For the members of the UAH expedition, the last days of March have been very frenetic regarding purchases, preparations, and the organization of this exciting scientific adventure. We hope that our work, research, and plans over the last year will produce important results and will allow us to take a step forward in our understanding of the necropolis at Deir el-Bahari and the early Middle Kingdom. However, for some members of the expedition the season already started some weeks ago: Mohamed Osman, one of our archaeologists and head of the excavations at Ipi´s funerary complex, have been a couple of weeks working at the Cairo Museum with several Middle Kingdom objects. On the other hand, our photographer Patricia Mora settled in Luxor by mid-March after a fantastic experience at Qubbet el-Hawa with the University of Jaen. They have been the earliest members to arrive to Luxor for the Middle Kingdom Theban Project and to mark the beginning of the archaeological season in 2018.
A few days later, Raúl Sánchez and Antonio Morales (project director) arrived to Cairo, mainly to visit the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and meet with several members of the ministry for receiving the documents and permissions of this season. Unfortunately, although the project application for 2018 was approved by the Permanent Committee for Foreign Missions, due to the national elections of this week in Egypt we have not been able to receive the security clearance (mainly, the verification of the personal profiles of the expedition members by the national security office). That means that we are not allowed (yet) to start and we have to modify our initial plans in order to continue making arrangements for the first day of work in the site. In this respect, our conversations with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, the Spanish Embassy in Cairo, the authorities of the UAH, and the support of our colleagues from the University of Jaén expedition to Qubbet el-Hawa have been very beneficial for speeding up the process and get the permissions.
In any case, today Eastern Sunday is a day of new arrivals and encounters in Luxor. Since our team includes 34 members, it could be said that we will constantly experience the arrival and farewells of colleagues and friends. Today is the turn of seven members of the expedition who will arrive to the airport of Luxor at midnight. The feeling of receiving team members almost every day and see others off will no doubt intensify the impression of stress, immediacy, and pressure in these five weeks of work. Carlos Gracia, who is going to work as epigrapher for the complex of Henenu (TT 313), comes from Edinburgh via Madrid. From Seville and Valencia, we will receive Miriam Luciañez and Jónatan Ortiz. Miriam will work in the new concession area in the Eastern sector of the necropolis, while Jónatan will continue with the registration, study and organization of findings in Henenu (TT 313). Dina Serova, epigrapher concentrated on the study of the inscriptions in the sarcophagus of the vizier Ipi (TT 315), comes from Berlin. Rawda Abdelhady and Sebastian Falk have traveled from Cairo airport, and tomorrow Monday we will have Ahmed Tarek with us. Rawda and Ahmed are responsibles for the conservation and protection of pieces, objects, and iconography and texts in the tombs of Ipi and Henenu respectively, though they will initiate similar tasks in the tombs of Djari (TT 366) and Dagi (TT 103), once the architects and archaeologists have cleaned the entrance into both tombs. Regarding Sebastian, he will be the head of the team working in the new area at the East, which for sure will offer many surprises in the near future.
Meantime, in the Marsam hotel the rest of specialists has initiated the preparations for their work at the site: Kei Yamamoto has started with the study of the jars discovered last year in the mummification deposit; Mohamed Osman discusses with Raúl the major archaeological and material duties for this season; Lisa Kruck prepares her participation in the complex of Henenu, and Patricia Mora continues taking photos of meetings, people, and the atmosphere of work at the Marsam. In addition, Antonio got a meeting with the producers of Wind Fall Films to prepare the filming for a documentary of our work at the site of Deir el-Bahari.
Today, without doubt, the team starts to look similar to the one from last year with multiple members, and initiates this season with more energy, plans, and enthusiasm than ever. We welcome the new members of the team and hope that they will enjoy working in Egypt like the rest of us, with the same passion, emotions, and enthusiasm.
