The Amarna Royal Tombs Project
- 1999 Season
The Amarna Royal Tombs Project
(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 Work at the site resumed on 23 October 1999 and ended on 1 December, with excavations again concentrated on the area of ground located between the 'Gold Tomb' (KV 56) to the west and the tomb of Ramesses VI (KV 9) on the east. Careful excavation was continued down to bedrock- apparently the first of a series of natural 'steps' or ledges. In addition, copying was completed of the unpublished graffiti revealed on the cliff face during the course of The Amarna Royal Tombs Project's work both last year and this; a start was made also on the reclearance of KV 56, 'The Gold Tomb', a poorly understood deposit first brought to light by Theodore Davis in 1908. The remains of a second small settlement within the Amarna Royal Tomb Project's concession, located between tombs KV 47 (Siptah) and the uninscribed KV 30, were cleaned and planned in situ preparatory to full excavation and recording. Several important, detailed sections of the Valley at this point have now been secured, the longest stratigraphical sequence being some 4 metres in height and spanning the period between the reign of Amenmesse of the 19th Dynasty (circa 1200 BC) and the present. Structures and stratigraphy The excavation and recording of the structures located last season within The Amarna Royal Tombs Project's concession is now virtually completed, revealing them to have been built in part upon a natural rock ledge and in part upon chippings generated by the quarrying of a nearby tomb - on the basis of a series of inscribed ostraca (see below), KV 10 (Amenmesse) across the tourist path. Finds Finds of uncontexted material in the topmost levels of the site were numerous, including a large fragment of the canopic chest of Horemheb and a New Kingdom 'trial piece'--the upper part of a limestone statuette with a second face carved on one side. More significant were several ostraca, many from contexted layers. Among these, two are of particular interest. The first carries an 'erotic' representation of a skeletal figure-a rare subject-matter-, while the second bears the titulary of a previously unknown king's wife, Taiay. Particularly interesting was a series of jeux de nature (suggestively shaped flint nodules embellished in antiquity with painted detail) recovered from one of the Ramessid period workmen's structures. The most ambitious of these was a stone in form resembling a kneeling goddess, a similarity which had been strengthened in antiquity by the addition of hair and facial details and a broad collar and pectoral in black paint. The remainder of this 'hoard' consisted of several flint nodules reminiscent of the lunar disc and crescent, one of which, again, had been embellished with black paint. A good deal of diagnostic pottery was recovered during the course of the excavations, and a cache of plaster jar sealings, several stamped with the seal of the mortuary temple of Sethos I. It is planned to study these and other finds in more detail in September 2000, before the resumption of digging in October and November.
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