Beneath the Sands of Egypt
Page 26
I’ve often been asked how I felt about my role in all this. Howard Carter originally discovered a tomb, I rediscovered it, and Zahi Hawass identified the mummy. In some ways I’m cynically happy that Carter showed such disinterest in KV 60 that he walked away from it, unintentionally leaving for me the excitement of its rediscovery many decades later. Elizabeth Thomas’s speculation about the tomb and Hatshepsut inspired us to consider certain possibilities, and Zahi’s interest and ingenuity have apparently solved for us what had long been a genuine mystery.
With our enthusiasm bolstered by the recent news, we returned to Egypt again in the fall of 2007. There was a lot of unfinished business: Two chambers remained to be cleared in KV 27, and our catalog of all objects from the six tombs needed to be reviewed for accuracy and completeness. Much of my team returned, as did Brian Holmes. Paul Buck wasn’t able to join us, but we gained an enthusiastic helper in the form of Lisa Vlieg, a recent graduate in classics and anthropology from Pacific Lutheran University. It was her first trip to Egypt, and we saw to it that she immediately ventured to the Giza pyramids and the Egyptian Museum.
It would prove to be another great field season. One day, for example, Denis was involved in photographing all the artifacts from KV 60, and one of the larger objects from the tomb was set up on his table. It was a sizable piece of curved wood from the head end of a coffin. Most of its surface was covered with a black, resinous substance that had been applied in ancient times. We could even see the brush marks. There are many known coffins from the Eighteenth Dynasty, along with a number of other funerary items that are coated with this black stuff, and the explanations for it are varied. One idea argues that the coating is related to a transition to the netherworld, and another suggests that whatever decoration might lie beneath was not intended to be seen by the living. Regardless of the how and why, the black substance was there.
While the coffin fragment rested on the photography table, our inspector, Abu Hagag, with his usual healthy curiosity, studied its surface carefully. “Dr. Ryan,” he called, “I think I see something here…a hieroglyph under the surface!” I took a look, and sure enough, in a tiny spot where the resin had chipped away, there appeared to be a hieroglyph depicting a human arm. Perhaps there might also be an interesting inscription beneath, but how to reveal it?
Abu Hagag suggested we request a local conservator, and in a couple of days a bearded, robed gentleman by the name of Sayeed arrived. After a brief look, he quietly commented that he felt he could deal with the situation, and he returned the next day with a small box of equipment. Laying the coffin piece on a woven grass mat, he wrapped cotton around a scalpel, dipped it into an acetone solution, and carefully applied it to the wooden surface. The black substance turned to goo, clinging to the cotton, and our suspicions were immediately confirmed. There were indeed hieroglyphs underneath.
Our excitement mounted as Sayeed worked with amazing patience and caution, even refusing to take breaks. He seemed at least as interested in what was being revealed as we were, and we couldn’t help but check back on him regularly. What was eventually revealed astounded us. Beneath the black coating was a beautiful painting of the protective goddess Nephthys, standing on a multicolored basket with her arms raised. Surrounding her were funerary texts bearing a name and a title. The name belonged to that of a chantress, that is, a temple singer, and her name was Ti. Who was this Ti? We had never heard of her, but, more interesting, what were the smashed remains of her coffin doing in Tomb 60?
A large piece of the head end of a coffin from KV 60. The fragment had been mostly covered with black resin, but upon being cleaned it surprisingly revealed decoration and texts.
Denis Whitfill/PLU Valley of the Kings Project
The author examines the reconstructed face from a shattered coffin lid recovered from KV 60.
Denis Whitfill/PLU Valley of the Kings Project
Along with this exciting question was our realization that we had many, many more coffin fragments similarly covered with the black substance that might likewise bear decoration. They had long been stored by us in KV 60, where we had considered them of little interpretive value. We retrieved a couple of the larger pieces that could be joined together and asked Sayeed to continue. Underneath the coating he revealed an image of the goddess Isis, likewise with upraised arms and coming from the foot end of the same coffin. The revelation was a genuine surprise, but there was certainly not enough time to clean all that we had. It would have to wait.
Meanwhile, back in KV 27, we were gradually working our way down in the last of its chambers. With just about a week left in our field season, we were confident that we would finally complete the clearance of this final tomb in our concession. There were but a few inches of flood debris remaining on a portion of the chamber’s floor when something was encountered in the solidified mud. Very careful digging soon revealed a face staring up at us. It was a skull, and two more would be found nearby. In the corner Brian Holmes revealed very ephemeral evidence of a coffin tilted at an angle. Nothing much was left of it but a powdery black stain. Maybe this was the actual burial chamber, and these bones and the shadowy coffin were all that survived of what once were wrapped and boxed mummies.
The newly discovered skeletons in KV 27 would require a great amount of care to release them from their hard surroundings, and we had no time left to finish the job properly. We protected them from further damage and closed up the tomb. The revelation about the blackened coffins with their artistic secrets, too, left us with much unfinished work. We would need once again to return to the Valley of the Kings—the wonderful and amazing archaeological gift that keeps on giving.
The face of one of the occupants of KV 27 is gradually revealed as it is unearthed from hard, compact sediment on the tomb’s floor.
Denis Whitfill/PLU Valley of the Kings Project
CONCLUSION
REIS OMAR FAROUK STOOD at the edge of the deepening shaft, yelling orders to the workmen in a tone that mixed fear and praise. One man sat precariously on a thick wooden plank poised above the hole, hauling on a thick hemp rope that ran through a huge, antiquated pulley affixed to a sturdy beam. The distinct ringing tone of hoes striking against limestone chips was followed by a short pause as the rubber basket full of debris was hooked to the rope and then hoisted to the surface.
The shaft belonged to a tomb last opened in 1906 by Edward Ayrton, working for Theodore Davis. Inside, Ayrton encountered the mummy of “a man, tall and well built…unwrapped and thrown on one side.” His name was confirmed by a few remaining objects in the ransacked tomb’s sole chamber. He was Amenemope, a “vizier”—second-in-command, that is—to the Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep II, and as in reports of so many other, similar tombs in its time of discovery, the tone here is almost dismissive. When we reopened it in 2008, we encountered much of the tomb’s contents still intact, minus the mummy—a provocative quandary. Meanwhile, at worktables situated outside Tomb 21, black coffin fragments were being cleaned and examined and shattered ancient pots were being reconstructed. Nearby, three skeletons were carefully unearthed in a subterranean chamber of Tomb 27 while a protective wall was built around its entrance. All in a day’s work in this most exciting of archaeological sites.
Back in 1817, Belzoni thought there was nothing left to discover in the Valley of the Kings, and even Theodore Davis with all his discoveries concluded in 1912, “I fear the Valley of the Tombs is now exhausted.” Of course they were both mistaken. King Tutankamun’s tomb, arguably the best of the best, was discovered ten years later. And here we were, even decades beyond, in the Valley of the Kings, discovering new things. Anyone who thinks exploration is dead but for the planets and stars is shortsighted. Right here on earth there is plenty to discover and even more to learn. Sometimes it can be right under your nose or in places previously unappreciated. In my own archaeological work, I looked at “boring” or neglected subjects and found them to be both exciting and worthwhile. Each time we come across
something new, whether artifacts from the past or ideas from the mind, it’s a discovery.
Exploration is alive and well, as the many active members of groups such as the Explorers Club and the Royal Geographical Society can attest. Whether it’s in the realm of zoology, geography, oceanography, or any number of other fields, one can argue that only the obvious stuff has already been found. In terms of the prospects of archaeology, Thor Heyerdahl once said, “For every minute, the future is becoming the past,” and as a result there will always be something to study. When I was a boy, I dreamed of adventure and exploration. Now that I’m an adult, some of those dreams are still alive, and I truly feel blessed to have done much, yet at the same time I feel that I’m only just getting started!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
GIVEN THAT THE CONTENT of this book spans decades, I could thank dozens upon dozens of people, but unfortunately a relatively short list will have to suffice, lest these acknowledgments become a chapter of their own. Appreciation is extended to the following: Sherry and Samuel Ryan, who patiently live in the midst of this explorer’s life and tolerate its chaos; the late Thor Heyerdahl, a lifetime hero and inspiration; Dr. Zahi Hawass and the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt, who have allowed me to conduct my work, and the American Research Center in Egypt, which facilitates my projects; my various scholarly associates, including Barbara Mertz, Dennis Forbes, Nick Reeves, Edmund Meltzer, Jonathan Elias, Ray Johnson, David Lorton, Ted Brock, Otto Schaden, Sir Christopher Frayling, and the members of “The Dinosaur Club” T. G. H. James and the curators and staff of the Egyptian department at the British Museum; the Kon-Tiki Museum; Fred Duerr and the Kona Village Resort ‘ohana; and the various members of my expeditions, including Brian “Gordy” Holmes, Paul Buck, John Rutherford, Larry Berman, Barbara Aston, Salima Ikram, Darrell Baker, Adina Savin, Denis Whitfill, Tito Valencia, Jerry Cybulski, Lisa Vlieg, Mojka Jereb, Katie Hunt, Dr. Rick Reanier, and Stephanie Steinke, along with my antiquities inspectors and local workmen in Egypt. I would like to thank my loyal supporters, including James D. Ryan and Patricia Armstrong, Lester and Shirley McKean, Jane Ho, Jane Hayes, the Heyerdahl family, Jeffrey Belvill, Hugh Crowder, Joshua Alper, Joe and Joanne Attaway, and Mark Glickman; my many fine colleagues at Pacific Lutheran University; and my editors at Harper Collins, Jennifer Brehl, Emily Krump, Maureen Sugden, and Dale Rohrbaugh. Very special thanks to Maurice and Lois Schwartz, Dorothy A. Shelton, Albert Haas, Jerry Vincent, Liisa and Richmond Prehn, and Tom and Kelly Ott for their gracious generosity, and to Professor Robert J. Wenke, who gave a young man a chance to visit Egypt for the first time. Sadly, some of my distinguished colleagues have passed away during the last few years, including T.G.H. James, Gary “Termite” Lindstrom, Mark Papworth, Daris Swindler, Lawry Gold, David Hansen, Doug Esse, and Michael Dennett. May their memory survive as inspiration to those who follow.
About the Author
Donald P. Ryan, Ph.D., is an American archaeologist, Egyptologist, and writer. He is a member of the Division of Humanities at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, and a specialist in Egyptian archaeology, Polynesian archaeology, and ancient languages and scripts. He is best known for his research in Egypt, including excavations in the Valley of the Kings, where he has discovered lost tombs and controversial mummies.
He is a veteran of many expeditions and is the author of numerous scientific and popular articles on archaeological subjects as well as several books. He is a Fellow of the Explorers Club and the Royal Geographical Society, a mountaineering instructor, a long-distance runner, and a pianist. Ryan worked closely with world-renowned Norwegian explorer, archaeologist, and writer Thor Heyerdahl. Among their many projects, they excavated the mysterious Pirámides de Güímar on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, and Ryan is finishing Heyerdahl’s last book about the ancient colonization of the islands of the South Pacific.
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Credits
Jacket design by Richard Aquan
Jacket illustration © by Kenneth Garrett/Getty Images
Copyright
BENEATH THE SANDS OF EGYPT. Copyright © 2010 by Donald P. Ryan, Ph.D. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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* The ancient Egyptian name “Ment-hi-khopesh-ef” can be spelled several ways, including “Mentuherkhepshef” and “Montuhirkhopeshef,” the latter being that preferred by this author.
*[Stated to me for a fact. I only tell it as I got it. I am willing to believe it. I can believe any thing.]
* As an aside, we actually once conducted a nutritional analysis of the plant and found it comparable to celery with a slightly sweet, strawlike flavor.
*Ushabtis are figurines placed in the tomb to do the bidding of the deceased as symbolic servants in the afterlife.