Message #141139

[Josie Linde]

My lecture on March 14th at the Mummification Museum went well as I managed to present sixty-eight images in 45 minutes!



As mentioned in my 7 February update we discovered a very unique wooden bed inside Jar #13. In addition to finding the bed in the jar we also found three wooden boards (wrapped in linen) with 4 “prongs” or “legs” which may have served as supports for the bed.  We now have enough such “legs” for four bed supports, but only 3 wrapped boards (ca. 50 cm in length) have been uncovered.
 

During a brief visit to KV-10/KV-63 on March 1st by Dr. Zahi Hawass, he called attention to one of our SCA conservators, Amany Nashed, for her good work on the restoration of the bed.  Dr. Hawass also suggested we try placing the bed on the supports--- which we did the following day and they appear to be a good fit. The KV-63 website already has a few images of the bed and supports posted (*plus some new ones added today) but more images will be made available soon.
 

During the last two months the conservators have been hard at work removing resin off the KV-63 coffins in the hope of finding names and/or titles. In the beginning stages of removing the resin off Coffin E’s lid, it appeared we had the name of a woman, Btau or Butau, a fairly common woman’s name already in the Middle Kingdom and into the New Kingdom. But after further removal of the resin off the box (or base), it became clear that her name is Henut-wadjbu, a common female name from the New Kingdom. Her full description is: “The Osiris, Henut-wadjbu, true of voice.”



As we are currently copying the texts, we must address the order of the decoration, for traces on the front vertical column do not indicate that Henut-wadjbu’s name was ever present there but it does appear on the cross bands and end panel.   For example, if the coffin was originally decorated for this lady, why are the erasures only on the front column?   Or, if the coffin was initally decorated for Henut-wadjbu, then why weren’t her names erased from the cross bands and end panels?

Furthermore, the vertical column of text down the center of the lid has been thoroughly erased. But on the front of the ‘toe’ section (footboard) one single hieroglyph remains  --- a seated man --- the determinative for a man, indicating that the coffin was at one time inscribed for a male.

A few days ago our conservators began removing resin from the lid fragments of Coffin B and the poorly preserved sides of Coffin A’s box - where we have discovered some very interesting texts!  After further cleaning we will send a report to Dr. Zahi Hawass and later provide more details in our next Update.



In regards to our staff, Conservator Margot Wright has been working on the floral garlands/collars and the beds ”legs”. Artist Sue Osgood (on loan from Chicago House/ORINST) has been drawing Coffins D, G and Coffin B’s mask while Pieter Collet completed the mapping of KV-63 and drew the lion-headed bed. Two recent additions to our team were SCA conservator Adel Aziz Andreus who worked with us in 2006 and SCA Inspector Ahmed Mahmoud Yassin who replaces Inspector Ezzat.



Our season is rapidly drawing to a close, for we had set ca. March 21 for an initial shutdown date but I will allow a few extra days for last minute packing before I head to Cairo and then home. We will try to get in a final update from the field (or from Cairo) towards the end of this month. So stay tuned for more exciting news to come.


Otto Schaden