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4 January 2012 • 2:00 pm Comments Off on Amara West 2012: return to cemetery D

Amara West 2012: return to cemetery D


Michaela Binder, Durham University

In the cemeteries, our work will mainly focus on cemetery D this year, the cemetery area to the north-west of the town. Located on an escarpment, previous excavations in this cemetery by the Egypt Exploration Society (1938/39) and by us in 2010, revealed evidence suggesting that this area was used as a burial ground for the elite. As we’ve only excavated a small number of graves in this area so far, the additional graves excavated this season will allow us to confirm – or modify – this hypothesis.

Two of the burial mounds we’ll excavate this season

Two of the burial mounds we’ll excavate this season

We’ll start with graves in the immediate vicinity of the elite Ramesside tombs excavated in 2010. On the surface, the tombs are visible as low circular mounds of schist blocks and rubble. The rubble might indicate that the underlying substructures are carved into the bedrock and therefore could be rather substantial. I can’t wait until the team finally arrives to find out what is underneath.

Early morning, first day of excavating in cemetery D

Early morning, first day of excavating in cemetery D

Early on Tuesday, a beautiful but rather brisk morning, I and a small group of three workmen started removing the windblown sand from the shaft of grave G307, where excavation had begun in 2010. Presumably due to wind erosion of the surface, a large proportion of the grave’s original height has disappeared over the centuries. How much is left of the burial chamber on the west side of the rectangular shaft will be seen over the next few days.

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17 February 2011 • 10:28 am Comments Off on Going underground – unearthing more burials at Amara West

Going underground – unearthing more burials at Amara West

Dyan Semple, physical anthropologist, University of Alberta

Gone underground: the shaft of grave 234, with tarpaulin covering the eastern chamber

Along with Michaela and Carina, I’m working in cemetery C at Amara West, currently in the western chamber of Grave 201.

This tomb has a central shaft and two chambers to the east and the west. It had already been partially excavated in 2009, but this year we removed the alluvium from above the western chamber, to avoid the possibility of it falling in while we were excavating.

A lot of the bones had been crushed by earlier collapse, but five articulated burials were found at the rear of the space. As they lay one on top of the other, I had to be very careful to separate them – finding a place to stand was the first issue, and then I could remove the more recent burials at the front, after recording them.

Dyan cleaning skeletons in Grave 201

From the way the skeletons are arranged, it is possible to tell that some of the individuals had been tightly bound for burial. They were buried in an extended position, laid out with their hands beneath them and their feet crossed. In some cases, however, the binding was tight and thick, leading to bodies being placed face down, perhaps accidentally.

I didn’t find any traces of cloth, although some of the individuals had wood pieces associated with their remains, which may once have been a coffin or funerary bed.

In addition to wood fragments, three scarabs have been found in the grave – one individual had two faience scarabs associated with them, clutched in the left hand, and lying under the crushed skull.

One scarab bore the prenomen cartouche of Thutmosis III, a pharaoh of the mid-18th Dynasty, which is much earlier than the use of this cemetery for burials. However, objects like these were kept for long periods of time, and scarabs with this royal name were still being made centuries later.

Scarab (F9490) of glazed steatite, found in Grave 201

The final task in this grave is drawing a cross-section of the chambers and shafts, and I have already started work in the eastern chamber of Grave 234, which is a similarly constructed chamber tomb.

Though the bones are again crushed, there is a large amount of relatively intact wood along the back of the chamber, and ceramic jars and bowls are visible at the sides and centre. One burial seems to have been placed in the chamber after it had already partially collapsed. It appears that there are at least 10 individuals in the chamber, so the excavation of Grave 234 will likely occupy the remainder of the season for Carina and I.

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