The Amarna Royal Tombs Project
- Dig diary 1999
by Paul Sussman
The Amarna Royal Tombs Project
Day 40, Wednesday 1 December 1999
So, my final day in Luxor. I spent the early part of the morning packing and saying goodbye to Mohsen, who flew back to Cairo at 9 a.m. (he has to start work at Giza first thing tomorrow morning!). I then crossed to the Valley with William in the early afternoon, where we said a final, emotional farewell to the workmen. They really are wonderful guys - we gave them each some sweets, and they hugged us, kissing us on each cheek as is the Arabic custom. I for one had tears in my eyes.
And that's pretty much it. The end of our second season. It's been a fabulous six weeks - intense, hard, exhausting, stressful, but unfailingly fascinating and exciting. We didn't find a tomb, but so much else happened that it didn't really matter. We made a magazine-full of wonderful finds (my personal favourite was the ostracon with the figure holding his giant phallus), gathered a wealth of information about the ancient workmen's huts, about the stratigraphy of the site, and, also, the work of previous archaeologists, notably Davis and Carter. It's been an immensely productive, fulfilling season, full of unexpected twists and turns and ups and downs. A real roller-coaster of an adventure. As with last year, I shall remember and treasure it for the rest of my life.
And of course it's not over. Next year we (and I hope it is we) will be coming back for another season, and who knows what we will find. We still have areas to clear at the western and eastern ends of our concession, whilst in our absence the tourist path will be diverted to allow us to extend our site further south. There are so many questions still to be answered, so many secrets waiting to be discovered - so many adventures still to be had.
At 8pm tonight William and I boarded the sleeper up to Cairo, and slowly clanked out of Luxor, our home for the last month and a half. A kaleidoscope of emotions jostled for space within me. Sadness to be leaving, pride in what we had achieved over the course of the season, excitement about going home, excitement about the possibility of coming back again. Above all, however, I felt a burning need to keep digging in the Valley of the Kings, to keep exploring, to keep finding answers. All of sudden, aged 33, I know exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life.
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