Dig Diary highlights

Hopkins in Egypt Today

16th February 2008: There are some splendid aeriel photographs of the Temple of Mut on the Dig Diary, taken from a tiny seaplane.


Brooklyn Museum

20th February 2008: Conservator John Steele recently arrived on site at the Temple Precinct of the Goddess Mut in south Karnak, and has updated the blog with his experiences:

I set about surveying my conservation supplies, and examined the small finds from this season, including a group of about forty coins. Pictured above is one of the first coins I cleaned mechanically with brushes and dental tools that shows the head of a Roman emperor yet to be identified. In the other picture I’m cleaning another coin with the pointed end of a wooden skewer after softening the outer layers of corrosion in a chemical solution of 10% EDTA (ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid) in water made basic with ammonia. Uncovering legible details on heavily corroded coins requires a steady hand and a lot of patience but if successful can aid in dating the area the coins were found in.

Proyecto Djehuty

21st February 2008: More beautiful photographs (click on them to expand them) and more news from the newly discovered tomb of Iker. The tombs are now closed for the season, but the team will be back next year for their eighth season, when their main aim will be to excavate the funerary chamber of the tomb of Djehuty, which they discovered at the base of an eight metre deep shaft:

Hoy tocaba recogida general y, a medio día, hemos cerrado las tumbas. Hasta el año que viene. Ha sido una campaña intensa, llena de fantásticas sorpresas. La próxima campaña, la octava, también promete emociones intensas y respuestas a importantes cuestiones planteadas en la excavación. El principal objetivo será, sin duda, la excavación de la cámara funeraria de Djehuty que descubrimos al fondo del pozo de más de ocho metros de profundidad. Djehuty nos espera.

Still nothing from KV63.