In the field: KV-63 update

“Dig” Diary may not be the most suitable term for this season’s reports, for “Dig-less” is more fitting, as we are in “study season” mode --- there is no further “digging” necessary for KV-63 as of last season, even all of the storage jars have been cleared and examined.

On January 6-7, we had a small work crew led by Reis Nubi clean the floors and other things in KV-10, for the north wind brings much dust into the tomb all year long. Every season begins with a cleaning and a general inspection. The inspection checks for any breaks, rock falls or changes in some of the crack monitors we still have in place in KV-10. For many years now, the KV-10 structure has been quite stable.


On January 8th, botanist Dr. Ahmed Fahmy (Helwan University) and Heather Alexander arrived. We had a trunk of botanical items set aside for Dr. Fahmy and so he was able to get started immediately. Heather photographed all the materials.

The SCA Inspector assigned to us for the next couple months is Ayman Mohammed Ibrahim Khalil. Two SCA conservators joined us January 10th. Ahmed Baghdady (worked with us in 2006) and Mohammed Mahmoud arrived and began work on Coffin B. Zaref Basili, who worked with us in 2009, came out yesterday. Cracks in Coffin B’s facemask have been repaired and will be placed back into position on the lid of the coffin. Two large pieces of the lid have been cleaned of resin but there is no trace of paint or incised decoration, thus the intended owner of Coffin B will remain anonymous. It is very likely, the coffin was never finished.