ARTP Report on the 1998 Season

The Amarna Royal Tombs Project - 1998 Season

The Amarna Royal Tombs Project

Aims

The area chosen for preliminary investigation by The Amarna Royal Tombs Project during its first and second seasons (November-December 1998 and October-December 1999) lies close to the Amarna period tombs KV 55 and KV 62 (Tutankhamun), bounded by the 'Gold Tomb' (KV 56) on the west and the tomb of Ramesses VI (KV 9) on the east.

Records suggested that previous work in this area had been sporadic and less than thorough, and that excavation might offer:

(i) the prospect of a continuation of the poorly documented workmen's 'settlement' noted by Howard Carter overlying the tomb of Tutankhamun at the entrance to the tomb of Ramesses VI;

(ii) the possibility of further, undiscovered burials at bedrock level. (Two unexplained 'anomalies' were revealed in the area by a sonar survey undertaken in 1976, while the irregular ground plan of tomb KV 56 and peculiar change in direction of the neighbouring tomb of Tutankhamun KV 62 likewise hint at the possible existence of an undocumented subterranean feature in the vicinity.)

Results

After an initial survey to tie the excavation area into the grid previously established by the Theban Mapping Project, a test trench was dug north-south through the concession to establish the stratigraphy. Systematic excavation revealed that the top three metres consisted of dumped material from the work of the Theodore Davis and Carnarvon-Carter missions during the first two decades of this century; this has perhaps been further disturbed by post-war landscaping of the area to facilitate tourist access. Careful screening of the debris brought to light a number of interesting finds, including fragments of gold, mummy linen, decorated and inscribed limestone ostraca, and a range of 'strays' from Davis's clearance of the tomb of Horemheb (KV 57). Particularly notable was a piece of red granite, which proved to be the lost corner of this king's sarcophagus. The fragment was restored to its original position on this monument by Supreme Council of Antiquities restorers in November 1999.

Structures

With the general nature of the upper layers of the site established, the excavation area was extended during this same first season in the direction of shaft-tomb KV 56. At the 3-metre level, the mission encountered evidence of the anticipated workmen's huts which, from their alignment, clearly link up with those huts uncovered by Carter above the tomb of Tutankhamun. These structures were carefully excavated and recorded in detail. Limestone ostraca found in situ within indicate that the buildings were in use during the 20th Dynasty (1196-1070 BC), and that the ground beneath had remained undisturbed since that time.

Graffiti

Several unrecorded hieratic graffiti were revealed incised on the newly cleared rock face during the course of the 1998 excavation. Of these graffiti, two make mention of the late 20th Dynasty necropolis scribe Wennefer. Further investigation revealed that similar graffiti had been left by this same scribe above the entrances to the tombs of Amenophis II (KV 35) and Horemheb (KV 57), and above the adjacent shaft-tombs KV 56 and KV 58. One possible interpretation of this distribution of texts is that Wennefer had been moving down the escarpment in the course of his official duties, marking the positions of those burials which were known to him from ancient archival sources. That the scribe wrote his name at two as yet unexplored points within our concession, where no burials have previously been noted, was intriguing in the extreme. Wennefer's texts seemed to suggest that, beneath these Ramessid buildings, there might be further surprises in store.

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