Week 5: 2–8 February 2025
New week, new adventures in Luxor. The week started strong with the #1 site of some of us, Deir el-Medina. While arriving at the site, I could already feel the energy and emotions in the bus, and these became even stronger while at the site with some tears coming from Kaitlyn and Samantha when we were exploring both the village and the different tombs of the artisans who reside at Deir el-Medina. It was a pity that the mission working at the site directed by Dr. Cedric Larcher did not receive the security permits this year. It would have been even more amazing to hear from the different Egyptologists and archaeologists working at the site.
After this visit, we went straight to the West Valley to enter the tomb of Ay, and afterwards the Valley of the Kings, a site which most of us had already visited during our “free day”. We were all amazed by the tomb of Seti I, especially Yasi, who stayed there the whole time of her visit. A special moment happened after the long day of site visits, when we were invited for dinner at the house of Rais Ali Farouk el-Qiftawi, who we met days before at the Djehuty Project mission. Even though the food was far more than amazing, it was not the highlight of our stay. When Ali Farouk started talking about his work, his family, his memories, all our hearts felt the emotions that he had since he was young, when he started working at archaeological excavations until nowadays. Truly a night to be remembered.
On Monday it was time for the East Bank. We took a boat to the other side of the Nile, and our driver Mohammed was waiting for us at the other site with a charismatic “Hello, Taxi” to start the day with some laughs. We visited the Centre Franco-Égyptien d’Étude des Temples de Karnak (CFEETK), where we met the director Dr. Jérémy Hourdin, who explained us the history of the institution as well as the different projects going on at Karnak Temple. Afterwards, we proceeded to visit both the temple and two ongoing excavations. The first one is carried out by Mona Abady, Shanna Guerrero and Amira Fawzy in the area of the Open Air Museum, where different workshops and magazines related to the temple activities are found.
The second archaeological excavation is being carried out in the southeastern corner of the complex, just next to the temple enclosure. Directed by Dr. Matthieu Vanpeene, the team are working on a settlement from the Middle Kingdom until the New Kingdom, trying to find the first habitation evidence at Karnak.
The day did not end there, as we next headed to Chicago House, the base of operations of the Epigraphic Survey of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Dr. Brett McClain, the director of the Survey, explained us the history of the institution since its foundation by Dr. James Breasted, we had some tea time and finally heard what we were all waiting for: the Epigraphic Survey methodology. We visited the photography labs as well as the library where we saw the final results of the detailed recording process that the mission does in order to obtain the incredible drawings and photographs for their publications.
We ended the day with a visit to the Luxor Museum, and while some of us went straight to dinner after this long day, others went to visit the Luxor Temple at night, an experience that an Egyptologist has to have at least once in their lifetime.
On Tuesday we visited Hierakonpolis, where Dr. Renée Friedman, director of excavations at the site, gave us an incredible tour. First we visited the ceremonial enclosure of pharaoh Khasekhemwy, after which we hopped onto a pickup truck and drove into the wadi to the famous Predynastic elite cemetery HK6 with buried animals such as elephants, hippos, aurochs etc. The team was working on the excavation of another tomb in this cemetery.
We proceeded to the excavation house where Dr. Friedman showed us some of the small finds. On the long bus ride to Luxor, we felt that we caught a glimpse of the incredible site of Hierakonpolis.
The next day was again on the West Bank, visiting the necropolis of el-Khokha, where Dr. Sergej Ivanov showed us the tomb of Tjay (TT 23), an official under king Merenptah. Then we proceeded to the necropolis of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, where I did my site presentation of the tombs of Menna (TT 69) and Nakht (TT 52), both officials of the 18th Dynasty. The visit continued at the site visiting other private tombs and then we hopped into the bus to go to Medinet Habu, the amazing mortuary temple of Ramses III, the best preserved of this kind.
The last day in Luxor started with the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III, where Dr. Hourig Sourouzian, the director at the site for more than 25 years, gave us a tour of how the team works at the site, with the excavation and conservation of the different parts of the temple. Next was the site presentation of Kaitlyn at the Ramesseum, built by the “best pharaoh of all” according to her (some of us disagree with that …). And finally we visited the Valley of the Queens, where the tomb of Nefertari was unfortunately closed for restoration. A reason to come back to Luxor in the coming years.
We went to have lunch at the old Chicago House, now Marsam Hotel, where we met the Deir el-Medina team having lunch. Our last moments in Luxor consisted of either buying some presents at the souk, books, or just some resting for our long bus ride the following day back to Cairo. Wake up, breakfast, and ready to go, the next 10 hours were inside a bus either sleeping, reading or enjoying the desert landscape of Egypt. Saturday was a well-deserved resting day.
Ricardo García Tejera