© Griffith Institute, Oxford OX1 2LG
Concept and direction: Jaromir Malek
The journal has been scanned with the financial support of the Manchester Ancient Egypt Society
[Note: all dates have been standardized.]
Transcript: Sue Hutchison
Editing: Ana I. Navajas Jimenez and Jaromir Malek
Scanning: Hana Navrátilová
Image editing: Jenni Navratil
The notebook contains a mixture of journal entries and descriptions of finds. At a later stage most of the descriptive sections were crossed through, perhaps by Carter himself, as though marked for omission. This, however, was carried out rather inconsistently, and while the transcript presented here follows these suggestions and usually does not include such entries, several of them (for example that for November 8, 1926) have been retained. In several cases, for example the entries for November 11-13 and December 1 and 2, the description of finds was not crossed off but has nevertheless been omitted in this transcript according to Carter's usual practice.
The transcript presented here has been only very slightly edited, for example by correcting misspellings and eliminating duplication or omission of words. For easier reading, such cases are not marked but scans of the pages of these diaries will be available here soon and may be consulted for details.
Arranged that he shall go to Luxor with me on Tuesday Oct. 5.
Arranged with him the following items:
The electric light in the valley to be ready by Oct. 20th.
Case containing the painted casket
(No. 21) to be sent to me at Luxor for final preparation for exhibiting and
to be returned to the Cairo Museum within the month.
That Lucas
should accompany me to Luxor Oct. 5th.
That our programme
for this season's campaign would be to deal with the
'déblaiement'
of the Store Chamber.
The tomb,
as in last season, not to be
open to the public until the 1st Jan. 1927. and from that date until the
following March 15th. Visitors should be allowed 3 days per week.
Telephoned to the Dir. of Customs, Ahmed Bey Gharto, regarding customs of
eleven cases of stores and materials per SS. 'Raupum'. Sent invoices and
instructions to the P&O agent Port Said for same.
Inspected skeleton of a horse discovered by Firth and Quibell at Saqqara.
Allowing for certain shrinkage its height to withers is 160 cms = 60" =
15 hands, which seems abnormally high for a horse of the Ramesside period
as Firth and Quibell appear to date it.
Weather very cool, but house, by being closed all summer, hot and stuffy.
The two cases containing the casket No. 21 arrived this morning (11.30) and
I placed them in the Laboratory. They were sent from Luxor in charge of two
ghaffirs to the Valley, which seems a somewhat careless manner on the part
of the Inspector, after the instructions he had received from Edgar at the
Museum. I rather fear that we may yet have trouble with the Chief Inspector
Tewfik Effendi Boulos - I hope not!
Paid the four Reises salary due for the summer months, i.e., from June 30th
up to Oct. 31st.
Burton prepared dark room and commenced upon photos in detail of casket
No. 21.
Electric light started this am.
Tewfik Effendi Boulos, the Chief Insp. Depart. of Antiquities, came to Valley
with the New Marmour of Luxor (Abd El Megid Shenasheen). I am under the
understanding that this is the first visit Tewfik Boulos has made to the
Valley since May last, and then only to take over the cases for transport to
the Museum.
Gave instructions to Reis Ahmed to procure the necessary men & boys for
uncovering the tomb on Wednesday morning (20th).
Having prepared tackle and overhead scaffold, I removed the lid of the first
(outermost) coffin from the sarcophagus, and transported it to the
laboratory, for photographing with its shell, preparatory to returning
both to the sarcophagus, with the mummy of the King inside.
Burton made photos of the King's mummy and detail photographs of the head
work left (under-wax) upon the King (i.e., Nos. SSS and TTT).
Received visit from Tewfik Effendi, Mahmoud Effendi and the Inspector of
Karnak this morning.
We are now ready to begin upon the investigation of the store room.
Lucas
commenced repairing the bier (No. 253a) that supported the first
(outermost) coffin, as it has to be sent to Cairo.
Lucas continued his work upon the lion-shaped bier, in Lab.
Burton
was thus able to continue further photographic records of the objects
in the chamber.
Lucas
continued his restoration work upon the bier (253a).
The ivory and ebony veneered casket had been without doubt rummaged by
thieves, and in all probability its more valuable contents removed, yet
it still contained more than fifteen pieces of magnificent gold inlaid
pectorals and a girdle of intricate design, which had originally been
tied up in a piece of linen and sealed.
Burton
printing negatives to date.
Removed the cartouche-shaped
box No. 269, from the store room ready for
transport to lab. Its contents seem to be much disturbed - it contains like
No. 267 a lot of jewellery and ? a robe. Owing to trouble with teeth must
go to Cairo today.
Removed two boxes Nos. 270 and 271, and prepared the last box of this series
No. 272, which contains the King's fan, for Burton to photograph tomorrow.
No. 270 was found to contain some ornamental shoes.
No. 271 among other objects a scribe's outfit, a pith basket and an elaborate
mirror case - the mirror apparently stolen by the thieves.
Also photographed, collected the fallen frags., and waxed the ivory and ebony
casket No. 268, preparatory to transporting it to the lab.
The rigging of boat (276) had first to be thoroughly sprayed with duroprene,
and then its mast, being too high to pass out through the aperture between
the scaffolding in the burial chamber, it had to be removed.
The further the investigation and
déblaiement of the
material in this store room advances, the disturbances that must have been
caused by the tomb robbers become more and more evident.
When examining the contents of the six boxes 267-272, we found them
practically empty - the greater part of their contents have been no doubt
stolen - in fact not more than a third of their contents were left, and
the remainder of the objects evidently returned to the various boxes without
any order or care. Those officials must have found everything strewn upon
the floor by the plundering, have gathered them up & put them back into the
boxes without regard as to which one they belonged.
Our work had progressed sufficiently to enable us to safely move and open
the large upright example (275) near the south side of the doorway, and to
lift it into the Burial Chamber for inspection. Its folding doors, tied with
cord, sealed with a clay seal, bearing impressions of two distinct seals,
when opened, revealed a group of five wooden statuettes of the king - four
of them gesso-gilt draped with linen coverings, and the fifth varnished with
black resin. All of them of exquisite workmanship resembling the King in
various forms, attitudes and pursuits, holding respectively sacred symbols
and missiles of sacred occupations in future life.
These with the two figures upon leopards in another chest, already
mentioned, show that in all probability these boxes contain figurines
symbolizing the King in various forms, duties and pursuits in the
hereafter.
As the laboratory has now become full of objects transported from the
store-room, we have been obliged to stop further déblaiement of the room and to turn
our energies on the material in laboratory to make room for continuation of
the work in the tomb.
Undressed, photographed and repaired the two statuettes 275b and d, from
Chest 275. The wax treatment proved successful in both cases and I believe
they can now be safely packed in sawdust. The art of these figures is
transitional - El Amarna and Theban.
Received a visit from Tewfik Effendi Boulos.
Completed investigation of box 269.
270. Box No. 270, was found to contain a pair of ornamental slippers, a lid
of a box from 269a, and an anklet of stone (? of schist).
We succeeded in removing and transporting to the laboratory the nine boats,
and to open and examine four of the black chests.
Met the P.M. Ardly Yeghen Pasha.
Newberrys to tea.
Preserving & recording of material & objects discovered carried on in lab.
H.M. seems very pleased with the results.
(December 17, 2010)
September 22, 1926.
Left London 10.45am Victoria via Dover - Calais - Paris.
September 23, 1926.
Arrived Trieste 9pm and embarked S.S. Vienna.
September 24, 1926.
Dep. 1pm.
September 27, 1926.
Arrived Alexandria 2.30pm. Dep. 6pm. for Cairo. Arr. Cairo 9.45pm. Met Dr.
Saleh Bey Hamdi at Alex., with whom I arranged that I would go to Alex. for
a day (from Cairo) to see the Min. of P.W.D.
September 28, 1926.
A. Lucas came to dine with me at the Continental Hotel.September 29, 1926.
Saw Edgar at the Museum.October 1, 1926.
Edgar dined with me. Bulletin required end of first week after commencing
work.
October 2, 1926.
Went to the Museum, where Edgar had kindly arranged with regard to sending
the painted casket in charge of Lucas to Luxor.October 5, 1926.
Left Cairo 7pm, with Lucas for Luxor.
October 6, 1926.
Arr. Luxor 8.30am. Crossed over to Gurna. 9.30am to find house and men in good
order.October 7, 1926.
Went to the Valley 10am this morning, where everything seemed to be in good
order. Open the Laboratory (No. 15) which would have been in perfect order
had the Reises not failed in noticing that rats had burrowed under the
wood-screen before the steel gate. A little sand placed at the base would
have prevented this. Luckily very little harm had been done by the rats,
which is fortunate, as it might have been far worse.October 9, 1926.
Cleaned and prepared Laboratory for work to begin tomorrow, namely:
(1) Completing the Royal Mummy for final reburial.
(2) " the first (outermost) coffin to receive the mummy.
October 10, 1926.
Lucas and I commenced real work this morning: Lucas upon the cleaning and
reparation of the first (outermost) coffin shell; myself upon the final touches of the King's mummy before reburial when we open
the tomb.October 13, 1926.
Commenced upon reparation and making good for exhibition in Cairo the
painted casket No. 21.
October 14, 1926.
Completed casket No. 21.
October 16, 1926.
Burton arrived.
October 17, 1926.
Lucas completed first outermost coffin (No. 243).October 18, 1926.
Received in Valley visit from the Insp. of Interior and Hakam Ins. of the
Police.October 19, 1926.
Tuesday. No work. Wrote Tewfik re opening the tomb.
October 21, 1926.
The rubbish covering the entrance of the tomb having been removed, the tomb
was opened this morning and we found everything in good order.October 22, 1926.
Burton having made the final photos of the first (outermost) coffin, we
prepared everything for replacing it together with the mortal remains of the
King in the sarcophagus in the tomb, a task proposed to carry out
tomorrow.October 23, 1926.
The first outermost coffin containing the King's mummy, finally rewrapped,
was lowered into the sarcophagus this morning.October 24, 1926.
Burton
commenced making photographic records of the store-room. By the very
nature of his instrument the photographer can simply capture a moment of his
subject; therefore any cumulative effort, such as may be rendered by the
artist, is beyond the scope of the camera. For that reason, I say, careful
selection of the subject, the full appreciation of light and shade and pose,
and the avoidance of any form of arrested action or distortion, are the real
and all important factors in the art of photography.October 25, 1926.
As Anubis has to be taken to pieces to enable it to be removed and passed
out of the Burial Chamber, Burton continued making photographic records of
each stage of the proceeding.October 26, 1926.
Paid the men yesterday. Today being Tuesday no work.October 27, 1926.
Removed the figure of Anubis
(No. 261) together with his pylon-shaped
palankeen from the store room, and transported them to the lab.October 28, 1926.
Removed the head of a cow (264) and the ivory and ebony veneered casket
(267), into the antechamber ready for transport to the Lab.
October 29, 1926.
Transported to the lab. casket No. 267, where we examined its contents and
took some preliminary photographic records.October 30, 1926.
Lucas
commenced upon the jewellery box 267.October 31, 1926.
Henri Laudauer, who is to assist me this season, arrived Cairo.
November 3, 1926.
Returned Luxor - Gurna, accompanied by Henri Landauer.
November 4, 1926.
Recommenced work in store room this morning.November 5, 1926.
Photographed, sprayed with duroprene, and removed to the lab, the King's
ostrich feather and ivory fan, contained in box No. 272.November 6-7, 1926.
Removed from store room box 268, the three tazze 265 - two of which (a. and
c.) apparently contain natron, the model boat (276) with sails and rigging,
a smaller boat (278) of the celestial type, and a model granary No. 277.November 8, 1926.
Today, for the first time, we were able to obtain a comprehensive idea as to
the contents of those black shrine-like chests stacked along the S. wall of
the Store-Room.November 10, 1926.
Behind chest (275) and placed upon the west end of the large flat box (278),
was a plain wooden chest (No. 279) with its gable-shaped lid displaced and
only partially covering the chest. Its contents apparently had been robbed,
containing only (which probably did not belong there) a model
Mola Trustilis
or thrusting hand mill for grinding corn into a coarse meal. It comprises
a saddle-stone and muller made of ... stone. The saddle-stone has a more
or less concave face on which grain was placed, and with the use of the
muller, shaped like an oval bun, the grain was rubbed and ground into a
meal. This model, no doubt, was intended to symbolize trituration of grain
for the food of the divine, and I believe I am right in saying that, though
the grinding of corn was peculiarly the duty of women, it was the privilege
of the Pharaoh to prepare the meal for the deity, in fact he was actually
the divine triturator. Statuettes depicting Egyptian monarchs grinding corn
into meal for the god, by means of the saddle-stone and muller, are not
unknown.November 11-13, 1926.
These last three days have enabled us to completely clear the S.W. corner of
the store room.November 16, 1926.
Tuesday no work. Sent off to Cassells index to Vol. II.November 17, 1926.
Mons. and Madame Guernier visited the lab.November 18, 1926.
Four of these figures were dealt with today.November 19-22, 1926.
Conserved, noted the figurines Nos. 280a, 281a, 282a, 283, a, b, c, and the
neck-unit cow's head No. 264 and then boxes prepared for packing them.November 24, 1926.
Examined the contents of box No. 269.November 25, 1926.
Box No. 269 was found to contain ear-rings, a mirror case, a bead-work
girdle, 2 heq-sceptres and 2 flails. Then several bracelets, scaraboid
necklace, two pectorals, a bead work apron, a small round bundle of
linen and some scarves.
November 26, 1926.
Received a visit from the Mudir of Keneh together with the Marmour.November 27-29, 1926.
Completed examining the material brought up from the tomb; photographed,
cleaned & packed a large proportion of it, so as to make room for more to
be brought up next week.December 1, 1926.
Recommenced removing objects from the store room of the tomb, namely those
stored and forming a group in the south east corner. Here there were sixteen
black shrine-like chests (Nos. 290-305), placed in four rows parallel with
the east wall, and stacked upon them were nine boats (Nos. 306-314) of four
distinct types. Practically all the chests like the prows of the boats faced
towards the West, the exception being three of the chests, which faced
towards the North, they being too deep to take their proper orientation.
One of the boats, the southernmost (No. 314), had fallen down behind chests
Nos. 292 and 296.December 2, 1926.
Completed the examination of the S.E. group of chests, which are now ready
for transport to the laboratory.December 3-4, 1926.
Continued examining and cleaning the above discoveries.
December 4, 1926.
Went over to Luxor to the inauguration of the broadgauge Luxor - Aswan rail.
December 5, 1926.
Visit from the Min. of Public Instruction, Ali Pasha Chamsy and party.December 6, 1926.
Ardly Pasha visited the tomb with party.December 18, 1926.
These last few days have been employed in tidying up the tomb preparatory to
the visit of the XIVth Congrés International de Navigation who are to come
tomorrow the 19th.
December 19-30, 1926.
Work stopped in store-chamber.December 31, 1926.
Received visit of King Fuad to tomb & lab.January 1, 1927.
Tomb opened to the public, and henceforth, until March 15th (afterwards
extended to March 31st) (every Tuesday, Thursday, & Saturday, 9am to 12 noon).
January 10, 1927.
Sultan el Melek visited the tomb and laboratory.
January 18, 1927.
Left for Aswan with Tremayne.
January 30, 1927.
Returned Luxor.
January 31, 1927.
Left for Cairo.
February 1, 1927.
Arrived Cairo.
February 5, 1927.
Left for Luxor.
February 6, 1927.
Arrived Luxor.
February 9, 1927.
Owing to demands from visitors was obliged to return to Aswan.
February 28, 1927.
Returned to Luxor.
March 1, 1927.
Returned to Gurna and recommenced work in laboratory.
March 23, 1927.
Burton came & continued his photographing the objects.
March 28, 1927.
Burton completed his photos.
March 31, 1927.
Tomb closed to tourists.
April 1, 1927.
The Pres. Masaryk came & visited tomb.
April 8, 1927.
Burton made photos of the remaining objects in the store chamber.
April 13, 1927.
Landauer left for Cairo.
April 16, 1927.
Antiquities left by train for Cairo.
April 23-24, 1927.
Left Gurna - Luxor for Cairo - Arr. Cairo 24th stayed at Residency.
April 29, 1927.
Dep. Cairo for England.
May 3, 1927.
Arr. London 11.30pm.