Egyptian Dreams

[RobertStJames]

[anneke]

I was surprised by the termite damage as well. I wondered if the coffin was made of infested wood? I don't really know if termites are a common problem.


Have any of you tried to manipulate the images? I tried but with only limited succes. Then again I'm not that good at it. I was interested in the mummy in the back (the one with the apparent arms crossed over the chest). Not that the others aren't interesting mind you....

The best I have been able to do is this:


It seems to me the figure does not have a false beard, and I don't see any evidence of royal regalia in the hands.
Not sure if there would be a rishi pattern???

I do rather like this page by Jane Akshar.
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/kv63.htm

Oh well I guess we'll have to wait until they tell us more
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Math and Art: http://mathematicsaroundus.blogspot.com/

[Jane Akshar]

I am hoping to pick up a bit of gossip at the lecture at the mummification museum on Thursday night. Sometimes you hear things but the big problem is that until Hawass announces it, it hasn't happened. And then they are so disorganised. Can you believe at that media event they didn't have press releases for the media pack. The media reporting are so ignorant. I was up the top of the tomb while lucky camera men were allowed down. When you quizzed them you got comments like 'its really disappointing there is no gold' Argh

That is why so many people liked my story, at least I had a clue what I was talking about. I got loads of comments thanking me for identifying the correct location as people hadn't been able to find that out.

I have a link for the University of Memphis press releases and I am hoping that the good information will come from there http://www.memphis.edu/releases/feb06/kv10.htm
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[anneke]

I'm looking forward to hearing any rumours flying around

It is really great to get the report from someone who's there, and as you mentioned, is very knowledgeable.

I was really disappointed in the news releases by the media on that Friday. There was basically nothing...

I have read some quotes in the news that there may have been some 19th dynasty activity in the tomb? Have you heard anything about that?

I noticed a piece on Andie Byrnes' blog about a comment by Kent Weeks about the tomb of a Ramesside Queen still undiscovered.
I assume this is the tomb of a Queen Isetnofret mentioned on an ostraca?

Would even be interesting if this turned out to be her tomb
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Math and Art: http://mathematicsaroundus.blogspot.com/

[Rozette]

KV63 - where it IS


Maps and photos show where KV63 is (approximately) located, in relation to KV10 and KV62.

The approximate location of KV63 on an aerial photo of the area.
Photo by Brent Benjamin, annotated by Jon Bodsworth, showing the initial pit of KV63 in relation to KV10, KV9, KV62 and the "Rest area".

http://www.egyptologyforum.org/bbs/KV63Y.html


KV63 OFFICIAL WEBSITE GOES LIVE

Update information on KV-63 will be delayed until the return of Dr. Otto J. Schaden to the United States. Further information and photos will be posted pending evaluation.

I hope they will post interesting information about the tomb in the near future .

Prof. Lorelei Corcoran says in the article that I provided that the doorway of the tomb was partly sealed.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5201034&ft=1&f=1001
http://www.kv-63.com/pages/1/index.htm

I found also a comment of Greg Reeder of K.M.T.
QUOTE: From my sources....

Sunday, the interior of the tomb was accessed for photography and videography. ...Three of the five coffins are "badly deteriorated" and "may not be salvageable," except for the face-pieces. Apparently no inscriptions could be made out or condition of the mummies determined.

[livinginluxor]

Having seen the entrance to the pit the other day, and seeing the photographs, I cannot believe that this is a tomb. To me it is a cache, and was never intended as a tomb. The fact that it is close to Tutankhamen's and is of 18th dynasty, makes me think that maybe the 5 mummies could have been transferred from Amarna - and maybe they are members of the royal family! I can but dream!

[queencleopatra]

I saw this on the news...they think it is a non-royal mummy I'm pretty sure.
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[imanobody]

Unless the mummy has a hiero on it saying Nefertiti, how would you know? From what I've read here it seems that everything is in really bad shape, so all you have to go on is the mummies. It's going to be really cool when they will be able to take DNA and build a computer model of what a person actually looked like.
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[Nefertem's Lotus]

Wow, this is all very interesting. Has there been any more news about it yet? They have recently discovered more evidence of marine technology in Ancient Egypt as well haven’t they?

[ELISE]

I was quite interested by the reports of termite damage. I notice that the best preserved coffins appears to be the one right at the back and the one resting on top of the others. This makes water damage appear more likely to me. I am hoping some inscription has survived on one of these two coffins to help identify the occupants.

I agree that the single chamber and sparten appearance suggest a cache rather than a tomb.

[Osiris II]

I don't think there is much water damage, ELISE. But the termite damage is quite evident. I can't think of a way in which termites would get into a sealed tomb (or cache). Infested wood must have been used to build the coffins.
The last I heard, the damage to the coffins was so severe that the excavators did not think they could be preserved. Of course, the mummies within the coffins will be!
More and more of the pictures I see of the tomb suggest a cache, and one that was, for some reason, hastily done. The sealings of the jars should give use the name of the Pharaoh on the throne at the time of the cache. Hopefully, they will also give us the names and titles of those buried.

[anneke]

There was a news item on Al-Ahram and it is mentioned there that they won't really know for some 3 weeks. So I don't expect any announcements about possible identities of the people in the tomb until roughly the middle of March.

We can always hope that they trickle out more information as they find it, but it seems we will have to wait a while longer:)

There's a comment "These may also specify details about eight pits the team has located inside the tomb, which were possibly used by Ancient Egyptians for entry and exit."

I just read on a newsblog that likely these are simply footholds or postholes for horizontal or diagonal cross beams, and are actually very common.

There is also mention on the newsblog that the tomb may have originally been located by Nicolas Reeves and his team by ground penetrating radar (GPR). This has not been officially confirmed, but the blog mentions the following:
Apparently, a Japanese team working with Nicholas Reeves operated the GPR equipment and found a large anomoly that they surmised was a tomb, in precisely this area.

I got this info from http://www.touregypt.net/egyptnews.htm
which I've always found extremely reliable.
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Math and Art: http://mathematicsaroundus.blogspot.com/

[Sesen]

A link from the touregypt news site goes to the official Memphis Uni KV10 site. Its an interesting site to look through.
Also looks like there will be a site constructed for the new KV 63 .
Theres some nice photos of the team at work in KV 10.

http://www.touregypt.net/egyptnews.htm
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[Rozette]

Quote Anneke,
There is also mention on hte newsblog that the tomb may have orginally been located by Nicolas Reeves and his team by ground penetrating radar (GPR).


Last week details of an article published in the January 2006 edition of the Swiss magazine Mysteries Magazin , began circulating claiming that the ARTP team had found the tomb using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) in 2000 and passed on their results to the Memphis team in mid-2005.
Dr. Reeves has confirmed in his post on the ARTP website, that this is indeed the case and that they passed on the details to Dr. Schaden's team once rumours of the find — the top of the shaft was first uncovered in March 2005 by team member Alistair Dickey — surfaced.


15 February 2005

http://www.valleyofthekings.org/vofk/default.htm

15 Frebruary 2006

News From The Valley Of The Kings Foundation

Friends and supporters of the Valley of the Kings Foundation and the Amarna Royal Tombs Project will be surprised and I hope pleased to see that the website is again back in action after a break of many months. It has been an eventful time.



First of all I should like to express ARTP’s delight at the recent uncovering by Otto Schaden’s University of Memphis team, outside the entrance to Amenmesse (KV10), of a new shaft tomb - KV63. The discovery offers welcome confirmation that my belief in the existence of further tombs in the Valley of the Kings was indeed soundly based.



The investigation of KV63 is now ongoing. Photographs and descriptions indicate that the burial, undisturbed since antiquity, contains at least five wooden coffins and a collection of large pottery storage jars. Coffins, pottery and tomb-type appear to be mid-late 18th Dynasty in date.



ARTP was quick to put at the disposal of Otto and his team our research on that particular area just as soon as we heard a rumour of the discovery in mid-2005. We send our best wishes for a painstaking and thorough excavation - properly executed the potential information-yield of the find should be very high indeed.



Please note that for the time being this website will be the only official vehicle for my thoughts and comments on KV63.



Secondly, most of you will be aware of my personal struggle over recent years defending against (false) accusations of involvement in antiquities smuggling - accusations which resulted in my suspension from digging in 2002. I am pleased to report that at a meeting of the Supreme Council of Antiquities held in Cairo on 7 August 2005, following meticulous investigation, my name was officially cleared of any wrongdoing. We are hopeful that this bodes well for ARTP’s return to the Valley of the Kings in due course.



Finally, please be aware that the Valley of the Kings Foundation and Amarna Royal Tombs Project now have a new home - at beautiful Chiddingstone Castle in Kent. The full postal address is:

Amarna Royal Tombs Project
Valley of the Kings Foundation
Chiddingstone Castle
Near Edenbridge
Kent
TN8 7AD
United Kingdom

Email vokf@aol.com

With best wishes to one and all.

Nicholas Reeves

[anneke]

Thta's fascinating.

I never knew Nicolas Reeves was (falsly) accused of antiquities smuggling and then banned from excavating. I had always wondered what had happened to his work in the VoK.

I will have to read the website more carefully. I had seen it before and remember the websites for their 1998-2002 seasons.

If they did a GPR search, does anyone know if they located other possible locations of tombs?
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Math and Art: http://mathematicsaroundus.blogspot.com/