Mummification Museum Lecture José Galán – Update from the Spanish Mission

José Galán – Update from the Spanish Mission

Fantastic Lecture from Jose, the project has expanded beyond the courtyard of TT11 hence the title. The slides he chose were not only from the actual dig but also corresponding artefacts in museums worldwide.

First the team’s website http://excavacionegipto.com/campana/campana12_ing.jsp.htm lots of images and information. Also if you search this blog on the label TT11 you will find loads and loads of past lectures and news announcements.

The team have been working on the tomb of Djehuty TT11 for 12 years and he showed a slide of a hillside with an entrance to the tomb set into the hillside. He showed the same view in 2007 with this huge courtyard.  The tomb is located in the centre of Dra Abu Naga; Djehuty was the overseer of the treasury and overseer of the cattle. A very important official. The tomb was in a line of tombs, a sort of necropolis street. Next door is the tomb of Baki also an Overseer of Cattle. Djehuty wanted to be remembered as a great master of writing who was well acquainted with the funerary texts.  The facade was unusually decorated with texts, one side a hymn to Re and the other a biographical text. Also inside the tomb there are numerous texts that make the tomb a monument of writing.

The tomb needed lots work. The ceiling had holes that let debris in, the chambers were filled with debris, and the reliefs had mud covering parts of them. At the end of the tomb was a statue of Djehuty and his parents. It took until 2007 to remove all the debris and then they could start the conservation.

They have installed special lightening brought from Spain, because they had to install a false ceiling of iron beams so instead of having lights on the floor shining up, they have lights in the ceiling shining down. The burial chamber is down 2 levels and is inscribed with the book of dead such as transformation spells that Djehuty needed to overcome the dangers of the underworld. It is a 3-d representation as passages relating to the netherworld in the lower registers and that relating to the sky on the ceiling, in the centre of the ceiling is the goddess Nut.

So why did Djehuty chose this site to be buried in?

When you look at his contemperies such as TT73, 67, 86, 39, 131, 61, 82, 71, 84, 99,125, 127 and 110 these are located around Deir el Bahri at Sheikh Abu Gurna and the Assasif.

Perhaps because it was across the river from Karnak, he was not convinced that was the answer.

In that area are the pyramid of Nebkheperure Intef and the tombs of Kamoses, Ahotep and Hery. He dismissed Hery as being relevant Djehuty is older. Then looking at the architecture of the courtyard they noted the left hand (or south wall) had a twist inwards as though it was avoiding something special. Excavating in that area revealed a mud brick structure but they could only investigate so far as their concession only extended so far. Other similar chapels had been found by the Met and Poltz who have excavated in that area. They consisted of a chapel, a burial shaft with a surrounding wall.

Then after the village was removed at Dra Abu Naga their concession was extended to the south and included this structure. Excavations revealed wrapped wooden coffins and ushabtis wrapped in linen very similar to those in the Met, he showed a slide and I am fairly sure it was this one http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/100017133 these are called stick ushabtis for Ahmose and Ahmose-sa-pa-ir. Other pieces that bear his name UC40212 UC40213 E15682 JE 36347 BMEA360 and 1455 in Turin (there were more but I missed them) so he was a very important person.

There was textiles marked daiu-linen for Ahmose-sa-pa-ir and his son Ahmose (the linen breaks here). There are lists of important people (king/ancestor lists) that include him in TT2 TT359 and a coffin in Turin. Papyrus Abbott, a 21st dynasty document mentions his tomb and says it was untouched. A plan was made using the papyrus narrative (can anyone give me details as I missed enough info to find it online). They have found an alabaster jar with the name of Ahmose, it could be a relative. Also found is a huge deposit of cultic vases which indicate there was a monument in the area. So far they have found 4 17 dynasty vases, wooden shanties, linen all bearing the name so they have a good feeling the tomb in their concession.

Other finds have been a 90 cm child’s wooden coffin containing a child aged 3-4 years old. The coffin was lying on one side because the body didn’t fit in so they had tried to lie it face up and failed.

Evidence of another prince of the 17th dynasty was found on a door lintel. Nebkheperure Intef and, by implication, his brother Sekhemre Wepmaat Intef, were probably the sons of Sekhemre Shedtawy Sobekemsaf

More finds an obelisk from the early 17th, a sandal, some little coffins and shabities of Ahotep. This is normally a female name although instances of it being used by males, a fragment of a statue similar to the one in the Louvre.  In a connecting burial shaft yet another coffined shabities. A shabity wrapped in 9 linen tissues that were actually made that size. These were also inscribed with the name Ahotep and use of ultra violet on the inscription enabled them to read it clearly and identify this as a male name who was an official mouth piece of Nehen.

There was so much it was amazing and I encourage you to explore the website and look out for the publications as they come out.

TT11 Field School | American Research Center in Egypt

TT110 Field School | American Research Center in Egypt: The American Research Center in Egypt is pleased to announce the launch of its new Luxor West Bank Archaeological Field School for local MSA/SCA inspectors. This field school forms part of a larger program of work, funded through USAID, that concentrates on the west bank. The school will focus on the excavation of the forecourt of the Eighteenth Dynasty Theban Tomb of Djehuty, TT 110. The excavation, coupled with an ARCE conservation field school to clean the interior, will provide training to MSA/SCA officials, improve our knowledge of the monument, and ultimately open the tomb for regular visitation....

- Sent using Google Toolbar

Found the oldest remains of beer in Luxor, Egypt "Paleorama Network

Beer found in Luxor! An update on TT11 Djehuty in Spanish but use Google translate and you get an understandable English version. Found the oldest remains of beer in Luxor, Egypt "Paleorama Network: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Update from TT11

A Spanish mission working at Dra Abu El-Naga on the West Bank at Luxor has discovered a second, painted burial chamber in the tomb of Djehuty (TT11). At the entrance the Djehuty Proyecto found 5 gold earrings and 2 gold rings, which date to the early- to mid-18th Dynasty and probably belonged to Djehuty or to a member of his family.

From the facebook page Egyptian Museum

DIARIO DJEHUTY 2011

If you want to keep up to date with what is going on at TT11 this is the website, in Spanish but Google translate does a good job. DIARIO DJEHUTY 2011: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Old Mummification Museum Lectures TT11 TT12

Lecture by Jose M Galan
TT11/TT12 and the Apprentice board Jose M Galan
Last Thursday’s Lecture was given by Dr Jose Galan who heads the Spanish/Egyptian team. They have been excavating TT11 the tomb of Djehuty and TT 12 the tomb of Hery. These two tombs are connected at the transverse rooms yet at the front are separated by TT399. The tomb was recorded by Champollian in 1829 and shows whippet like dogs hunting in the desert and a superb funnery scene where the mummy of the deceased is being transported across the Nile by boat.

The next person to record the tomb was Lepius in 1884 although this information comes from his diary rather than a proper publication. He mentions Djehuty for the first time.

In 1898/99 the 5th Marquise of Northampton sponsored an expedition which uncovered the tombs and exposed their facades to the light. This unfortunately resulted in the best scenes being hacked out and robbed from the tomb. The fashion of squeeze however has recorded many of these scenes and is enabling the team to reconstruct the walls using some 150 fragments they have found.

The tomb was subsequently protected but a wall and roof however when the team started work this was piled up with rubbish. Excavations have revealed a huge open courtyard in front, 40 metres and indeed when you drive past you can see it very clearly. There is a hymn to Amun Re on the left and he presents his biography on the right. This is unusual as facades are not normally decorated like this. Prof. Galan then went into some detail about the way the hieroglyphics were presented which is impossible to explain properly without the slides but involved the use of a vertical column to avoid repetition.

Djehuty talks about his role in overlaying the obelisks at Karnak with electrum and an account of the marvels brought from punt so he was a top dog in Hatshepsut’s court. The hieroglyphics were painted yellow to reflect the sun rising over Karnak to the West.

We were also shown how they resolved the problems of an 8 metre shaft that allowed debris to get into the tomb.

The second half of the lecture went on to tell of the so called ‘Apprentice Board’. Now previous excavations had totally neglected the areas around the tomb just concentrating on the tomb itself so the team was very lucky to find pieces of a wooden board overlaid with stucco. The total dimensions of the piece were 31 by 45.8 cm and there were drawings both back and front. The pieces were found above TT11 and 399. After cleaning which the slides showed to make a dramatic improvement the drawing was revealed to be a frontal portrait of a pharaoh on a red ink grid. Frontal portraits are of course extremely rare and this looks like a standing statue of a pharaoh.

There are two pictures and the one to left is not as steady and as sure, the ink is thicker and less confident. So it looks like the master has drawn the figure on the right and the student, or apprentice, the figure on the left. There is a parallel in ostrica found at Deir el Bahri which is now in the Brooklyn museum no 58.28.2. On that piece to it looks like the master on the right and the student on the left and the writing is from right to left as well.

Frontal portraits, whilst rare are not unknown, there is the hieroglyphic symbol, in some smiting of the enemy’s scenes the ones in the middle face front, there is the portrait of the three girl musicians and of course many Hathor headed columns and statues of Bes.

The team then worked on identifying which pharaoh was being shown. They dismissed Tutmosis III because although it was close it did not have a beard, there were some differences around the eyes and there was a recessing chin. Also Tutmosis III usually shows a small smile which thins the upper lip but the top lip in our drawing was full. There was a much better match with Hatshepsut statues and the clincher was the grid lines. Convention made people 18 squares high but men were 6 squares to women 5 squares and this picture the shoulders were 5 squares.

The writing was the first paragraph of kemet which can be regarded as a unit in it self. It uses old fashioned language of the old kingdom/1st intermediate period and was often used as an exercise. The reverse of the board has a king fowling in the marshes and the closest parallel to that is the tomb of Ay.

The board has been restored and mounted and is now on display in the Luxor museum.

Posted by Jane: - 1:56 pm - Edit| No Comments »
February 17th, 2006

Old Mummification Museum lecture - TT11 TT12

Mummification Museum Lecture - TT11 TT12- Dr Jose Galan
TT11 & TT12 Dr Jose Galan
The Spanish Egyptian mission is now in its 6th season and continues to make discoveries about private funerary monuments.

They appear to have both horizontal and vertical elements, the vertical comprise the burial shaft and chambers, where there were coffins and offerings of food, unguents, cosmetics etc. The horizontal went into the hill and resembled the layout of a temple.

Djehuty TT11, who lived under Hatshepsut, has statues of himself and his mother and father, an inner chamber found in the 6th season was decorated with rituals that would take place in the sanctuary.

The horizontal comprised elements that were covered and exposed to light. The second element was where the opening of the mouth ceremony was performed in the open courtyard. It was an area of transition, purification and consecration by incense and water. The dressing of the mummy in front of Re. The exposed courtyard contained rows of clay funerary cones, a statue in a niche and a mud brick pyramid. Nature and human activity have destroyed them.

Early Egyptologists didn’t pay any attention to the courtyards so they are not documented. Dr Jose then gave a list of various tombs that had not had their courtyards investigated. Sometimes because the excavators did not consider that the expense and difficulty made it not worth it (I didn’t get all the names but did get the tomb numbers and then used this list to get names http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/thebes/tombs/thebantomblist.html )

TT39 Puyemra, second priest of Amun, mid Dynasty 18 (said to be to difficult and expensive)
TT20 Mentuherkhepshef, mayor of Qusiya, mid Dynasty 18 (never excavated)
TT100 Rekhmira, vizier, mid Dynasty 18 (where the excavator said there was no pylon even though he never excavated the extent of the courtyard)
TT21 User, steward of king Thutmose I, mid Dynasty 18
TT104 Thutnefer, overseer of the treasury, mid Dynasty 18
TT86 Menkheperraseneb, high priest of Amun, mid Dynasty 18
TT81 Ineni, overseer of the granary in the Amun domain, mid Dynasty 18
TT39 Puyemra, second priest of Amun, mid Dynasty 18 (modern house in the way)

It is only recently that courtyards have received the attention they deserved. Kampp in his 1996 documented courtyards and external elements, there is a great scarcity of reliable data. The external features depend on whether a tomb is in the valley floor or in the mountain or gebel. Those at ground level suffer a lot

TT67 Hepuseneb, high priest of Amun, mid Dynasty 18
TT71 Senenmut, high steward, mid Dynasty 18
TT131 User/Useramen, vizier, mid Dynasty 18

The aim of the Spanish mission was to excavate the courtyards of TT11 and TT12; there was original 4 meters of rubble covering this area. During their 4th season the courtyard of Bakil was discovered 2 meters up the hill but connected with Hery. It was painted not carved as it was not good stone. There was a mud brick outer wall 1 ½ meters high with a 1 meter wide entrance. There was a step to climb into the court.

During the 5th season they found the entrance of Djehuty. There were 2 stele, one was autobiographical telling of the tasks her carried out under Hatshepsut and the second a hymn to Amun Re. there were cryptographically texts which are not coming on facades. The courtyard was 34 meters long which was outstanding especially if you compare it with Rekhmire which was 19 m long. The side walls were artificially extended with masonry, the mud brick was 3m high and 1 m wide, the team have covered the new wall to the same height as the façade. The floor was carefully cut, filled and levelled with limestone chips and stones. There area outside the pylon was at a lower level so a step was needed to get through the pylon. The courtyards were obviously differentiated from the ‘street’. There was a slight deviation to the East to take account of an older monument. There did a test trench to see what the filling and found funerary deposits, some pottery and 41 bouquets,

There was a discovery in the shaft of TT399 which it is next to TT12. It was 7m deep with 4 chambers (usually 2).
1) face of a wooden coffin
2) male coffin face
3) female wooden face (These had been attacked by termites so only the faces have survived
4) lower part of the coffin with a red Isis and another in yellow,
5) 2 jars,
6) 4 pottery canopic lids that look early 18th dynasty, there is a different look on the 4 faces (they look a little like Prince Charles!!!!)
7) remains of 2 jars
8) large jar and other pots
9) Egyptian blue jar
10) Unguent pots
11) 2 ushabities in poor condition
12) scarabs
13) a copper arrow
14) baskets
15) bag
16) fragment of papyrus
17) senet board game and pieces

The website for the team is www.excavacionegipto.com

TT11 Discovery

ARCHAEOLOGY: ANCIENT THEBES SISTINE CHAPEL DISCOVERED

Great news from the Spanish at TT11

(ANSAmed) - MADRID - ''The Sistine Chapel of Ancient Egypt'' is how the Spanish press have today celebrated the discovery by a group of Spanish archaeologists of a burial chamber with coloured paintings, jewels and hieroglyphics dating back 3,500 years, in Luxor. The chamber was found by experts from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in the necropolis of Dra Abu el-Naga, on the western bank of Luxor, Ancient Thebes. The burial chamber belonged to Djehuty, one of Queen Hatshepsut's high officials, and represents the culmination of the work of the 8th campaign of the project run by the Caja Madrid Foundation since 2004. Jose' Manuel Galan, the director of the team of archaeologists, explained to the press that the extraordinary significance of the discovery is ''not only in its undeniable aesthetic value'', but also in the fact that ''in this era, at the end of the XVIII dynasty, burial chambers were not decorated''

The Associated Press: Ancient golden jewelry found in Egyptian tomb

The Associated Press: Ancient golden jewelry found in Egyptian tomb

There are quite a few stories on the net about this find but this one has photos. This tomb TT11 has been really rewarding, they found the apprentice board here as well. the team is led by Dr José Manuel Galán

Mummfication Museum lecture - TT11 TT12

Spanish Egyptian Mission TT11 TT12 at Dra Abu el Naga – Dr Jose Galan

This was an excellent lecture but my notes were done under challenging conditions. They turned off ALL the lights so I was trying to right by the light of the slides. Dr Jose gave an excellent lecture and it was really interesting. They have got a website http://excavacionegipto.com/

They have been at the site for 8 years and have 2 goals TT11 the tomb of Djehuty in the time of Hatshepsut and TT12 the tomb of Hery from the time of Ahmose. In between these two tombs is TT399 and to the north there is a new tomb Baki. All these tombs are interconnected by a transverse series of holes. At first these are thought to be created in the Ptolemaic period when there was a large burial of mummified Ibis and Flacons with demotic graffiti. However it is now believed these were done 100 years after the burials.

Hery
There is a central pillar and the inner chamber was filled with debris so initially they were not sure whether the decoration had been damaged. It is one of the few early 18th dynasty tombs and has parallels with Teti and Ahmose at El Kab. There are few tombs of this period in Thebes. The NE wall has hunting scenes with greyhounds like 12th dynasty figures with stiff figures and well defined muscles. There is a funerary procession and the owner died under Amenhotep I. The quality is outstanding. The owner was an overseer of the granaries of kings with Ahotep but the tomb is of such high quality. His wife is Herunesu and she has connections with the royal family. The artist used mortar on the scenes and these are ancient repairs and it was then moulded. Ahmose was the elder son and this was a popular name given to two brothers and mother. It has demotic graffiti. There is a depiction of Tahenet the evil one an amulet against potential damage

TT11 is from the early part of Hatshepsut and has unique features as do lots of other courtiers of hers and there might have been competition between them to have the most unusual feature. It has a decorated façade which is unusual at this period. One side has a long biographical text and the other side a hymn to Amun. He was overseer of the treasury and workmen and recounts the marvels of Punt and deals with tax collection in year 9. It might be his figure at Deir el Bahri. He was in charge of covering the obelisks with gold. There are lots of other events at Thebes mentioned. His tomb suffered the “second death” and his face and name and his father and mother were all erased.

The team faced technical problems as debris kept filling from a shaft so this had to cleared before they went further in. But the team were hopeful the debris would have protected the reliefs of the inner chamber. Reliefs showed strangling the enemy which is a very unusual scene, within the inner chamber they unexpectedly found a shaft 8 ½ meters. They have started excavating this, this season. The tomb was reused in the Third Intermediate and Saite Period judging by the pottery and the results of this shaft will be the subject of next year’s lecture!

In their first season they excavated 5m of debris and found objects such including linen cloth dated Year 2 Amenhotep II and the most important object the apprentice board. This showed a frontal view of a pharaoh which is most unusual and must have been for a sculpture. The shoulder width is 5 squares not the 6 which is usual for a man which probably indicates it is Hatshepsut.

The courtyard is 34 meters which is the longest but few courtyards have been excavated for example Rekhmire. It is half limestone and half painted white. In one corner they found a wooden coffin 1m down, it was not decorated. Also a vase and some pottery from 11th dynasty. The debris was stratified and various flood levels could be identified, there were 4 big floods between 11 dynasty and Hatshepsut. The coffin contained a body they nicknamed Valentino, she had a necklace of finance beads and was 50 years old

In 2007 they found XII and XI coffin similar to that in the Metropolitan Museum and the back of the façade. A trench was dug in the court yard and their Reis Ali found a bowl 11th Dynasty and 5 untouched pottery vessels which probably contained the last offering. The was a clay offering tray found 2 meters higher so there were different burials.

It was an excavation challenge as they were digging under the courtyard wall. They found the burial associated with the clay tray and it was a painted wooden coffin that was just pushed inside and sand was pushed in on top. Near the head of the coffin they found 5 broken arrows. The arrows were rude made of reeds with ebony points. Normally weighted with a piece of limestone or copper but this is missing. It was a rude mediocre burial. The other side of the coffin was broken, there was a XI pot made of marl clay which is a good quality.

The name seems to be Iker which means the excellent one and they are not sure if it is a real name or an epitaph as there is no determinative. The coffin needed consolidating as it had been affected by floods and termites. There were also 2 bows and 4 sticks that resemble weapons similar to those found at Deir el Bahri which are now in the Met. The cartonage mask was badly damaged it had a painted beard. Salim Ikram investigated the body; it was a male in 40’s who had a damaged cheekbone in his youth. He was possible a Nubian mercenary like those shown in the Mekhet Ra models. The coffin inscription had a style of hieroglyphics whose only parallel is a coffin in Boston museum 013 163 which was bought so has no provenance. It has Hathor as a deity in a funeral context which is very unusual. Anubis was shown normally on the lid and Wes t face had a royal determative rather than a God determative. The horned viper glyph was cut. When two of the same glyphs are next to each other the colour changes e.g. the plural for Gods shows different colours on each identical glyph

I really would welcome any corrections on this as my notes are poor due to lighting so please do email or put up a comment.