With deepest sadness we inform that on 29 September, 2017 Tomasz Górecki has passed away. He has been the director of the Polish Archaeological Mission at Sheikh Abd el-Qurna since the very beginning, our outstanding boss and wonderful colleague. Our grief at this unexpected death is hard to express, we are passing the condolences to His Family.

Polish Archaeological Mission at Sheikh Abd el-Qurna is an archaeological expedition to Qurna in Egypt (ancient Western Thebes, at the west bank of present-day Luxor). The mission works under the auspices of the Polish Center of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, in cooperation with Adam Mickiewicz University. Since the beginning in 2003 the mission is directed by Tomasz Górecki (National Museum in Warsaw). In 2016 the work is run in the field by Andrzej Ćwiek (Adam Mickiewicz University and Poznań Archaeological Museum), the deputy director of the mission.

The site under research is an unnamed desert knoll beside Sheikh Abd el-Qurna hill, south of the Valley of the Kings and Deir el-Bahari. The knoll borders the valley behind Sheikh Abd el-Qurna where one of the pharaohs of the early Middle Kingdom period (ca. 2000 BC) started building his mortuary complex. Highest officials of the state cut their tombs in the slopes of hills surrounding the valley with their ruler’s planned burial. Two of these tombs, marked MMA 1151 and MMA 1152, are located on the abovementioned knoll.

The tombs were several times re-used during the Pharaonic Period and in the Middle Ages the site was settled by Coptic monks who made their hermitage there, using the tombs and building new structures outside them.

The still ongoing research on the remains of the hermitage, occupied from 6th through 8th century AD, gave the mission its popular name, included in its logo: Misja Eremu, which means "Mission of the Hermitage" in Polish. Among the finds from the hermitage were not only thousands of amphorae in which water was delivered to the monks, but also innumerous items of every day life and objects of handicraft made by the monks. The highlights of the excavations were parchment and papyrus books with some of the oldest Christian texts, discovered at the garbage dump on the slope of the hill.

Starting from the season 2015 the research has been focused on the architecture, funerary equipment and other artifacts dating from the Pharaonic Period. This means first of all excavations in the rock-cut subterranean structures of the tomb MMA 1152, reaching the depth of over twenty meters. The work in a 18-meter deep burial shaft conducted in February 2015 required installation of a special construction above the shaft’s mouth and using sophisticated climbing equipment.

The most valuable item found in 2015 was the fragment of a linen velum – a veil for a sacred image, with names of Ptolemy XII and the goddess Isis written in brown ink. It must have been a gift of the pharaoh to the nearby temple of Deir el-Medina, found there and brought to the hermitage by scavenging monks. This inconspicuous piece of linen with the royal cartouches has some historical importance and has but few parallels.

The mission will be back to the site in February 2016 to continue excavations in MMA 1152.

Coptic

Sheikh Abd el-Qurna papyrus book conservation project

The two papyrus books and the set of parchment cards between wooden covers discovered by Tomasz Górecki in the Coptic hermitage in Sheikh Abd el-Gurna in 2005 necessitated immediate treatment. Expert conservators were rushed in then from Poland to take whatever protective measures and storage precautions were necessary in order to keep the finds in stable condition until a regular conservation project could be mounted.

In March 2006, book conservators Daria Kordowska and Anna Thommee-Stachoń were installed in the very professional labs of the National Museum in Alexandria, where the finds had been transferred for conservation. Their first job was to disinfect the papyrus books. As far as the parchment cards were concerned, there was no need for such action as they were not threatened by microorganisms and could be separated and cleaned, and then consolidated and stretched, which permitted a first cursory look at their content.

Two groups were identified: a larger set of about 25 cards with quotations from the Old Testament Prophecy of Isaiah, and a smaller one, 3 to 5 cards, which proved to be from an apocryphal text, the so-called Martyrium Petri, telling of the miraculous healing carried out by this Apostle. Both texts feature numerous floral ornaments on the margins. They have been dated provisionally to the 9th-10th century.

The restorers returned for another season of conservation in mid August and worked until late September. Now salvage conservation was effected on the two papyrus books. Exposure to temperature and humidity fluctuation and inevitable contact with polluted air (chlorides, sulphates, ozone, photochemical smog) had been deleterious for the condition of the books and it was noted with satisfaction that after a few months in the stable conditions of the Alexandria lab (60% Rh, 18-20°C), the deterioration processes had been halted. Even so, the books are in poor condition, the expert term for describing them being "deformed monoliths".

The first task was to separate the book covers from the blocks and to separate particular quires and pages mechanically. Wherever the fold of a quire was intact, indirect hydrating was necessary in order to permit separation without damage to the back. This way some of the leaves were separated as folia. The leaves were placed between acid-free cardboard sheets and stored in a custom-made wooden box, following the page sequence of the original book. The leather covers were protected with Japanese tissue paper and stored in specially designed passé-partout boxes for future conservation.

Standard documentation was made all through the process, not the least being careful photography of all the separated leaves, which can now be used for study, regardless of the steps that will be taken in the next stage of the project. The conservation of the covers especially needs to be completed, but the important decision at this point - and one which demands further significant funding from sources other than the Polish Centre - is the form in which the objects will be stored and presented in the future. It is advisable to consider full repair of the papyrus leaves and reconstruction of the binding threads to restore the books to their original form. A copy or reprint of the objects could also be made, leaving the conserved pieces as is in Museum storage. Another possibility is to seal the separated sheets between glass or Plexiglas panes, but in that case the integrity of the books will have been lost.

Pharaonic

At the end of XIth or at the beginning of XIIth Dynasty, one of the successors of Mentuhotep Nebhepetra (Mentuhotep Sankhkara? Mentuhotep Nebtauira? or Amenemhat I as suggested by Dorothea Arnold?) started building his mortuary complex at Western Thebes, in a valley behind Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, known in Egyptology as the Third Valley or The Valley of the Last Mentuhotep. This project, perhaps planned as resembling the tomb complex of Mentuhotep Nebhepetra at Deir el-Bahari, was never finished. Remains of the terrace with some constructions, including the royal tomb (TT 281), are preserved in the southern part of the valley. They were excavated by Herbert Winlock in 1921. It is not clear whether the ruler was buried in the tomb. Some of his officials, however, who located their tombs in the slopes of hills surrounding the valley, were buried there, the best known one being Meketra (TT 280). Two of the officials hewn their tombs in the small hill south of the royal complex. They must have been two of highest nobles since their burials are the two closest to, and on the right-hand side of the king resting in his eternal residence. These tombs, named MMA 1151 and MMA 1152 were many times reused after the Middle Kingdom, and in 6th-8th centuries AD they were the site of a Coptic hermitage.

Since 2003 this site is under research by the Polish Archaeological Mission at Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, directed by Tomasz Górecki from the National Museum in Warsaw. Till 2015 the work concentrated on excavation and research of the Coptic hermitage. Remains of mudbrick constructions were unearthed, including a storeroom/refugial tower in front of the tomb. Among the finds there were thousands of amphorae and objects of craftsmanship made by monks, but also parchment and papyrus books with oldest Christian texts.

The richness of the material from the hermitage, as well as other circumstances, caused that research of the Pharaonic remains, and especially the substructures of the tombs, had to be delayed. Finally, however, in February 2015 the project of research of Pharaonic structures and objects started, led by Andrzej Ćwiek from the Adam Mickiewicz University and the Archaeological Museum in Poznań, deputy director of the mission, assisted by Patryk Chudzik from the University of Wrocław.

During the excavations made at the site of MMA 1151 and MMA 1152 in 2003-2014 were found many artefacts dated to the Pharaonic period, either belonging to interments in the tombs (mummies, fragments of coffins, funerary figurines, offering pottery, amulets), or brought from outside by the monks with the purpose of re-use (funerary cones to be used as stoppers for amphorae, fragments of stelae to make floors, wood for fire or as material for crafts, etc.)

At last, after twelve years of work in the hermitage, the time has come to go down and check, what is at the bottom of the shaft of MMA 1152 excavated partially by somebody (archaeologists? robbers?) in the 20th century. It was not Herbert Winlock, who excavated in 1921 the shaft and burial chamber in the neighbouring tomb MMA 1151. Writing on MMA 1152 in his notes, Winlock stated only: 'pit undug. French concession'. However, at some point later, somebody (French mission at Deir el-Medina?) excavated the shaft down to almost 18 meters, leaving no published record of these activities.

The team excavating in February and March 2015 the shaft of MMA 1152 directed by A. Ćwiek, included Arkadiusz Ostasz, conservator with engineering and climbing skills, who invented and organized a safe and efficient system of exploration of underground structures, and Marta Kaczanowicz, student of archaeology at the Adam Mickiewicz University, documenting the finds. To explore the shaft safely and efficiently, a special construction of wooden beams was built over the mouth of the shaft, for protection and as a support for special devices aimed at vertical transport of people and material. Climbing equipment of the latest generation was used, and everybody working in the room was secured by harnesses and lines.

The shaft is over 18 meters deep and its section is 3.5 x 2 m.

At its bottom, a sloping corridor opens that leads for some 4.6 m to the beginning of another shaft, to be explored in the next season. In 2015 the team started removing the fill of the lower part of the shaft and the corridor starting at its bottom. The debris was pulled up in special leather sacks and then transported outside the tomb on wheelbarrows. Sieving enabled finding even smallest items. Typical finds from the bottom of the shaft included pottery, pieces of sandstone, granite tools, fragments of mud-bricks, pieces of wooden coffins and cartonnages, linen, and human and animal bones.

Faience beads, fragments of faience amulets and small clay shabtis dated to the Third Intermediate Period come from secondary burials in the tomb, the question if it was used for its original owner’s burial in the Middle Kingdom is still open.

A highlight of the season 2015 was the discovery of a fragment of linen with remains of text written in ink. Two columns of the text contain cartouches of Ptolemy XII, the right-hand column starts with the name of Isis. Most probably it was a velum, i.a. a veil for the sacred image, in the temple of Deir el-Medina.

Ptolemy XII Auletes’ activity at Deir el-Medina is well attested. To his reign is dated the decoration of the gate. Probably rebuilding and embellishing of the temple was also an occasion for donation of items of ritual equipment, including linen veils. This may explain the cartouches and the name of the goddess.

The linen was found by Coptic monks and brought to the hermitage. Most probably they tore the small 'dirty' part of the linen, using the rest as a sheet or cloth. By their fortunate activity (cf. T. Górecki, 'It Might Come in Useful'. Scavenging Among the Monks from the Hermitage in MMA 1152, Etudes et Travaux XXVII (2014), pp. 129-150), a rare ancient Egyptian object has been preserved.

Media about us

Newsweek, 14 December 2015
http://historia.newsweek.pl/misja-eremu-polska-misja-archeologiczna-z-uam-w-poznaniu-w-egipcie,artykuly,375815,1.html

Minerva, October-November 2015
https://minervamagazine.co.uk/news_26-5_04.htm

www.ancient-origins.net, 16 July 2015
http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/polish-archaeologists-discover-rare-gift-father-cleopatra-003432

Science in Poland, 13 July 2015
http://scienceinpoland.pap.pl/en/news/news,405745,rare-find-of-polish-scientists-in-egypt.html

The History Blog, 17 July 2015
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/37533

Living in Luxor, 15 June 2015
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=863103313763213&id=127439430662942