Today was a very intensive day in almost every sense! In the early morning the heads of the archaeological teams in TT 313 and TT 315 started work as soon as possible to make sure the week was enough to complete their plans. Both teams had opened important fronts in the last days and it is fundamental to make sure they are completed, documented, and closed in the next three or four days. However, the most exceptional event today was the work of Spanish television in the site. With the appropriate permissions of the MSA and the local inspectorate, this television crue filmed inside and outside the tomb of Ipi, focusing mainly on funerary beliefs, the architecture of a tomb, and the mummification and encoffining processes. For the whole day the moudir has been participating in the filming of various parts of the tomb and has explained the various aspects important to the TV people.
In the courtyard of TT 313 work in the western side of the façade has continued, not without surprises. A new shaft full of debris has been discovered under the area of the western façade. It is connected to the previous known shaft in the area and somehow constitutes a problem for the security of our workers. In the next couple of days we will clean the upper part of the shaft and observe how the debris of this shaft affects the previous shaft. In addition, Ana has been working on the sorting and preparation of the materils proceeding from the excavated area. In the inner areas, Ernesto and Flavio continued with the 3D scanning of several sections of the tomb of Henenu, which will allow to have a complete set of 3D reconstructions and plans for the whole tomb.
In the case of the tomb of Ipi, some work slowed down due to the presence of the television crue. However, the archaeological work was not the case and continued at full speed in the search of responses for the structure found in the northwestern corner. At this point we have reached the bedrock in some sections (with interesting discoveries therein in terms of ceramics) or have identified the lowermost sections of the structure under study. We hope to be able to explain the process of deposition, construction, and use of the northwestern corner of the complex where several other factors (such as natural collapse of part of the façade) could have occurred. Aside of this, our geologist Teresa left the courtyard of Ipi –where she has been working on the identification of particular features of the geomorphology in the area– to walk on a higher section of the hills and observe the layer system therein.
Considering the high temperatures of the last two or three days, work has become very difficult and exhausting in the site. Our local workers have been very animated and productive at work, however. That is an unequivocal proof of the joyful character of the Egyptian people, even if the current circumstances are hard for all of them. Everyday we feel thankful and grateful for their character, work, and smiles in every situation. Yesterday we were also happy to be invited by Gustavo Cabanillas (Gaselec Foundation) to relax a little bit and share a faluca trip and lunch. We appreciate this move since any refreshing activity is very welcome in this last week. Besides, work is becoming more and more intense since some of our members are starting to leave. Today we said farewell to Sebastian (heading to Cairo) and Kelly (going to El-Amarna). We are very happy to have spent time and weeks of work with both of them and hope to see them back.
