Valley of the Kings, Week 1: May 4-8
Tomb of Thutmose IV (KV43) Project
The Ancient Egyptian Heritage and Archaeology Fund is pleased to be partnered with and support the Tomb of Thutmose IV (KV43) Research Project, who started work this week in Egypt. The team’s director, Nicholas Brown, met with colleagues from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Cairo and Luxor to finish paperwork and sign the team’s contract. Work started on site in the Valley of the Kings on Wednesday, May 7, with Nicholas’s study of the “stratigraphy” of the tomb’s decoration in Chamber E and Chamber I.
This is the third season of research in KV43 for the project, but this year the team will include Dr. Salima Ikram, an animal mummy specialist, and Shymaa Mandour, the project’s digital epigrapher. Their help is essential for the important and ongoing work that is happening within KV43. Nicholas will be joined by his colleagues at the start of Week 2.
The Tomb of Thutmose IV (KV43) Research Project will focus on two goals within the tomb. First, we will conduct an in-depth study and preliminary analysis of the mummified meat offerings (“victual mummies”) that were left in the tomb for storage. Second, we will begin the process of making digital models and create epigraphic records of the workmen’s marks throughout the tomb. Additionally, Nicholas will also study and record several hieratic ink graffiti from the tombs of Amenhotep II (KV35) and Hormeheb (KV57). These are known texts of 21st Dynasty activities that took place in these two sepulchers, but no modern documentation of them exists. Nicholas hopes to relocate some of the “missing” graffiti and make a proper record of them.
