site and some of the most significant domestic structures of the settlement. They also explored the Hathoric Temple and the great pit where hundreds of ostraca were found in the 1930’s.

Later, Reed, Bea, Mohamed and his students visited the Ramesseum. They were lucky because it was lunch time and there were not many tourist, so they enjoyed the temple as its best.

The day ended with almost the whole team playing cards. However, it was so windy that we had to have dinner inside the Marsam. Hopefully, the wind tomorrow will allow us to work without too many problems!

Archaeology works in a curious way. It may be quiet all day long with no interesting finds, but everything can change in the last few minutes of the day. That is what happened today.

Activity at Ipi went smoothly during the day, but by the end of the morning the work overflowed. First, Mohamed found what look like a small object wrapped in textile and tied with string. After Patri photographed it, Ella carefully unwrapped it. The object appears to be a wick use of light, but there is no definitive conclusion and it requires further studies.

A few minutes later, one of our best workers, Abd El-Rahim, found some fragments of papyrus written in hieratic. Mohamed collected them and Antonio completed a first analysis of the text. The restoration team inmediately began considering how to conserve the pieces. Some fragments are folded so we do not know if there is more written text. On Saturday the restoration team will established a methodology for further treatment so that we can have an answer.

At Henenu’s tomb, David and Iria continued excavating and documenting the shaft they opened the day before. Carlos and Sika started to work on some reliefs that may have come from the walls of the tomb.

Meanwhile in the East Sector, Jose and Carmen finished the cleaning of the corridor of the tomb. Despite no significant materials being found, some imitation objects from the XXth century were located such as the head of a shabti and a scarab.

Our “weekends” start Thursday afternoon, so some members took a break and watched a TV show. However, Jose could not join them as he had to give his lecture to the FSE program of the University of Alcalá. Tomorrow, we have organised a different plan for a day off…

Work continues on all the tombs. Archaeology requires documenting every step we take. Therefore, sometimes it seems that our work is slow, but this is essential if we want to reconstruct the history of the site.

At Henenu’s tomb, a new shaft in the closest chamber to that of the sarcophagus was opened by David. Materials coming from it were analyzed and registered by Iria; together with the conservators who first take a look at the pieces and treated them.

Then, the epigraphers, Carlos and Sika, separated the fragments according to their possible provenance (wall, stelae, sarcophagus…). They finished the study of the big fragments which possibly come from the sarcophagus and started the analysis of the incised pieces. 

At Ipi’s tomb, Mohamed and Bea continued the documentation and excavation in the main courtyard of the tomb going down to the slope. Bea also continued identifying and classifying the new materials. Bettina finished analysing all the jars in the embalming cachette. She has studied more than fifty jars in just two weeks of work.

At the East Sector, Jose and Carmen have cleaned the entrance of the tomb, but some large rocks have appeared. It has taken several workers to move them to the outside of the tomb.

In the afternoon, we visited the tomb of Djehuty (TT110), the team had the opportunity to participate in a guided visit by J.J Shirley, who is the main director of the Epigraphy Research School Field of the ARCE. She explained to us the architecture of the tomb, the depictions and the work they have been doing for several years now in this tomb.

During the night, as it was Bettina’s final work day, the whole team went to Luxor to celebrate her work at MKTP in the pub King’s head. It was a good night to say goodbye to an exceptional worker. We will miss you Bettina!

In an archaeological campaign, excavating and documenting is not the only important thing. The restoration and conservation of materials is fundamental if we want to preserve our past. This season, the MKTP has a large team of restorers to carry out numerous tasks in all the tombs.

Last night Jaume arrived from the Scuola Superiore Meridionale (Naples), to joined the restoration team. He, Ella and Reed are working on Henenu’s tomb, they are cleaning and restoring limestone fragments, which are painted and inscribed. Thanks to their work, the epigraphers, Carlos and Sika, can study the fragments and analyse more details on them.

After the cleaning and analyses of the exterior shaft, another shaft within the corridor of the tomb was opened and studied by David. Besides, Iria continued her tasks on cataloguing and updating the inventory of the tomb.

At Ipi’s tomb, Bea supervised the excavation of some sectors of the main courtyard. She also classified and identified ceramics together with Bettina.

During the first half of the morning, Mohamed did some progress with the photogrammetry and the documentation of the courtyard of Ipi. After the breakfast, he went to the E1 where he also did the photogrammetry of the tomb, together with Jose.

At the East Sector, things are progressing well. Jose and Carmen have almost finished cleaning the entrance of the tomb and they have started documenting it. We hope that in a few days the corridor of the tomb is completely clean.

After two weeks, the team is getting bigger and bigger. We already need to take two trips from Marsam to Deir el-Bahari to move all our members, and this is just the beginning!

All the action has moved to Henenu’s tomb. The epigraphers, Sika and Carlos, have begun to work with the fragments of the sarcophagus. They connected some pieces and have started working with the conservation team to prioritise the cleaning and labelling of the fragments they want to study first. Then, Reed and Ella photograph the fragments, clean them to try to reveal more details of their decoration and label each piece with its specific object number.

Iria and David spent the day starting the photogrammetric documentation of one of the shafts, which is located in the courtyard of the tomb.

At E1, Jose continued cleaning the corridor of the tomb, which is still full of big stones.

Patri started her day as usual, visiting the different sites to document each excavation. After that, she started photographing the natron bags from the embalming shaft of Ipi.

Mohamed had a very busy day working between Ipi and Henenu to direct the surveying 3D documentation at both sites. While Mohamed was at Henenu, Bea focused on the excavation of the middle courtyard of Ipi, taking notes on the progress of the work. Meanwhile, Bettina made amazing progress with the ceramic jars, as this is her final week with us and she is very close to finishing the analysis of the entire set.

During the afternoon, most of the team went to the town to buy some sweets and SIM cards for their phones. They were very happy to find Nutella!

The eastern sector at the northern hills of Deir el-Bahari constitute the less examined area of the necropolis. In general, the whole area in the northern hills gathered tombs belonging to officials who lived in the period between mid-Twelfth Dynasty and XIII Dynasty.  The MKTP has the concesion of one of these tombs, E1 (MMA 521) and today, finally, we have started its excavation.

This tomb, whose owner is still unknown, it has not been excavated in modern times. This is why the work during this season is so promising.

Jose and Carmen are cleaning the entrance of the tomb, which was full of sand and stones. The architecture of this tomb seems really interesting and hopefully we would be able to share more details in the next few days.

At the same time, the works in Henenu’s tomb continued. Mohamed and David were documenting the shaft from the tomb and preparing the points for further photogrammetry. Iria assisted them and kept on registering new finds.

Ella, from the same programme at University College London as Reed, has joined the conservation team. Both of them started the restoration of the painted fragments found in Henenu’s tomb

In Ipi’s tomb, Bea spent the morning classifying finds and supervising the trenches related to ceramic material of the Middle Kingdom. Bettina continued studying the pottery from the embalming shaft of the tomb

In the evening, the epigraphers, Carlos and Sika, arrived in Luxor and joined the team to work during the following days at the tomb of Henenu.

Today after a free day, the archaeological activities of the MKTP team continued in Deir el-Bahari.

Jose, from the University of Jaen, arrived yesterday. With his arrival the East sector was opened once more. He is going to be in charge of the works at this tomb. Carmen is cooperating with him as archaeological assistance in helping to clear the tomb

At Henenu’s tomb, some cartonnage was found in the main chamber of the shaft that was treated in situ by Reed. David exhaustively documented the chambers as well as the passage of the main shaft. Iria registered the main finds of the day, which consisted mainly in wooden pieces and leather.

Reed and Fathi continued with the restoration labours of Henenu’s fragments and the fragments of ceramics from Ipi’s tomb.

Meanwhile, Bettina was also adding the manufacture details of the pottery coming from the courtyard of Ipi’s tomb and Mohamed continued the documentation and excavation of the courtyard.

During the afternoon, a sandstorm arrived and we quickly close the shutters and covered the windows in the workspace to wait out the storm. Luckily the worst of the storm had passed by the evening, when Ella arrived in Luxor and joined the MKTP.

This Friday some members of the team visited the Karnak Temple and Khonsu Temple on the East bank of modern-day Luxor.

Once we were there, another member of the team, Hazem, joined us. He is currently working in TT110, but Hazem will re-join the MKTP next week. While we were in the Hypostile hall of Karnak temple, a student from the FSE program at the University of Alcalá was there spending her vacation and serendipitously met us. It was great to see you Alicia! 

During our visit we all greatly enjoyed the explanations provided by Mohamed and Bea. These consisted of an understanding of the architecture and various depictions within the temple.

Afterwards, the team visited the Aboudi Library to browse for some books and also went for lunch. Carmen was able to enjoy her favourite chocolate milkshake! After the meal, we came back to the Marsam Hotel and finished some work.

At the same time, Patri finished the weekly video of the project and Antonio gave his lecture to the FSE program.

It seems that a storm is coming tomorrow, we hope it passes quickly and brings better weather with it.

Yesterday, the heat gave us a break and the archaeological works developed on site in slightly cooler weather.

David was working in Henenu’s shaft removing the debris and documenting the different parts of the shaft including the passage and chambers. Iria and Carmen assisted him and worked registering the objects and checking the last finds.

Mohamed worked on the excavation of the courtyard and identified ceramic materials from the Middle Kingdom coming from a few different areas by using the total station to search for patterns in their distribution. Reed and Fathi worked on the shabtis from Ipi’s tomb and Bea cleaned and extracted a human femur.

After breakfast, the team was invited to visit the Lost City of Amenhotep III and had the honour of meeting Dr. Zahi Hawass. Ahmed Naseh guided the team throughout the site and explained several aspects of the settlement.

After breakfast, the team was invited to visit the Lost City of Amenhotep III and had the honour of meeting Dr. Zahi Hawass. Ahmed Naseh guided the team throughout the site and explained several aspects of the settlement.

In the evening, the team went to the home of the head of the Marsam hotel for dinner, and there we met the Austrian-German excavation team. We talked about the very different projects and how they are currently developing in Egypt, while enjoying traditional Austrian food!

Yesterday, the commission of the Permanent Committee of Antiquities visited the tomb of Ipi. They inspected the archaeological works in the main courtyard that are being carried out this season. They also entered the tomb of Ipi and saw the sarcophagus located in the funerary chamber. At the end of the visit, they evaluated the progress of the Middle Kingdom Theban Project very positively.

Due to this inspection the works started later than usual. In addition, the previous night we were notified that three members of the team (Antonio, Patri and Bettina) had been in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID. Luckily, the affected person was sensible and communicated the situation immediately so that these members of the team could self-isolate. Due to this, Antonio, Patri and Bettina could not continue with their tasks on site until they could take a COVID test themselves. Mohamed was the one who spoke to the commission and introduced the site. He did a great job and thanks to that we all obtained a satisfactory evaluation.

As we were less people working at the site, Henenu’s tomb remained closed for the day. David and Iria started to analyze the painted reliefs from Henenu’s tomb by recording the main data of each piece.

Mohamed kept on supervising the ongoing archaeological works of the courtyard. At the same time, Bea continued her tasks with the ceramic materials and identifying and classifying the finds of the day together with Carmen who registered the new objects.

Reed worked with some fragments from Henenu’s tomb and with the special finds from Ipi’s tomb. Among them, she selected a group of shabtis to begin working on the next day.

After thirty-six hours since the intitial contact with the person who had tested positive for covid, Antonio, Patri and Bettina were able to take a test that fortunately came back negative.

The activity during the day was calmer than usual and even the dinner was more unexpected than usual and a nice surprise as it consisted of pizza! Let’s see what tomorrow brings!