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A joint Egyptian mission (from the Zahi Hawass Foundation for Heritage and Antiquities and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities) has revealed a large number of finds made at Deir el-Bahri over the last three years. An intact part of the foundations of Hatshepsut’s valley temple has been uncovered, together with 1,500 decorated blocks with well-preserved colours, some depicting Hatshepsut and Thutmose III performing rituals. Other finds include a set of ceremonial tools inscribed with Hatshepsut’s name, a stela inscribed with the name of the queen’s architect Senenmut, and Seventeenth Dynasty tomb shafts containing intact wooden ‘rishi’ coffins, including one for a child.
The team also discovered a number of Middle Kingdom rock-cut tombs, and the Eighteenth Dynasty tomb of Djehutymes, Overseer of the Palace of Queen Tetisheri (the grandmother of Ahmose I), as well as parts of a later Ptolemaic necropolis.
Text: Sarah Griffiths / Images: Zahi Hawass Foundation for Heritage and Antiquities
