The Archaeological Mission of the University of La Laguna in the Theban tomb 209 (TT 209) in Luxor (Egypt) resumed its activities last Thursday, February 24. The current campaign began last fall but had to be interrupted for a few months due to the teaching obligations of its members. The work will continue for eight weeks, until mid-April.
In past years, the mission has obtained very significant results: it has recognized the characteristics of the tomb, created from a very original architectural concept as it is divided into three terraces along the side of a wadi, a dry ravine; and the identity of the individual for whom it was built has been discovered, a senior Nubian official, therefore a foreigner in the Nile country, who directed the country’s economic policy at a time of Nubian invasion and control. Research currently focuses on questions of identity and material culture, that is, how to study the former through the objects deposited as grave goods.
The ideal objective of this campaign is to finish the excavation of the internal chambers, of which only two spaces remain to be completed, a chamber in the main underground level in which thirteen mummies have already been excavated in previous years, and a well that could present a burial chamber at the bottom, although some indications suggest that it was never finished.
Outside, a street is being excavated, a rare type of action in Egyptian archeology and which in this case must have functioned as a processional route. However, an important part of the team members will focus on the study of the materials found in previous years, with the purpose of preparing their publication and that of the site as a whole.
As in previous campaigns, the main sponsors of this stay are the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Government of the Canary Islands and the Palarq Foundation. The mission keeps a digging diary which will report periodically on the progress of the field campaign and can be followed through social networks: at Facebooksearching Project two zero nine – TT 209; On Instagram, project209 and on Twitter, @project209.
