Synopsis of day: New Kingdom Burial Sites.
Highlight of the day: Being underground in the tombs and sighting and walking up the ramps and stairs of Deir el Bahri.
Lowlight of the day: KV5 was closed for preservation work, and there were so many people around at Deir el Bahri that taking quiet photographs was an impossibility.
Toilet ratings: A green theme in the alabaster shop but if that's all you can complain about, I think you've done really well, especially here in Egypt. I was pretty thankful I didn't need the services of the loo at the Valley of the Kings. It was all about location, location, rather than a quality establishment I think.
Favourite quote/word: “It's the mummy's curse” Our excuse for Kerri being unwell etc.
Favourite photo:
At Deir-el-Bahri
Cultural-shock moment: Running the gauntlet of souvenir shops outside the Valley of the Kings and Deir el Bahri. You just try to walk through as quickly as possible, ignoring the twenty of so men vying for your attention and your money. In the Alabaster shop they kept turning off the lights without warning to show off the glow in the dark products. They also assign a service assistant to you and shaking them off is really hard! We scored free gifts because we were girls, and none of the others, even though they bought stuff, were treated like this.
New food consumed: I am totally into this rice and cabbage thing.
Favourite purchase: Entry to Tutankhamun's tomb. Not quite value for money, but definitely worth it for the “I've been there” factor. (Plus the extra expense was clearly for contributions towards preservation. I hope.)
The thing I lost today: My memory card was accidentally full because I was too tired to empty it the night before, so thankfully Sharyn lent me a spare.
Random act of crazy: Kerri meeting up with someone from Loreto as we were walking up the really steep steps inside Thutmosis III's tomb. Also special mention to this hat:
What Arthur did next: Skipped off to an archaeological conference (which sounded cool but hello! Valley of the Kings!) We all agreed as we arrived on time to each of our meeting points, that we didn't really miss being late because of him.
Something I want to remember: Being able to identify many of the symbols and designs on the walls, and how amazing it was to be underground in these significant places, and to think not about the magnitude of the rulers, but of the sheer exhaustion the workers of Deir el Medina must have felt in creating them.
Number of times I have been mistaken for Kerri's sister: Three or so today and once as her cousin. This has become a very frequent misunderstanding.
This morning was a very exciting one in my life, since I was able to visit places I have dreamed of visiting. I never really thought that I would make it to Israel, so the sites there have been a lovely surprise to view, but these – after studying them in detail all those distance years ago, especially Deir el Bahri – I certainly hoped with conviction that I would one day visit these places. Today, I have.
(I was more academic later in the day, but it was still early!).
We drove towards the Valley of the Kings and had to leave our cameras behind, so no photos from here. We spent a little time in the information centre before we discovered there were little transit buses that took you up further into the valley (we are doing so much less walking than in Israel!). Kerri and I elected to pay the extra money for entry into Tutankhamun's tomb but then we had another show and tell session with our guide Amro (he used some postcards and didn't really reveal many new things – I'm starting to feel a bit arrogant about my knowledge at this point which is BAD but he's not really contributing anything new. We did hit some year 11 content today though, whereas yesterday seemed strictly year seven). We walked up to Thutmosis III's tomb and Amro had said to us it was only for people who were fit, and that became apparent when we encountered the very numerous and steep steps. However, I have been under the tutelage of Gila over the past few weeks and climbed Sinai so I was fine – though the humidity inside the tombs was a new factor. There was a pit to deter grave robbers which was very deep – I told Kerri not to look, and then we went into the larger burial and storage chambers. The burial chamber was shaped as a cartouche and the roof was bright blue with interestingly shaped stars – as I imagine the roof of the temple complex at Saqqara will look.. We had a rather bemusing moment on the narrow stairway back up when Kerri looked to her left and saw a work colleague from Loreto.
The walk back to Tutankhamun's tomb (KV62) seemed much easier after the stairs of Thutmosis III. There were workmen on either side and it looked as though one set were reconstructing pottery while the others were shovelling dirt. The valley looked exactly as I have seen it in documentaries, but the space within Tutankhamun's tomb that we were able to access was very limited. I wasn't sure whether the conservation program had actually started, or whether only that amount was always accessible. We did feel a little gypped after seeing more in the other tomb. In this tomb however, we could see the gold sarcophagus and the most well preserved wall paintings. The mummy was on the other side and next to it I saw a temperature controller which was set at 78. I was unable to see any particular damage on the walls from tourists (I had read that that the walls were turning green) but still unnaturally quite stoked at the knowledge that I have contributed to the 22L of sweat that permeate the chambers each day from the multiplicity of tourists. Quite vile when you think of it, and this tomb was not as uncomfortable as that of Thutmosis III. Once again we seemed to get special treatment from the man who was guarding the tomb, but I was more interested in the mummy. It was even smaller than I had anticipated, but I was impressed with the degree of preservation.
Our next tomb, KV6, of Ramesses IX had the longest queue of any that we had seen. It followed the straight design of earlier tombs and had some interesting wall paintings, but I was unimpressed with the level of protection they were given. The sections which were not covered at all had lost all record of wall art, and we were also able to see that a man named Fisher, who visited in 1858, had left his rather large mark on the place. There was also carbon scarring on some of the larger images, which I presumed were not made in antiquity but as later damage. Our last tomb was that of Ramesses VII and as it too had been open for a considerable amount of time, it was surprising to see a sarcophagus still within. It was made of red granite by the looks of it. The paintings were the least spectacular, but it was still interesting.
We visited an alabaster shop following our escape through the gauntlet (we were mistaken for sisters twice, told we had nice smiles and generally just harassed for attention) and the attention seeking continued there. I was very interested in buying a set of canopic jars, but until we take our flight in Aswan, I need to be very cautious of how much my purchases will weigh.
Our next locality was the thrilling Deir el Bahri. Again there was the transit trolleys but this time we could take photographs. It seemed as though there were hundreds of people there, but by the time we made it all the way up, it didn't seem as though there were quite as many but it was still very busy. The walls were mostly faded and there weren't many complete or mostly-complete statues, but I could identify some as being from the expedition to Punt, or depictions of Hatshepsut.
Me? Grumpy? - Never!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I beg to differ. The trip up the staircase to Thutmosis III was much easier than down (I didn't have to see the valley floor going up)