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Saturday, January 17, 2015

The hill of Qubbet el Hawa.

The hill of Qubbet el Hawa is a pure Nubian sand and not so easy to walk up. There is a stair, but it’s always covered with the sand, so our trek up took a few minutes. Maggie is not feeling tip top today, so she took a camel up (with Gaultier tagging along and Marina on a separate camel). But it is always worth it, as you enter first the beautiful shrine of Sirenput II, from the reign of Amenemhet II in the Twelfth Dynasty. Everyone heads toward the rear where a lovely inset painting shows the tomb owner at his offering table. The Beautifully cut sandstone is itself a remarkable red banded color, and you see Gaultier looking up and admiring the architecture.

Maggie and Gaultier on a camel. The shrine of Sirenput II.
Tomb painting - the tomb owner at his offering table.

Inscription of Harkhuf. Harkhuf leaning on his walking stick.
Gaultier and Ashley. Meg.
Maggie looking at the Harkhuf text.

We visit the 6th Dynasty tomb of Harkhuf, whose autobiography is one of the most famous of ancient Egyptian texts. It is written on the exterior of his tomb chapel, and the light this morning is so good that you can even see the fine relief representations of Harkhuf leaning on his walking stick. Inside Gaultier, Ashley, and Meg are looking at the decoration and texts on the carved pillars. And so there is definite proof that she managed this visit – despite feeling lousy and having had other obstacles put in the way on previous attempts to come to the tombs – here is Maggie looking at the Harkhuf text. No doubt about it now.


Jay taking a photograph.
Marina, Violaine, and Ashley.

At the tomb of Sirenput I Jay and I have a photo duel, but both of us capture Marina, Violaine, and Ashley looking at the unusual exterior decoration on the tomb. Inside is another long corridor, but also some beautiful painting as you see in this fragment of a row of women. We saw so much more, but that is enough for now.

Inside the tomb of Sirenput I.
Painting fragment showing a row of women.

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