Monday, February 22, 2010

Dig Diaries

In all the fuss about Tutankhamun don't forget that work carries on as normal at the excavations in Egypt.

In the north, the Leiden team at Saqqara have now posted seven weeks of their Mission Digging Diary. Even though the new tomb failed to produce inscriptions and reliefs, the team have learned a lot about the construction methods. There have been three updates for February from the Brooklyn team at Karnak, with some terrific photographs showing the foundations which are still being uncovered and which are providing vast amounts of information about the immediate area. Both the Leiden and Brooklyn teams have commented on how hot the weather is for February.

Down in Luxor the Madrid Djehuty team have ended the excavations at the tomb of Djehuty for this season, and will resume with the tombs of Djehuty, Baki and Hery next season. A lot of work has been carried out in the last week at the tomb of Baki, where they found a new adobe feature and uncovered a hole which leads directly into the tomb of Heri. If you speak Spanish it gives a good idea of the day to day running of an excavation - and even if you don't there are some great photos. I must say that the idea of eating paella at the foot of the Qurna hills doesn't sound half bad! As in Cairo it was obviously hot, hot, hot, with temperatures reaching 44C. Also in Spanish are some online articles which summarize some of the findings.


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