News from the Valley of the Kings

Somehow I missed this - thanks to Andie for spotting it.  I posted a video recently about TT34, the 25th Dynasty tomb of Montuemhat but Heritage Key have now posted five photos by the wonderful Sandro Vannini.

The page is very confusing,  If you click on Play Slides on the big image, it doesn't work. Instead it links to an anchor further down the page.  It's tempting to go back and try again.  There's no need.  Ignore the big picture and go down to any of the thumbnails lower down.  Click on any of these and the photo gallery will open up for you.

Tomb TT34 is one of the Tombs of the Nobles in the Theban Hills not far from the Valley of the Kings.



I'd not realised this tomb complex was so big. There is a large sun court above the shaft tombs.  There are some more details and pictures here, including one of the most beautiful reliefs I have ever seen of Montuemhat spearing fish. The video describes the work byDr Farouk Gomaa.  He reports that the shaft tomb of Montuemhat had not been found, but work continues to locate it.  That sounds promising but as the credits for this film show that it was shot in 2006, if they do find anything we may have a very long wait before we hear about it.  (Which makes one wonder how long we will have to wait to see photos / video of a major tomb in the Valley of the Kings.  It also feeds the conspiract theories.  I have just posted on the Old Kingdom blog the latest from Andrew Collins on the now infamous Tomb of Birds.  The time between discoveries and publication makes me much more willing to believe that Andrew Collin has found a cave system beneath the Giza Plateau but which is being witheld from the public by the authorities for now.)

Montuemhat was a Mayor of Thebes during the 25th Dynasty.  There is a small room in the Mut Precinct at Karnak which is called the "Montuemhat Crypt".  The walls have reliefs carrying a biography of Montuemhat.  There are pictures here.  If anybody has any other good resources on Montuemhat, then please add a comment - you can include links in comments if you want.  It goes without saying that any news on the shaft tomb of Montuemhat would be wonderful.