The Amarna Royal Tombs Project - Dig diary 1999
by Paul Sussman


The Amarna Royal Tombs Project

Day 38, Monday 29 November 1999

Today we finished the site, or at least as much of it as we're going to do this year. We exposed the face of the gebel, down to bedrock, right the way along the line of the site. No tomb this season, although that is more than made up for by a magazine full of wonderful artefacts: over thirty ostraca, several almost intact pots, the beautiful flint votive figure, several bags of gold leaf from KV 56, thirteen jar stoppers, some with the seal still visible on them, dozens of bags of pottery, fragments of faience, and lots, lots more. Not to mention all the information we've been able to gather about the site, the stratigraphy of the valley, KV 56 etc. It's been a great season. Far more productive and informative than last year. And hopefully next year we'll come back, and who knows what will happen.

The men effectively finished clearing the site by 1 p.m. Nick, Mohsen and I stood over them watching as they removed the last of the debris, down to the rock floor of the wadi bottom. We found a few more sherds of pottery, a faience bead, and a couple of pieces of charcoal. One final ostracon also appeared - smallish, in red ink, with the name of Ra-Harakhty on it on one side, and another hieroglyphic figure in black on the other. A sort of farewell gift from the site.

The men were quiet today; none of the usual singing and dancing. The reason was not despondency at the close of the season, however, but rather that Abdulrahman, the one who normally leads the singing, was away sick. Yesterday he cut his foot badly on a rock, and had to go to hospital for stitches. Today his position was taken by his brother, who looks exactly like him, but is somewhat quieter and less extrovert.

Work finished at 3.30 p.m. I had a mini-disaster on the boat back over the Nile when I dropped my camera in the river whilst trying to photograph a heron. The boatman slammed the outboard into reverse and tried to go back for it, but it was pointless. It had already disappeared into the murky brown depths.

In the evening Yumiko, William and I went to visit the Mummification Museum to interview Ahmed Saleh Abd-Allah, the director - a friend of Mohsen - and to have a look round the exhibits. It gives a fascinating insight into the whole mummification process. Apparently the museum gets a regular stream of letters from people - Americans mostly - inquiring about the possibility of having themselves stuffed.

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