 A popular video introduction to the work of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project, 2001.
INTRODUCTION
This is the sound of discovery - the rediscovery of ancient Egypt.
This is the work of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project - the first dig in the Valley of the Kings since Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun.
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A HERITAGE IN DANGER?
Like many archaeological sites around the world, the Valley of the Kings is under constant threat from the pressures of time, nature, and an increasingly hostile modern world.
The Egyptian Government is assisted in its work of preservation and documentation by a handful of foreign archaeological missions - including The Amarna Royal Tombs Project.
The Amarna Royal Tombs Project has two principal goals:
1 - To investigate and record the central part of the Valley of the Kings and, within this area, the Amarna-period burials of tombs KV55 and
KV62 (Tutankhamun).
2 - To elucidate the topography of the site both in antiquity and in more recent times as a contribution to future flood-prevention strategy.
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MORE LEFT TO FIND?
`It is my firm opinion,` wrote Belzoni in 1820, `that there are no more [tombs] to be found.`
Within a century, the number of discoveries had more than doubled, to sixty-one.
`I fear that the Valley of the tombs is now exhausted,` wrote Theodore Davis in 1912.
Within a decade, Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter had discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun.
Eighty years later, the potential of this extraordinary site remains as great as ever.
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WHAT ARE WE HOPING FOR?
Tutankhamun`s tomb, discovered in 1922, caused a sensation.
Yet only now are we beginning to discern its hidden message.
Close scrutiny of the find reveals that as much as eighty percent of the boy-king`s core burial equipment was second-hand.
To stock his tomb Tutankhamun had pillaged the burials of Akhenaten, Nefertiti and other members of the Amarna royal family, and hidden their bodies nearby.
So far only one of these reburials has been discovered - that of Akhenaten within tomb KV 55.
Where are the rest of the Amarna family?
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WHERE ARE WE DIGGING?
In 1998 The Amarna Royal Tombs Project was permitted to investigate a small area of ground in the central part of the Valley of the Kings.
The site was located between the tomb of Ramesses VI and the `Gold Tomb` (KV56), named after a fabulous find of jewellery made in 1908.
It was here that Howard Carter`s work was interrupted by his discovery of Tutankhamun in 1922.
We would begin our search, quite literally, where Carter had left off.
A second site, located between the tombs of Siptah and the anonymous KV30, was added to our concession in 1999.
Now, after three successful years, the Project`s concession has been extended to take in an area enclosed by the tombs of Tutankhamun, Ramesses I, Horemheb and KV55.
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WHO DOES THE WORK?
The Amarna Royal Tombs Project is very much an international effort.
Overall Director of the Project is Dr Nicholas Reeves.
Joint Field Director is Prof. Geoffrey T. Martin.
Associate Project Director and Project Representative in Japan is Yumiko Ueno.
Associate Field Director and Project Representative in Egypt is Mohsen Kamel.
Other team members include Dr D. Aston; B. Bader; T. Blackmore; D. Goodman; M. Ito; E. Johnson; S. Kamada; T. Kanoshima; Prof. J. Kondo; Dr P. Lacovara; A. Lewsey; P. and J. Litherland; Dr M. A. Murray; S. Nishiyama; T. Poulston; W. Quarshie; Dr C. Roehrig; W. Schenck; Dr I. Shaw; P. Sussman; A. Tavares; L. Taylor; K. Walton; H. Watanabe; and our skilled Egyptian workforce under Reises Nubie, Shahat and Ahmed Abd el-Basset.
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WHAT IS THE PROCESS?
The work of excavation is preceded by survey and mapping.
The main digging is undertaken by Egyptian workers under the control of a local foreman.
After close examination the excavated debris is carried out of the Valley by tractor.
Finds are photographed and located on a master plan of the site.
Archaeological features are excavated by specialist team members.
Samples are taken for subsequent examination and analysis.
Finds are logged, repaired, photographed and conserved in a workshop on site, in preparation for transfer to a Government storage magazine.
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WHAT HAVE WE FOUND?
For the first time in the archaeological history of the Valley we have excavated and recorded in detail a range of the ancient workmen`s shelters which once occupied much of the site.
We have found a kitchen complex and hearth, tools, numerous sketches on limestone (including an erotic `ghost` figure), and rare images of personal piety.
Across the path our work has yielded a mass of royal funerary equipment, including a rare quantity of ancient glass and a cache of shabti figures of Seti I from Belzoni`s work in 1817.
Within tomb KV 56 we have found additional fragments of the treasure discovered by Davis in 1908, including a gold necklace element of Seti II.
And from all areas we have new inscriptions - graffiti and ostraca - which will add considerably to our understanding of life and work in the Valley three thousand years ago.
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WHAT LIES AHEAD?
As the work drew to a close last year [2000] the Project made its first significant discovery of Amarna date, in undisturbed ground.
It was a large piece of limestone with a charcoal sketch of a high Amarna official, its date confirmed by the presence nearby of blue-painted pottery of the late 18th Dynasty.
Objects of Amarna date are exceptionally rare in the Valley of the Kings.
Might this find suggest the existence nearby of one of the missing Amarna tombs?
Only time will tell.
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