News from the Valley of the Kings

Jane Akshar found the link to this article about the conservation of the naos base of Amenemhat I at the Temple of Ptah

I'm watching the Tutankhamun video on Five.  They showed the Y chromosome results on screen very briefly.  I think it showed DYS193.  So far as I an aware that's not been published.  A few minutes later, they showed a spreadsheet (without column headings) showing how alleles across the DNA microsite analysis alligned between Tutankhamun and KV55 (who in the documentary they identify as Akhenaten).  I want to compare these with the results published in the JAMA paper.  They were only on screen for a second or two but I thought I spotted a difference.

I am not putting this on disk so I can't check.  I'll record it on Saturday.  If anybody has recorded this showing, they might want to check the comparison between what was briefly shown on screen and the JAMA paper.

Addendum

Later in the show there DNA analysis for Yuya and KV35EL is also displayed on a spreadsheet.  I'll watch that back when I have a recoding as well and compare with the the JAMA paper.  Some commentator have suggested that the JAMA paper doesn't present all of the DNA findings.  The documentary gives us a chance to test that theory - at least in part.

I also understood from the JAMA paper that the mtDNA analysis was outstanding, but the documentary clearly shows that the mtDNA of Tutankhamun, KV35YL and KV35EL match (that is they share a lineage down the female line).

I really want to watch the segment back.  If it said what I thought, then it shows that Queen Tiye is related via the female line to the Younger Lady (and Tutankhamun), which would back up the claims in the JAMA paper that Queen Tiye was the mother  of the Younger Lady.  It would also rule out some of the alternative family trees I have seen - although I think my own suggestion remains safe!

Thanks to Vincent Brown for this story covered in Discovery News.  The bandages from KV54 have gone on display at the Met in New York. 

KV54 is Tutankhamun's offer "tomb" in the Valley of the Kings.  Of course it's not really a tomb but a cache of his funerary goods.  It gets very little attention so this new article which described the bandages in some detail is very interesting.

One question clearly remains unaswered about KV54.  Was there a similar cache for all of the Pharoah's buried in the Valley of the Kings in which case why don't we know of them?  It could account for some of the empty tombs but it is a bizarre coincidence that both's Tutankhamun's tomb and funerary cache were intact.  Is it possible that there was something different about Tutankhamun's burial so that he has a cache when other Pharaoh's didn't.

I picked up a copy of the free Metro paper this morning and there was a picture of a mummy case and the headline ... but frustratingly no text!  Fortunately Stuart Tyler came to the rescue with the link to the AP version of the story.  The tombs have been found at Lahoun un the Fayoum.  That's Lower Egypt so out of the scope for me here - but the beauty of running a blog is an ability to break the rules from time to time!

The tombs are from a variety of periods from the Old Kingdom through to the New Kingdom.  There's a copy of the story on the Hawass site as well which reports only 45 tombs.  Take your pick as to which is correct.  The AP version of the story though has more pictures but for visit both sites as the pictures are different.

Thanks Stuart.

Just a reminder that Five are showing part 2 of the Tutankhamun documentary this Wednesday at 8pm.

Hi Alex,your email address bounced.  Could you please get back in touch if you'd like a reply.  Kate

For those who missed it, the Tutankhamun documentary is repeated at13:15 on Saturday, but remember to check local listings in case they vary.  I'm drowing in other things at present so I put it on DVD rather than watch it but I am guessing that it's a condensed down version of what ran on Discovery Channel earlier in the year.  If anybody did see it, then they might be able to leave a summary in a comment please?

I've some paperwork I need to turn round by Monday so I'm unlikely to post much before then unless it's something quick.

Sorry it's last minute but I have only just spotted it.  Five are showing the Tutankhamun DNA documentary tonight at 8pm. 

NB I don't think this is going on Five on Demand so don't miss it expecting to watch online later!

Vincent Brown kindly sent me this as well. There are also a couple of things on his Twitter feed that I want to follow up tomorrow and post here when I hope to have more time.

Anyway, today's treasure is a letter from Edward Ayrton in December 1907 on the EES site.  If you find it hard to read then there is a bigger version here.  It's still worth visiting the EES page though because there are a couple of Ayrton's photos there as well including a photo taken inside the tomb of Horemheb in the Valley of the Kings.

That's not my title, it's the title used by Francisco Valentin and Teresa Martin Bedmar for their article on Egyptología, but it does have an appeal! It was published a few weeks ago but for some obscure reason, Google Reader has only now decided to tell me about it. (Regular readers will know that I hate Google Reader with a passion. It's only saving grace is that it's free - and even that might not be enough to make up for it's many weaknesses.)

It's a decent article but sadly few photos and Google makes a real fist of translating it from the Spanish. It's obviously about the tomb of Senenmut at Deir el-Bahri.

There is a report from Dr Hawass that a collosal statue of Thoth has been found on the West Bank on the site of Amenhotep III's Mortuary Temple (ie the site of the Colossi of Memnon).

A huge thanks to Vincent Brown of Talking Pyramids for point me to a source of more pictures by WH Bartlett.  If you liked the sketch [got it right this time, Dave!] in my previous post, then visit the Night Boat page.  They are glorious.  Even the Colossi of Memnon look good with flooding around their feet.

The site by Jon Bodsworth is is a really great one I've not seen before.  It's worth visiting the home page as there is a link to a historical archive.  The rest of the material is lower Egypt (Giza) but still very interesting. There are also som good modern photos of the main pyramid fields.  I have to say this is one of the nicest Ancient Egypt archive sites I have seen.

I didn't go looking for this, honest!  It just happened to come up when I was doing one of my periodic searches for pictures of the Valley of the Kings.




It's taken from "The Nile Boat or Glimpses of the Land of Egypt", by W H Bartlett and published 1862 so I'm guessing the image probably shows the Valley of the Kings in 1860,1861 or 1862.

Andie has collected a set of links about the latest archaeological discoveries in Luxor.

They have been online for sometime but I have only just found the photos from the Lucy Gura archive by the The Egypt Exploration Society. I like the photo showing the clearance of the Middle Court of Hatshepsut’s temple in 1894. You can jump off from there to the rest of the set.  For instance the work was on such a large scale that they set up a little mine railroad to carry the rubble away.

A great post from Jan Akshar with loads of photos on some of the latest discoveries at Karnark Temple.

Aaron Miller has confirmed that the archaeologists shown at work in his photo are working near Deir-el-Bahri and not in the Western Valley of the Kings (although we know that there is an excavation underway there too, protected by armed guards). I'm still hoping that Aaron might have, and allow me to post, a higher resolution version.  In the interim, Hans Schoens has kindly provided a picture of that area of the cliffs taken a couple of years ago.



If you open both images you'll notice there's a tomb to the left of Hans' photo which has an entrance shaped like a hammer head which corresponds to the tomb at the top of the slope shown in Aaron's photo.  (Click on the image above if you want to see a bigger version.)  It shows that a very definite path has been worn (or created).

If you'd like to see more photos from Hans, he has an extensive collection of photos of Egypt online but he has many others as well.

The KV63 documentary New Tomb Revealed is available from Amazon in America, but doesn't seem to be available in the UK.  However, for anybody who hasn't seen it, there are some good segments on the Discovery Channel website.  Remember to check at the bottom for the links to the other segments.